An Indirect Convergence between the Accademia del Cimento and the Montmor Academy: The ‘Saturn dispute’
Year: 2019
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: 3 "[…] la nostra accademia istituita dell'anno 1657", Lorenzo Magalotti, Saggi di naturali esperienze (1667) (Palermo 2001), 40.English transl. in W. E. Knowles Middleton, The Experimenters: a study of the Accademia del Cimento (Baltimore 1971), 92.have taken in order to become more robust and better regulated-4 Christiaan Huygens informed Robert Moray that the Montmor Academy had "ceased to exist".On its "remains" another group activity emerged, spearheaded by some of the members of the Montmor Academy. 5 They met in the house of Melchisedéch Thévenot (c.1620-1692), one of the most active members of the Montmor Academy, at least until the establishment of the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1666.The history of the relations between the two academies -which prior to the foundation of the Royal Society and of the Académie Royale des Sciences were the two most renowned groups of scholars engaged exclusively in matters of natural philosophy-is difficult to piece together, given that the various attempts to establish epistolary exchange often encountered delays, if not outright indifference.Consequently, the dialogue between the two academies might be better described as a succession of monologues. Fragmentary and difficult exchanges a. Autumn 1658: Michelangelo Ricci, Melchisedéch Thévenot and the first contact between the two academiesAs is well known, the first tentative contact between the two academies was made by Melchisedéch Thévenot, 6 a French diplomat, bibliophile and man of letters, and a collector of travel literature.His language skills earned him the position of ambassador in Genoa in 1647 and later in Rome, where he had already resided between 1643 and 1645 and where he witnessed the conclave that elected Pope Alexander VII 4 See for instance: Christiaan Huygens to Lodewijk Huygens, 6
Source: BRILL eBooks
Author: Giulia Giannini
Institution: University of Milan
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2989920849