2. The Pope and the Englishwoman: Benedict XIV, Jane Squire, the Bologna Academy, and the Problem of Longitude

Findlen, Paula; Messbarger, Rebecca; Johns, Christopher; Gavitt, Philip

doi:10.3138/9781442624757-007

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…During the 1730s, Eustachio Manfredi, the Director of the Observatory, assisted by his successor Eustachio Zanotti, lobbied for the necessary funds from Rome to buy good instruments. 103 With the assistance of Sir Thomas Dereham, an English Catholic resident in Rome who facilitated contacts between Italian scholars and the Royal Society, a wall quadrant, a mobile quadrant and a transit telescope were ordered in 1738 from George Graham and his assistant Jonathan Sisson in London. The role of Lambertini, who became pope in 1740, in granting resources to the Academy of the Bologna Institute, was obviously decisive, not only for astronomy, but for all the scientific and artistic disciplines represented at the Academy, with numerous grants and donations made during the 18 years of his pontifical mandate.…”

Section: Political Support For Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Obstacles encountered by four major European astronomical observatories belonging to academies in the 18th century

Chassefière

2021

Journal for the History of Astronomy

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It is known that, in the first half of the 18th century, the conditions for astronomy at the Imperial Observatory of St-Petersburg, directed by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, were comparable to those enjoyed by astronomers at the royal observatories of Paris and Greenwich created in the previous century. But what about the public observatories created in the first half of the 18th century in Berlin, Uppsala and Bologna? The rich correspondence maintained by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle with the astronomers working in these observatories provides elements of an answer to this question. It also provides more precise information on Delisle’s working conditions at the St-Petersburg Observatory. In this article, we present a comparative analysis of the obstacles encountered by astronomers at these different observatories, and the particular contexts in which they operated, including a breakdown by observatory of salaries and expenditure on astronomy equipment.

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Section: Political Support For Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%