Page - 145 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

145The 1761 Transit of Venus and Hell’s Transition to Fame scientific papers and letters containing practical counsel and encouragement to astronomers both in French provinces and abroad, and making arrange- ments that enabled their colleagues to obtain the best astronomical equip- ment available. Consequently, in the days, weeks, and months after the 1761 transit, observations came trickling in to the Académie des Sciences in Paris for the academicians to assess, adjust, and publish. Another center that re- ceived numerous Venus transit reports was the Royal Society in London, where a series of articles was subsequently printed in the society’s Philosophical Transactions. Accordingly, the 1761 Venus transit enterprise figures in most ac- counts as a predominantly Franco-British story. However, a third center also contributed quite significantly to the instigation, organization, and subse- quent publication of Venus transit observations all over the world: the Impe- rial and Royal Observatory of Vienna. Perhaps more important than Hell’s personal participation in the 1761 Venus transit observations is the brokerage role he played in the encounter, which naturally did not come to an end with his contributions to the preparatory moves, but loomed especially large with the subsequent collection and publi- cation of data. The greatest public display of the imperial astronomer’s net- work to date—or, more specifically, of his role as an inspirer, organizer, and publisher of observations—emerged in the autumn of 1761, in the form of a 124-page report: “Observation of the Transit of Venus in Front of the Disc of the Sun on June 5, 1761, with Observations of the Same Venus Transit Made by Vari- ous Skilled Observers throughout Europe, and an Appendix of Several Other Observations,” published as an appendix to the Ephemerides for the year 1762.20 Internal evidence indicates that it was printed some time during the autumn of 1761, the last dated reference in the text being to August of that year.21 By then, Hell had received letters and printed reports stating the results of obser- vations in Central Europe as well as Russia, Sweden, Italy, France, Spain, and even England, despite the war. Several observers referred to Hell’s handy little manual when they reported their observations.22 The ability of Vienna, and the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus in particular, to provide scientific 20 Maximilian Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris ante discum Solis die 5ta Junii 1761 […]: Adjectis observationibus ejusdem transitus Veneris factis à variis per Europam viris in observando exercitatis, cum appendice aliarum nonnullarum observationum,” Ephemeri- des 1762 (1761). 21 Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 89: “Anno 1761. […] mense Augusto.” Unfortu- nately, we have been unable to track down letters written in the autumn/winter of 1761–62 that might have shed light on the exact date of publication. 22 Cf. Hell, “Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1761,” 89, where Hell states his sources for the data of other observers scrupulously. Many of the handwritten reports on the 1761 transit