SCIENCE ACADEMIES AND EUROPE EDOARDO VESENTINI MOLIÈRE CHAIR OF THE EUROPEAN AND IBERO-AMERICAN ACADEMY OF YUSTE The experience of the Academies in the moral and civil life of Europe1 was the theme of an international conference which was held in Venice, in November 2003. The conference, organized jointly by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, followed the International Conference on The National Academies in the European cultural framework2, which had been held in Rome the year before, within the initiatives to celebrate the four hundreth anniversary of the foundation of the Accademia dei Lincei. The two conferences shared the common purpose to explore and enlighten the transformations – which quite often turned out to be radical changes - that, in the XVII and XVIII centuries, modern science produced within academies, and in particular within those institutions that would later become “National Academies”, like, for instance, the Royal Society, the Institut de France, the Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Petersbourg and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Exploring the relationship between local and national political structures on one side and science academies on the other, gauging in which measure and how promptly these cultural institutions reacted to the urgent new demands of society is an endeavour which has, of course, many motivations. One of them – and certainly not the least important – is underlined by the fact that the conference in Rome was immediately followed by the general assembly of ALLEA, which was held in Rome two days later. ALLEA - which is an acronym of “All European Academies” – is a federation, counting now 52 academies of Sciences and Humanities in 39 European countries, whose main mission is to advance the frontier research in all the scientific and scholarly disciplines; promote the exchange of information between academies; offer European science and society advice from its member academies; strive for excellence in science and scholarship, high ethical standards and independence from political, commercial and ideological interests. Ignoring as far as possible the slightly bureaucratic language, one may find in these words the zest of what Voltaire wrote, more than two centuries before, in his Siècle de Louis XIV, where on a vu une république littéraire établie insensiblement dans l’Europe, malgré les guerres et malgré les religions différentes. Toutes les sciences, tous les arts ont reçu ainsi des secours mutuels. Les académies ont formé cette république. L’Italie et la Russie ont été unies par les lettres. L’Anglais, l’Allemand, le Français, allaient étudier à Leyde. (…) Les véritables savants dans 1 L’esperienza delle Accademie e la vita morale e civile dell’Europa, a cura di Edoardo Vesentini e di Leopoldo Mazzarolli, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Venezia, 2006. 2 Le Accademie Nazionali nel contesto culturale europeo, Atti dei Convegni Lincei, n. 186, Roma, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2003. NEWSLETTER OF THE ACADEMY OF YUSTE Nº 10. November 2020 1 ISSN 2695-7027 chaque genre ont resserré les liens de cette grande société des esprits, répandue partout, et partout indépendante. Cette correspondance dure encore; elle est une des consolations des maux que l’ambition et la politique répandent sur la terre. A few years before, Giovan Battista Vico could see a natural pattern whereby l’ordine delle cose umane procedette che prima furono le selve, dappoi i tuguri, quindi i villaggi, appresso le città, finalmente l’Accademia. (…) the radiant Academies, to which he dedicated his Scienza nova prima3. As Eugenio Garin wrote referring to the history of the Accademia dei Lincei, the purpose of the first academies was mainly that of fostering not only research but comparison and conflict, comparing new and old in all their difficulties and contradictions to reach new syntheses and global visions4. The wide gap between universities and academies sheltered initially the latter from professional, religious and national interference, thus creating an “enchanted garden” – to quote M. Torrini and A. Genovesi5 - where men of singular proficiency in science could illustrate and exchange their scientific discoveries. However, the social impact of the applications of “modern science” and the consequent necessity to make it accessible to larger sectors of the society strengthened anew the links with the universities. At the same time, the increasing financial needs posed by the new science forced the academies to re- examine more realistically the political limitations of the freedom of thought and the modus operandi which was so well described by Eugenio Garin, and to find a more definite and solid position in the social échelon. The slow emerging of Voltaire’s literary republic in the highly non- homogeneous world of the European academies of the XVIII and XIX centuries finds a more realistic model in Italy than in England or in France. In France, the long process started in the XVII century lead, through the law approved by the Convention on 25 October 1795, to the birth of the Institut de France6. But 3 Alle Accademie d’Europa,/Le quali/In questa età illuminata in cui/Nonché le favole/E le volgari tradizioni/Della storia gentilesca/ Ma ogni qualunque autorità/De’ più reputati filosofi/Alla critica di severa ragione/Si sottomette/Adornano dalle loro cattedre/Con somma laude/Il diritto naturale delle genti. 