Page - 154 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 3154 Bohemia by King Ferdinand vi (1713–59, r.1746–59) to fill the post as royal astronomer.49 If we look more closely at how Hell assembled information for his report, we find that in Russia, a correspondent of Hell’s, physicist Joseph Adam Braun (1712–68), provided data from his own private observation as well as those made at the Imperial Observatory in St. Petersburg. Information concerning the various English observations was assembled by the Swedish astronomer Bengt Ferner (later nobled Ferrner [1724–1802]), who was in Paris at the time of the transit.50 He sent extracts from his correspondence with English astrono- mers to Hell, who in turn included these extracts in the report. Information on the Swedish observations took another detour: the section on observations from Stockholm was based entirely on a letter from Lacaille and an article in the Journal étranger (Foreign journal) of Paris.51 As far as the German-, French-, and Italian-speaking regions are concerned, more direct routes of communica- tion were obviously used: Hell communicated directly with most observers, who sent him their elaborate observation data either in manuscript (as did Braun from St. Petersburg) or in the form of printed brochures (as did Zanotti from Bologna). On the final analysis, the operation of the Jesuit network in 1761 was ex- tremely helpful in underpinning Hell as an astronomer of international repu- tation, but it was not the only leverage to which he could resort. His connec- tions in the Society’s Italian and German assistancies were particularly effective in providing him with a considerable number of observations for his Venus transit report. Elsewhere, his contacts were still developing as of 1761. His con- spicuous status as imperial and royal astronomer probably counted more than his membership in the Society of Jesus when astronomers in places like St. Petersburg and Paris bothered to supply information for his journal. It is the combination of the two roles—Jesuit and court astronomer—that gave Hell a prominent position in the Venus transit project of 1761. As mentioned, Hell published a sequel to the report two years later, filling eighteen pages of a longer list entitled “Observationes astronomicae anni 1761 & 1762: Viennae, et aliis locis factae” (Astronomical observations from the year 49 Hell, “Observatio transitus […] 1761,” 45–49. 50 In the Ephemerides, his name is misspelled as “Fermer.” At the latest by May 1761, he was a correspondent of Hell’s. Cf. Bengt Ferrner, Resa i Europa: En astronom, industrispion och teaterhabitué genom Danmark, Tyskland, Holland, England, Frankrike och Italien 1758–1760 (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells, 1956), 388–90. 51 Lacaille’s letter has not been found. The article in the Journal étranger, however, titled “Observations du passage de Vénus sur le disque du Soleil, faites à Stockholm, à Got- tingue, à Rome & à Vienne,” can be found in the issue of July 1761, 195–214.