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Academic Events in Saint Petersburg

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A Comet of the Enlightenment

Part of the book series: Vita Mathematica ((VM,volume 17))

Abstract

The time which Lexell spent in Saint Petersburg coincided with the most productive and glorious period in the history of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The annual publications of the Academy, the Novi Commentarii and subsequently the Acta and Nova Acta, were filled with important articles in Latin and French on various scientific topics. A significant part of the mathematical papers were written by Leonhard Euler. The solemn, official part of the publications was the “History” section, containing the highlights of the academic year as well as lengthy abstracts of the ensuing scientific articles.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm (1723–1807), German-born French philosophical author and diplomat.

  2. 2.

    Julien Offray de la Mettrie (1709–1751), French physician and proponent of a materialistic philosophy, became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1748.

  3. 3.

    Dieudonné Thiébault (1733–1807) was a French author, Professor of French Grammar in Berlin and a lecteur (reader) at Frederick’s court.

  4. 4.

    Possibly the Councillor of the Court Franz Ulrich Theodosius Aepinus (1724–1802), a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, known for his pioneering theory of electricity and magnetism [64, 69] and for being the tutor of the Grand Duke Paul (later Paul I of Russia) [55]. In fact, after his appointment as tutor in 1765, Aepinus did not even attend the conferences of the Academy.

  5. 5.

    The King did not hesitate to use every opportunity to tell malicious anecdotes about his former employee Euler [43]. Technically, it is possible that Frederick himself injected Euler into the story.

  6. 6.

    Ensuite je lui aussi faisoit entendre, que Mr Diderot avoit été mis bien bas par Mr Aepinus dans le dispute si connue, qu’ils ont eue chez le Comte Wladimir Orlow.

  7. 7.

    This has been noted by the French historian Georges Dulac [35], who has studied Diderot’s sojourn in Saint Petersburg in the winter 1773–1774, especially in the light of the correspondence between J. A. Euler and Samuel Formey.

  8. 8.

    The fact that Lexell owned a portrait (engraving) of the Prince [47] suggests that their relations were close. Prince Golitsyn’s father had been field marshal and Governor of Finland during the “Greater Wrath”, Prince Mikhail Golitsyn.

  9. 9.

    Alexey Rzhevsky (Алексей Андреевич Ржевский; 1737–1804) had been, since 10 June (30 May o.s.) 1771, Vice Director of the Academy acting during Vladimir Orlov’s absence.

  10. 10.

    Sergey Domashnev (1743–1795) was a military officer and poet, educated in Moscow. He served as Director of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1782.

  11. 11.

    […] si par les préceptes de l’Astrologie on pourroit tirer quelques conclusions qui ayent du rapport aux actions merveilleuses de Pierre le Grand. M. le Prof. Lexell se chargea de ces calculs et recherches.

  12. 12.

    Princess Wilhelmina Louisa von Hessen-Darmstadt had shortly before been married to Grand Duke Paul. She died in 1776 after childbirth.

  13. 13.

    Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin (1718–1783), Russian statesman.

  14. 14.

    Board of Direction of the Academy presided over by the Director.

  15. 15.

    Alexey Protasov (1724–1796), anatomist, extraordinary academician, Secretary of the Academic Commission.

  16. 16.

    …[I]ngen af Academiens ledamöter är så allmänt känd hos de förnäma som Stählin; men det är ei til hans fördel, ty de fleste hålla honom för en narr, och denna öfwertygelse är så allmän, at den begynner sig ifrån Hennes Majst Keiserinnan och slutar sig med wåra soldater wid Academien. Han är en man af tämmeligen godt sinnelag, men en odrägelig vanité som gör honom hos alla människor löjelig och föraktelig.

  17. 17.

    Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Daniel Melander (Melanderhjelm) and Peter Jonas Bergius.

  18. 18.

    Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777), Swiss anatomist, physician and botanist.

  19. 19.

    Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788), French naturalist known for his monumental work Histoire naturelle (1749–1788).

  20. 20.

    Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709–1782), chemist and director of the physics section of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

  21. 21.

    Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813).

  22. 22.

    John Pringle (1707–1782), army surgeon, royal physician.

  23. 23.

    Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714–1786), Professor of Botany in Berlin.

  24. 24.

    Johannes Burman (1707–1779), Dutch botanist.

  25. 25.

    Ignaz Edler von Born (1742–1791), Hungarian mineralogist.

  26. 26.

    Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716–1800), French naturalist and physician, who collaborated with Count Buffon.

  27. 27.

    Joseph-Aignan Sigaud de Lafond (1730–1810), French experimental physicist.

  28. 28.

    Giuseppe Toaldo (1719–1797), Italian priest and astronomer.

  29. 29.

    Antonio Maria Lorgna (1735–1796), Italian physicist and engineer.

  30. 30.

    Grand Duke Paul, son of Catherine II.

  31. 31.

    Catherine’s mother, Johanna Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1712–1760), was the sister of Gustav’s father, King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden.

  32. 32.

    Johan Fredrik von Nolcken (1737–1809), Swedish envoy in Saint Petersburg in 1773–1788 [129].

  33. 33.

    Christian August (1673–1726) was a grandfather of Catherine II.

  34. 34.

    The globe, which had already been damaged during the removal, was placed in the tower of the Kunstkammer building, but was almost completely destroyed in a conflagration in 1747. Reconstruction of the wooden parts had commenced almost immediately and the globe was restored and gradually upgraded [74, 141].

  35. 35.

    Nils Dahlberg (1736–1820), royal physician.

  36. 36.

    Prince Alexander Kurakin (1752–1818), Russian statesman, was elected a foreign member of the KVA in 1776.

  37. 37.

    Lexell seems to have been unaware that Leonhard Euler had in fact been elected a foreign member (seat 33a) of KVA in 1755, while his son Johann Albrecht was elected a foreign member in 1771 (seat 79). The reason for the misunderstanding seems to be that Euler’s name did not appear regularly in the list of members occasionally published in the proceedings of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

  38. 38.

    Gustav III called his coup d’état in 1772 the “Revolution”.

  39. 39.

    Nikolaus Fuss helped to prepare several hundred of Euler’s papers and books. His first own works in mathematics, optics and astronomy were initiated and partly guided by Euler. Later he made more independent contributions to spherical trigonometry in Euler’s and Lexell’s footsteps and wrote many textbooks for schools [140]. He became Secretary of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences after J. A. Euler (1800) and was married to a grand-daughter of Euler’s. A short biography of Fuss has been published in Russian [112].

  40. 40.

    Mikhail Golovin (1756–1790) was a nephew of Mikhail Lomonosov and a disciple of Euler. He prepared many textbooks in mathematics and a Russian translation of Euler’s Théorie complète de la construction et manoeuvre des vaisseaux (1778). He also edited Lomonosov’s works.

  41. 41.

    Referring to the winning essays of Johann Albrecht and Karl Johann Euler (1740–1790) in the prize competitions of Paris Academy of Sciences.

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  1. Technical Research Center of Finland, VTT Espoo, Finland

    Johan C.-E. Stén

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Stén, J.CE. (2014). Academic Events in Saint Petersburg. In: A Comet of the Enlightenment. Vita Mathematica, vol 17. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00618-5_7

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