Boscovich and the Brera Observatory

Mem. S.A.It. Suppl. Vol. 22, 16 Memorie della c SAIt 2013 Supplementi Boscovich and the Brera Observatory E. Antonello Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract. In the mid 18th century both theoretical and practical astronomy were culti- vated in Milan by Barnabites and Jesuits. In 1763 Boscovich was appointed to the chair of mathematics of the University of Pavia in the Duchy of Milan, and the following year he designed an observatory for the Jesuit Collegium of Brera in Milan. The Specola was built in 1765 and it became quickly one of the main european observatories. We discuss the relation between Boscovich and Brera in the framework of a short biography. An account is given of the initial research activity in the Specola, of the departure of Boscovich from Milan in 1773 and his coming back just before his death. 1. Introduction omy, government, education, science, arts and culture. Probably it is not by chance that even The Brera Observatory in Milan is one of the astronomy took advantage of this favorable many european observatories built by Jesuits period. The Barnabite Paolo Frisi was inter- (Ud´ıas 2003), and its basic characteristics, that ested in physics and theoretical astronomy (and were maintained for many years, were es- also mathematics, hydraulics and engineer- sentially those planned by Boscovich. Several ing). While he was teaching astronomy at the publications have been dedicated to the rela- Barnabite school, some Jesuits were making tion between Boscovich and Brera, and two astronomical observations with amateur instru- meetings were held here, the first in 1962 on mentation as complement to lessons in their occasion of the 250 years of his birth (AA.VV. Collegium of Brera. Owing to the strong in- 1963), and the second in 1987 for the 200 years terest in this matter, it was decided to move an of his death (AA.VV. 1988). The latter in par- expert astronomer, the Father Louis Lagrange, ticular marked the beginning of a renewed ac- from the Jesuit observatory of Marseille to tivity in the observatory on the research fields Brera. Lagrange arrived in Milan at the end of representing the challenges of contemporary 1762, and here he planned rigorously the as- astronomy and astrophysics, an activity that tronomical and meteorological research. That ideally joined with the fervor of Boscovich’s could be considered the beginning of the pro- times. fessional observational astronomy in Milan. In the mid 18th century the Duchy of Milan The following year, Boscovich was appointed (figure 1) was ruled by the austrian Habsburg to the chair of mathematics of the university house, and important reforms were introduced of Pavia (the university of the Duchy). He was that allowed progresses in many fields, econ- a polymath and gave contributions to mathematics, geometry, optics, astronomy, geodesy, Send offprint requests to: E. Antonello engineering, hydraulics, and also to poetry; he Antonello: Boscovich and Brera 17 of Jesuits (Collegium Ragusinum; figure 2), and being a well promising student he was sent off to Rome at age 14. He completed the scientific and humanistic studies in the Collegium Romanum, where he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in 1740, and after the theo- logical studies took his vows as a priest in 1744. The years from 1744 to 1758 repre- sent his most prolific period of mature schol- arship1. At the same time these are also years of development as a polished Jesuit in society. After 1758, that experience gradually removed him from the Collegium Romanum into a life which was regarded as being more necessary for the Jesuit Order, then passing through difficult days, which Boscovich was committed Fig. 1. A map of Northern Italy with the Duchy of to serve implicitly and loyally to the end (Hill Milan. 1961). He was introduced into the Accademia degli Arcadi, and this gave him the opportunity to meet an exceptionally wide circle of influen- was an architectural advisor to Popes, theolo- tial european personages. gian and a cosmopolitan diplomat. His very wide interests show that the clearcut divi- sion of the cultural disciplines did not ex- ist yet in 18th century, but with the increas- ing specialization of the scientific research this separation would have been inevitable. His most famous work, the Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis (1758, 1763), had an enormous im- pact on the scientific and philosophical thought of the 19th century. According to Barrow (2007), Boscovich was the first to have a scientific vision of a Theory of Everything, and the influence of his Theoria was wide and deep especially in Britain, where Faraday, Maxwell and Kelvin would record their indebtedness to its inspiration. The philosopher Nietzsche compared Boscovich to Copernicus for his rev- olutionary hypothesis on the structure of matter (Nietzsche 1886). 