Page - 202 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 4202 Father Hell dined here today, brought here in triumph by Niebuhr, who is in love with him and who has no greater regret in the world than that of not being able to travel to Vardøhus along with him. He is furious at Hor- rebow and the young astronomers of this city for the reason that there is not one among them who wishes to do the same, which is indeed disgraceful.94 Niebuhr’s dining together with Hell at the residence of Andreas Bernstorff is further indication of the prestige involved. That Niebuhr, the experienced vet- eran of the reputed expedition to Arabia Felix, rubs shoulders with the leader of the next emblematic expedition sponsored by the Danish–Norwegian mon- archy, forges a link and a continuity between past and present heroic endeav- ors for the promotion of knowledge. Although neither Niebuhr nor Kratzen- stein joined Hell to the north, they lent him equipment such as a declinometer to observe the variations of the earth’s magnetic field, constructed by Kratzen- stein, and a quadrant for measuring the geographical latitude, constructed by Tobias Mayer in Göttingen and used by Niebuhr during his entire expedition. The latter even lent Hell his manuscript of astronomical observations from Ye- men, which Hell promised to study while in Vardø.95 Furthermore, the organiz- ers of Hell’s expedition offered him a generous pick of instruments to bring to Vardø from Copenhagen’s Rundetårn observatory. Among these were an astro- nomical clock made by Julien Leroy (1686–1759) in Paris, a ten-foot telescope of John Dollond’s (1709–61) patent and a three-foot quadrant made by Johan(nes) Ahl (1729–95) in Copenhagen.96 These and further pieces of equipment came in addition to a temperature-compensated pendulum clock made in Vienna by Hell’s observatory assistant Anton Pilgram as well as achromatic telescopes eight-and-a-half- and ten-and-a-half-feet long, also made in Vienna.97 All these instruments were used for the determination of the longitude and latitude of Vardø as well as for the observation of the Venus transit itself. 94 Andreas Peter Bernstorff to Johann Hartvig Ernst Bernstorff, dated Copenhagen, June 18, 1768, in Aage Friis, ed., Bernstorffske Papirer: Udvalgte Breve og Optegnelser vedrørende Familien Bernstorff i Tiden fra 1732 til 1835 (Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1904), 1:509. 95 Hell to Niebuhr in Copenhagen, dated Vardø, April 6, 1769 (draft, wus. Incomplete tran- script in Pinzger Hell Miksa, 1:88–91). 96 Hell, Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1769, 5–6. Ahl’s name is misspelled “Aal” by Hell. 97 Hell, Observatio transitus Veneris […] 1769, 6, 71; Hell’s mss “Observationes astronomicæ et Cæteræ in itinere litterario Viennâ Wardoëhusium usque factæ” (1768–69) and [no head- ing, starting with the words] “NB De Horologiis” (1769). See also Thykier, Gyldenkerne, and Darnell, Dansk Astronomi, 2:252–53.