Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences

Commemorative medal from Anton Schäffer , on the foundation of the Palatinate Academy of Sciences, 1763

Title page of the Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae , Volume VI Physicum, 1790

The historic Mannheim observatory

The Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences in Mannheim was the official scientific association of the Electoral Palatinate , which existed from 1763 to 1803. The number of ordinary members was small, there were also extraordinary and honorary members.

history

The Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences was founded at the suggestion of the Alsatian scholar Johann Daniel Schöpflin , by Elector Carl Theodor von der Pfalz , by decree of October 15, 1763, with its seat in Mannheim. It emerged as part of the European academy movement and its founding in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The founding meeting took place in Mannheim on October 20, 1763 and was opened by the Elector Palatine High Court Master Karl Anton Hyacinth von Gallean on behalf of the Elector. The Secret War Council and Colonel Leopold Maximilian Baron von Hohenhausen was appointed the founding president and Johann Daniel Schöpflin was appointed honorary president. The Alsatian historian Andreas Lamey (1726–1802) became permanent secretary and librarian of the court library . At first it was divided into two sections, the History and Natural Sciences Department in Mannheim and the Collegium Anatomico-Chirurgicum in Düsseldorf . In 1780 the ruler founded the Societas Meteorologica Palatina as the third section of the academy, the first internationally active meteorological society. Under the elector's government, the royal palatinate residence city of Mannheim was able to develop into a cultural center of European importance.

As a sovereign of his time, Carl Theodor stood between absolutism and enlightenment . He reigned from 31 December 1742 as Count Palatine and Elector of the Palatinate and Duke of Julich-Berg , from December 30, 1777 as Elector of Bavaria .

The ruler's politics had a strong cultural and educational policy intention. During his reign in the Palatinate, he spent 35 million guilders on the promotion of art and science . His reign was of enormous importance for the cultural, economic and infrastructural development of southern Germany in the second half of the 18th century. Under his reign, which lasted more than half a century, Mannheim became a center of the arts and sciences as an expression of its princely patronage.

Other scientific institutes such as the Natural History Cabinet in Mannheim Palace , the Physical Cabinet, the Mannheim Observatory and the Botanical Garden were affiliated to the Academy . As an artistic counterpart, Elector Karl Theodor also founded the Mannheim Drawing Academy in 1769 .

After the union of the Electoral Palatinate with Bavaria to form Electoral Palatinate-Bavaria in 1777, the academy in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences became a competitor for financial resources. In 1803, Electoral Palatinate Bavaria lost the right bank of the Electoral Palatinate to Baden in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , while the left bank of the Rhine had previously come to France. After forty years of existence, the Mannheim Academy was merged into the Bavarian Academy of Sciences on February 7, 1803. In 1909, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences was founded by a private individual , which is not part of the tradition of the Mannheim Academy, but nevertheless occasionally invokes this tradition.

publication

The Mannheim Castle

Between 1766 and 1794 the Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences published its research reports in the Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae , of which a volume appeared about every three years. Before the scientific treatises, all volumes always contain a rich section on the history of the Academy, naming the new members and obituaries for deceased members; this section appeared in the two sub-series Historica and Physica. One of the academy's major editing projects was the publication of the Lorsch Codex between 1768 and 1770.

