Page - 124 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 2124 geodesy in the entire stretch between Brno (Bruna, Brünn) in the north via Vienna and Graz to Varaždin (Varasd, Varasdinum, Warasdin) in the south, and later in life in Galicia (on both sides of the present border between Poland and  Ukraine). His main work, Dimensio graduum meridiani Viennensis et Hungarici (Size of the meridian degrees of Vienna and Hungary, 1770) counts among the most important—albeit certainly not the most historiographically highlighted—eighteenth-century contributions to the determination of the shape of the Earth.92 Over the nearly twenty years that Hell and Liesganig were neighbor- directors of their observatories, they seem to have been collegial collaborators, although perhaps not close friends or confidants.93 Their relationship may best be de- scribed as one of emulation: because of the topographic conditions, if for no other reason, necessarily marked by elements of competition, but also mutual attention and respect, and a willingness to lend support to as well as learning from one another. At first, Hell, who eventually grew more famous, was not obviously the superior partner. If his appointment and the instructions to him demonstrate that he and his observatory were intended to play a crucial role in attaining objectives set by the Viennese reform-government, Liesganig’s geo- detic assignments were no less—in a very strict sense, in fact they were more— strategically important. Ever more accurate maps were indispensable for the purposes of the Habsburg military in the large-scale armed engagements of the middle of the eighteenth century—the War of Austrian Succession (1740– 47) and the Seven Years’ War (1756–63)—and the obtaining of in-depth knowl- edge of the imperial territory also served the more peaceful ends of economic governance.94 It was primarily cartographic collaboration with France as Vi- enna’s new coalition partner—specifically, mapping the space between Paris and Vienna—after the famous reversal of alliances of 1756 that brought Cassini de Thury as the director of the Observatoire Royal to the Austrian capital in 92 See the review in JS (August 1770): 573–74; cf. Liesganig’s letter to John Bevis, dated Vienna, August 4, 1767, printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (hereafter: ptrsl) 58 (1768; printed 1769): 15–16. Liesganig himself conceived of his own meridian measurements as a contribution to the effort hallmarked by the activities of Charles Ma- rie de la Condamine (1701–74) in Ecuador, Boscovich in the Papal States, and La Caille in France. See Veres, “Constructing Imperial Spaces,” 365–66. 93 Thus, among the numerous letters preserved from the expedition to Denmark–Norway, none are addressed to Liesganig. In fact, he is not even mentioned in any letter to Hell’s Viennese friends during this period. 94 For a general discussion, see Wolfgang Göderle, “Modernisierung durch Vermessung? Das Wissen des modernen Staats in Zentraleuropa, circa 1760–1890,” Archiv für Sozialgeschich- te 57 (2017): 155–86.