Page - 171 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

171The 1761 Transit of Venus and Hell’s Transition to Fame in carving out an international presence for the Ephemerides just by consoli- dating its status in the French and the German academic scene. “What astronomer does not know of the excellent Ephemerides of Vienna?,” the astronomer royal of Berlin, Johann (Jean) iii Bernoulli, exclaimed in the first issue of his remarkable compendium for astronomers in 1771.109 Bernoulli had a strong point. Closely associated with the almanac that he almost single- handedly raised among the top-ranking ones in the field (and in certain re- spects, superior to all others), Hell had become a leading international person- ality in contemporary astronomy as the transit of 1769 approached. No doubt, this was made possible in good measure by the unity of purpose that existed between a reform-minded government that was (still) sufficiently well dis- posed to the Society of Jesus to lend patronage to its endeavors in modern learning, and Hell as an eminent Jesuit man of science. Not only was he widely known as an accurate calculator and an assiduous compiler of others’ observa- tions but also as one—illustrated by his writings on the theory of Venus—who discussed with authority several of the central themes of theoretical astrono- my, and contested the theories of others with stamina and convincing force. He was recognized as an able observer as well as an important networker, help- ing colleagues in the provinces to obtain high-quality instruments, coordinat- ing the activities of both professional and amateur observers, and exchanging data with astronomical centers abroad. It was certainly not out of peripheral obscurity that he emerged as one of the emblematic figures in the 1769 Venus transit observations. He was almost destined to do so. in Vargha priv. Cf. also Ottó Kelényi B., Az egri érseki líceum csillagvizsgálójának története (Budapest: Athenaeum, 1930), 6. 109 Johann (Jean) iii Bernoulli, Recueil pour les astronomes (Berlin: Chez l’Auteur, 1771–73), 1:154.