FRENCH VISITORS TO HEVELIUS’ OBSERVATORY

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FRENCH VISITORS TO HEVELIUS’ OBSERVATORY

Journal Title: Studia Historiae Scientiarum - Year 2012, Vol 11, Issue

Abstract

In his youth Johann Hevelius visited many European countries, including France. There he possibly met Marin Mersenne and Ismael Boulliau, and certainly Pierre Gassendi and Athanasius Kircher. Later, for decades, it was Pierre Des Noyers (1606–1693), a secretary of Queen Louise Marie Gonzaga, who played a very important role in the astronomer’s contacts with French scholars and with both French and Polish royal courts. Des Noyers certainly made his first visit to Hevelius’ observatory at the beginning of 1646, when Louise Marie, the new queen of French origin, arrived in Poland. This visit gave rise to many personal contacts, a lively correspondence and collaboration between Des Noyers and Hevelius. In 1648, a group of envoys led by Count Louis d’Arpajon came to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and they stayed in Gdańsk (Danzig) for a long time. They made the acquaintance of Hevelius; especially among them François Bernier (1620–1688), a student and long-time companion of Gassendi, later the author of an important outline of his philosophy. Bernier returned to France via Italy where, at Hevelius’ request, he purchased for him lens glass in Murano near Venice. Years later he again rendered a service to Hevelius: Bernier’s account of Hevelius’ observatory helped to place in 1663 the Gdańsk astronomer among the scholars financially supported by Louis XIV (with an annual pension paid to him for nine years). Consequently, Hevelius dedicated two of his works to Louis XIV: Cometographia (Gdańsk 1668) and Machinae coelestis pars prior (Gdańsk 1673). Hevelius, like Tycho Brahe before him, had the opportunity to play host to crowned heads at his observatory and his home. During the negotiations in Gdańsk for the Peace Treaty of Oliva, King John Casimir and Queen Louise Marie visited Hevelius. It was then that Des Noyers watched with admiration the astronomer’s sophisticated observatory, which in those days was the largest observatory in Europe. In 1661, on his way to the Polish royal court in Warsaw, Ismael Boulliau (1605–1694), a famous French astronomer and “political scientist”, stopped at Hevelius’ place and stayed there for quite a long time. The two astronomers carried out joint observations. In his letters, written from Gdańsk, Boulliau admired the instruments built by Hevelius and his efficacy in using the instruments. Later, the two exchanged dedications to each other in their published papers. Yet, “Fig. W” in Hevelius’ Machinae coelestis pars prior (Gdańsk 1673) does not portray Boulliau, as some claim, but an astronomer’s assistant.

Authors and Affiliations

Karolina TARGOSZ

Keywords

historia astronomii Jan Heweliusz

EP ID EP158180
DOI -
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