Well-known members

• Karl Paul Ernst von Bentheim-Steinfurt (1729–1780); ruling count, historian and collector, honorary member in 1770
• Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782); Mathematician and physicist, extraordinary member in 1767
• Cosimo Alessandro Collini (1727-1806); Court historiographer and naturalist, full member in 1763
• Georg Christian Crollius (1728-1790); Historian and librarian, full member in 1765
• Karl Anton Hyacinth von Gallean (1737–1778); Obersthofmeister of the Electoral Palatinate , 1764 honorary member
• Johann Casimir Häffelin (1737-1827); Palatinate-Bavarian diplomat , cardinal , full member in 1768
• Johann Jakob Hemmer (1733-1790); Grammarian, meteorologist and physicist , extraordinary member in 1767, full member in 1768
• Paul Henri Thiry d'Holbach (1723-1789); French Enlightenment philosopher , collaborator in the Encyclopédie , associate member in 1766
• Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (1701–1790), auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Trier, 1767 honorary member
• Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-1817); Botanist and chemist, extraordinary member in 1784
• Adam František Kollár (1718–1783), court librarian, historian, 1769 extraordinary member
• Christoph Jakob Kremer (1722–1777), historian, founding member
• Andreas Lamey (1726–1802), historian and librarian, full member since 1763
• Nicolas Maillot de la Treille (1725-1794); Electoral Palatinate court chaplain and court librarian, full member in 1763
• Martinus van Marum (1750-1837), Dutch natural scientist, 1789 extraordinary member
• Christian Mayer (1719-1783); Meteorologist and astronomer , extraordinary member in 1773, full member in 1780
• Friedrich Casimir Medicus (1736–1808); Doctor and botanist, full member in 1764
• Daniel Wilhelm Nebel (1735–1805), physician and chemist and rector of Heidelberg University
• Noël Martin Joseph de Necker (1730-1793); Electoral physician and botanist , full member in 1768
• Karl Wilhelm Nose (1753-1835); Doctor and mineralogist, extraordinary member in 1791
• Franz Albert Leopold von Oberndorff (1720–1799); Minister of the Electoral Palatinate, honorary member in 1773, second honorary president of the academy in 1773
• Franz Christoph von Scheyb (1704–1777); Historian, associate member in 1768
• Johann Daniel Schöpflin (1694–1771); Historian, first honorary president of the academy in 1763
• Georg Friedrich Schott (1737-1823); Historian and archivist , extraordinary member in 1785
• Georg von Stengel (1721–1798); Chancellery director and state councilor, founding director of the academy in 1763, second honorary president of the academy in 1784
• Benjamin Thompson (1753-1814); Officer and experimental physicist, honorary member 1785
• Karl Theodor von Traitteur (1756-1830); Palatinate-Bavarian court librarian , full member in 1786
• François Arouet de Voltaire (1694–1778), author and enlightener, 1764 honorary member
• Johann Wilhelm Wallot (1743–1794), astronomer, 1773 extraordinary member
• Georg Joseph Wedekind (1739–1789), legal scholar, member
• Helfrich Bernhard Wenck (1739-1803); Historian, associate member in 1790
• Johann Goswin Widder (1734–1800); Historian and topographer , extraordinary member in 1787
• Stephan Alexander Würdtwein (1719–1796); Historian, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Worms, extraordinary member in 1765, honorary member in 1784

literature

• Gerhard Bauer, Kai Budde, Wilhelm Kreutz, Patrick Schäfer (ed. On behalf of Academia Domitor - Study Forum Johann Jakob Hemmer eV): "Di fernunft siget". The universal scholar of the Electoral Palatinate, Johann Jakob Hemmer (1733–1790) and his work (= yearbook for international German studies. Series A, Congress reports, volume 103). Peter Lang, Bern 2010, ISBN 978-3-0343-0445-0 , pp. 149-174. On-line
• Ludwig Eid : The learned societies of the Palatinate , Verlag der Jägerschen Buchhandlung, Speyer, 1926
• Ebersold, Günther: Rococo, Reform and Revolution. A political life picture of the Elector Karl Theodor. Frankfurt a. M. 1985
• Fuchs, Peter: Elector Karl Theodor von Pfalzbayern (1724-1799). In: Pfälzer Lebensbilder, Ed. Kurt Baumann, Volume 3, Speyer 1977, pp. 65–105
• Mörz, Stefan: Enlightened absolutism in the Electoral Palatinate during the Mannheim reign of Elector Karl Theodor 1742−77. Stuttgart 1991

Web links

Commons : Kurpfälzische Akademie der Wissenschaften  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences  - Sources and full texts

• Information board of the city of Mannheim. PDF, 1 MB

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Perlinger, Hans: Karl Theodor: Lord over seven countries. PDF, 71 kB
2. ↑ Peter Fuchs:  Karl (IV.) Theodor. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , pp. 252-258 ( digitized version ).
3. ↑ Study Guide Philosophy: Academies of Science
4. ^ Samuel Heinsius: Continued new genealogical-historical news , 35th part, Leipzig 1765, page 764. Online
5. ↑ Mannheim Palace: Natural History Cabinet  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 14, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 14
7. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 2 1770, p. 6
8. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 8
9. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 18
10. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 15
11. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 2, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 2
12. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 2 1770, p. 6
13. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 5, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 5
14. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 2 1770, p. 3
15. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 2 1770, p. 6
16. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 12, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 12
17. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 8, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 8
18. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 8
19. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 7 1794, p. 2
20. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 4 Hist. 1778, p. 10, identical vol. 4 Phys. 1780, p. 10
21. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 5 Hist. 1783, p. 8, identical vol. 5 Phys. 1783, p. 8
22. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 12
23. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 2 1770, p. 403
24. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 5, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 5
25. ^ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 7, 1794, p. 17
26. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 4 Hist. 1778, p. 8
27. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 3 Hist. 1773, p. 2, identical vol. 3 Phys. 1775, p. 2
28. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 7
29. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 13, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 13
30. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 8
31. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 5 Hist. 1783, p. 11, identical vol. 5 Phys. 1784, p. 11
32. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 13, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 13
33. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 15, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 15
34. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 15
35. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 4 Hist. 1778, p. 8
36. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 12, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 12
37. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 19, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 19
38. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 1 1766, p. 17
39. ↑ Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae, Vol. 6 Hist. 1789, p. 11, identical vol. 6 Phys. 1790, p. 11