4 E. Garin, Fra ‘500 e ‘6oo: Scienze nuove, metodi nuovi, nuove accademie, in Federico Cesi, Atti del Convegno celebrativo del IV centenario della nascita di Federico Cesi (Acquasparta, 7-9 ottobre 1985), Atti dei Convegni Lincei, n. 78, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, 1986. 5 M. Torrini, Le scienze e le accademie: 1600-1800, in L’esperienza delle accademie e la vita morale e civile dell’Europa, l. c., pp. 49-67. 6 Whose task – according to the text of the décrée – was to perfectionner les sciences abstraites par des recherches non interrompues, par la publication des découvertes, par la correspondance avec les sociétés savantes françaises et étrangères, and to suivre les travaux scientifiques et littéraires qui auront pour objet NEWSLETTER OF THE ACADEMY OF YUSTE Nº 10. November 2020 2 ISSN 2695-7027 whereas France was a “Nation” Italy was still, to quote G. Baretti, a “Nation of Nations”7 where any scientific initiative had to come to terms with the fragmentation of the political landscape in a myriad of local realities. Thus, one had to wait until 1875, after Rome had become the capital of the Italian Kingdom, to see Federico Cesi’s Accademia dei Lincei become the Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and now the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. After some of the most important science academies had assumed a more solid structure at a national level, also the ideas behind Voltaire’s literary republic found slowly a more thoughtful audience. In fact, the birth of an esprit européen or, better to say, the awareness that the common cultural values shared by European academies were worth being protected and enhanced, was at the origin of the first international academic organizations. In this direction, the International Association of Academies was founded in Berlin in 1899 to be followed, in 1931, by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). ICSU is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in the world. Its strength and uniqueness - which makes it one of the most important international scientific structures - lies still today in its dual membership: national scientific bodies (103 members) and international scientific unions (27 members), and in its current close relationship with a number of intergovernmental organizations (especially UNESCO) and non-governmental ones. As was noted recently by Jens Erik Fenstad, the creation of ICSU in 1931 may be seen as a first, concrete, although limited step in the direction that would have been later indicated in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. In the years of the Cold War, the Standing Committee on the Free Circulation of Scientists, which was created by ICSU in 1963, was instrumental not only in fostering the mobility of scientific personnel but in creating the common understanding and the mutual trust that was absolutely essential for the joint scientific technological assessments leading up to the disarmament agreements of the 1980. Over the years, ICSU has had a primary role in the developing of science in its different aspects and fields, and in enhancing and making more visible the role of scientific research in society. Since its creation, ICSU has addressed global issues and developed important scientific programmes. To cite only a few examples: the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), the International Biological Programme (1964-74), a Study of Global Change (IGCP), the World Climate Research Programme (WRCP), the integrated programme DIVERSITAS, etc. l’utilité générale et la gloire de la république. See J. Leclant, L’Institut de France et ses cinq Académies, in Le Accademie Nazionali nel contesto culturale europeo, l. c. pp. 9-17, and J. Godechot, Les institutions de la France sous la Révolution et l’Empire, Presses Universitaires de France, 1989. 7 G. Baretti, Dei modi e costumi d’Italia, Torino, 2003; see also G. Ricuperati, Accademie italiane del Settecento: Socialità intellettuale e modelli di ricerca, in L’esperienza delle Accademie e la vita morale e civile dell’Europa, l. c. pp. 11-38. NEWSLETTER OF THE ACADEMY OF YUSTE Nº 10. November 2020 3 ISSN 2695-7027 On the other hand, especially in the cold war years the simultaneous presence of both intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations interfered with the mission of ICSU, or with what scientists perceived as the mission of ICSU, and made harder the realization of many concrete initiatives. Questions of balance in the political international arena made often very complicated the management of concrete scientific initiatives that had to defer to questions and decisions of general political balance which were, or seemed, a priori unrelated to the scientific issues that were at the outset of those programs.