Observatorul Institutului Batthyánian invita Minerva. În jurul unei recenzii de epocă la Initia atronomica
The Observatory of the Batthyánian Institute invita Minerva. Considering a Critical Historical Review of the Initia Astronomica

The Observatory of the Batthyánian Institute invita Minerva. Considering a Critical Historical Review of the Initia Astronomica

Summary/Abstract: The Roman Catholic Bishop of Transylvania, in late XVIIIth century, Ignatius Bátthyany, had great plans for the local cultural life, in Alba Iulia (Carlsburg, Alba Carolina). He transformed a former Trinitarian church into a multifunctional institution: library, astronomical observatory and typography, everything under a single roof. On 31 July 1798, he drawn up and made his testament, which would also play the role of a foundational act. According to it, the Bishop designated as first Director of the Institute, Anton Mártonfi, his disciple, and the first astronomer of the Institutum Astronomiae Theoreticae et practicae. The Bishop’s preoccupations with the astronomical sciences are reflected in his personal correspondence with some of the most important contemporary scholars: Baron Franz von Zach, Jerome Laland etc. Under pressure from the Bishop, Mártonfi published his first opus, one of 6 planned to be published in the later years (a plan never fulfilled), Initia Astronomica Speculae Batthyanianae. Being already known his intentions in the privileged circle of the European scholars, Bátthyany created great expectations in the scientific community. Mártonfi’s work should have been the first fruit of these efforts. Despite this, the work of Mártonfi did not receive great reviews at all, on the contrary. The most important critic of this work was Baron Franz von Zach, Director of the Astronomical Observatory in Gotha. The study analyses the review von Zach made and the fascinating intellectual background of his critical position on Initia.

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