2. Before the year 1764 Boscovich born 300 years ago in Ragusa (Dubrovnik, Croatia), a small republic in Dalmatia. Ragusa was struggling to keep its independence against the great powers of that Fig. 2. The Collegium Ragusinum in Dubrovnik. time (e.g. the Ottoman Empire), and Boscovich himself will serve his country in his diplomatic 1 A catalogue of his works can be found in the activity. He got education at the primary school website of the Edizione Nazionale R.G. Boscovich. 18 Antonello: Boscovich and Brera Fig. 4. The model of the Brera Observatory, made presumably at the beginning of 1765. It is exhib- ited at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia. Note the upper large octagonal room. Fig. 3. The second edition of the Theoria. situation of Jesuits was increasingly difficult, and in 1758 they were expelled from Portugal. Up to that time Boscovich apparently did His first mission outside the Papal States not resented such difficulties, since he was occurred in 1756, and he went as an expert hy- considered an important european scholar drographer to Lucca to arbitrate a dispute that and was appreciated in cultural and political had arisen between the Republic of Lucca and circles. In 1759 he was in France and visited the Grand Duchy of Tuscany over adjacent wa- several Jesuit Collegii, in particular Lyon and ters. The Tuscany was under the Austrian rule, Marseille with their observatories. In Paris and Boscovich went also to Vienna, where he he had high level meetings with scholars had the opportunity to publish his first edition and politicians. He had similar meetings of the Theoria. When he was back in Rome also in Great Britain, where he visited the in 1758, he already knew that he was to go Greenwich observatory. The subsequent steps abroad for a longer diplomatic mission, that of the journey included the Netherlands, would have included France, Germany and the Germany and Lorraine in 1761, then Venice Netherlands. No document has been found as and Constantinople. During his life Boscovich yet about the political purpose and the details suffered sometimes from disease, but when of such a mission. he was in Constantinople he fell ill for some months with a dangerous infection in a leg. He then recovered, but the problems with the From 1756 the Seven Years’ War was leg will be never completely solved. In 1762 shacking Europe, with the involvement of Boscovich left from Turkey and travelled Austria, France, Sweden, Russia, Spain, to Poland in two months; he wrote a diary some Germany states, Great Britain, Prussia, of this long journey, which presents great Portugal and several colonies2. The political interest for it is one of the few travel records of the eighteenth century that cover that area 2 For example, the North America, where the war of Turkey, Bulgaria and Moldavia. In 1763 between French and British began in 1754. he was in Italy, and during the summer he Antonello: Boscovich and Brera 19 Fig. 5. An image of the Observatory, built above the Brera Palace. The image has been taken from the Ephemerides of 1776 for the year 1777, published by the astronomers of Brera. Table 1. Timetable of milanese astronomy and Enlightenment 1762 Beginning of the astronomical research in Brera 1763 P. Verri, Meditazioni sulla felicitá [Reflections on happiness] 1763 G. Parini, Il Mattino (Il Giorno) [The Morning (The Day)] 1763 Boscovich is appointed at the University of Pavia 1764 C. Beccaria, Dei delitti e delle pene [On Crimes and Punishement] 1764 Project of the Brera Observatory 1765 G. Parini, Il Mezzogiorno (Il Giorno) [The Midday (The Day)] 1765 Building of the Brera Observatory 1764 -1766 Il Caffe` by P. Verri et al. [The Coffee House] published the second edition of the Theoria in 3. In the Duchy of Milan Venice (figure 3), before going back to Rome. In 1763 Boscovich received the invitation to occupy the chair of mathematics in the As summarized by Hill (1961), Boscovich University of Pavia. At that time, the ques- was now in his fifty-second year. He had seen tion of reforming Pavia University was a much Europe from one end to the other, he had made discussed topic in the Duchy of Milan and in hosts of friends and some enemies, he was Vienna. The austrian Chancellor (prime minis- versed in the trend of political events, he knew ter) Kaunitz decided to enlarge the structure, the situation of the Jesuit Order in many coun- increase the library, attract good professors. tries. It is therefore not surprising that Boscovich 20 Antonello: Boscovich and Brera should have been invited. Before leaving from the main astronomical instrument, a large mu- Rome, Boscovich had to tackle the centuries ral quadrant, in France, since the french instru- old problem of the drainage of the Pontine ments (Canivet) were less expensive though marshes, and in the spring of 1764 he handed probably less accurate than the english ones over to the Papal Government his study.

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