(Redirected from Federico Cesi)
Palazzo Corsini
The 'Accademia dei Lincei', (literally the "
Academy of the Lynxes", but also known as the 'Lincean Academy'), is an
Italian science academy, located at the
Palazzo Corsini on the
Via della Lungara in
Rome,
Italy.
Founded in
1603 by
Federico Cesi, it was the first academy of sciences to persist in Italy, and a locus for the incipient
scientific revolution. The academy was named after the
lynx, an animal whose sharp vision symbolizes the observational prowess required by science. In 1871, the academy became its country's official scientific academy .
The
Pontifical Academy of Science also claims a heritage descending from the first two incarnations of the Academy, by way of the ''Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes")'', founded 1847.
The ''Accademia''
The academy replaced the first scientific community ever,
Giambattista della Porta's
Academia Secretorum Naturae in Naples, which had been closed by the
Inquisition.
Federico Cesi (1586-1630), an aristocrat from Umbria (the son of Duke of Acquasparta and a member of an important family from
Rome) was passionately interested in natural history, above all in
botany. When Cesi visited
Naples, he met the
polymath della Porta, and then founded in Rome a branch of Porta's academy with three of his friends, the Dutch physician
Johannes Van Heeck (italianized to Giovanni Ecchio), and two fellow Umbrians, mathematician
Francesco Stelluti and polymath
Anastasio de Filiis. Cesi and his friends aimed to understand all of the
natural sciences, an emphasis that set the ''Lincei'' apart from the host of
16th and
17th century Italian Academies, most of which were literary and antiquarian. Free
experiment was Cesi's plan, respectful of tradition, but untrammeled by blind obedience to
authority, even that of
Aristotle and
Ptolemy, whose theories the new science called into question. Porta joined the academy in
1610.
The academy chose the name
lynx because of the traditional belief that those cats have unusually sharp vision. Its symbols were both a lynx and an
eagle, because they were famed for their sharp eyes. The academy's motto, chosen by Cesi, was: "take care of small things if you want to obtain the greatest results" (''minima cura si maxima vis'').
Galileo was inducted to the exclusive academy on
December 25 1611, and became its intellectual center. Being a member of the academy was an honour to him, because after being accepted as its member, he signed himself ''Galileo Galilei Linceo''. The academy published his works and supported him through his disputes with the
Roman Catholic Church. Among the academy's early publications in the fields of astronomy, physics and botany were the study of sunspots and the famous ''Saggiatore'' of Galileo, and the ''Tesoro Messicano'' (''Mexican Treasury'') describing the flora, fauna, and drugs of the New World, which took decades of labor, down to
1651. With this publication, the first, most famous phase of the Lincei was concluded. Cesi's own intense activity was cut short by his sudden death in 1630, scarcely 45 years of age.
Another important member of the academy was
Luca Valerio.
The Linceans produced an important collection of micrographs, or drawings made with the help of the newly invented
microscope. After Cesi's death, the academy closed and the drawings were collected by
Cassiano dal Pozzo, a Roman antiquarian, whose heirs sold them, and in
1763 they went to
George III of the United Kingdom. The drawings were discovered in
Windsor Castle in
1986 by art historian David Freedberg.
The Accademia is re-founded
In the
18th century the abbot Scarpellini attempted to revive an academy of "New Lincei", but it underwent a true revival only in
1847, when
Pope Pius IX re-founded it as the 'Pontificia accademia dei Nuovi Lincei', the 'Pontifical Academy of New Lincei'.
The ''Reale Accademia dei Lincei''
in
1874,
Quintino Sella turned it into the 'Accademia Nazionale Reale dei Lincei', the 'Royal National Lincean Academy'. This incarnation broadened its scope to include moral and humanistic sciences, and regained the high prestige associated with the original Lincean Academy.
After the unification of Italy, the Piedmontese
Quintino Sella infused new life into the '' Nuovo Lincei,'' reaffirming its ideals of secular science, but broadening its scope to include humanistic studies: history, philology, archeology, philosophy, economics and law, in two classes of ''Soci'' (Fellows). The modern ''Lincei'' have constituted a pantheon of European intellectuals: from
Righi and
Pacinotti to
Fermi, from
Pasteur to
Roentgen and
Einstein, from
Mommsen to
Wilamowitz,
Comparetti,
Croce, and Gentile.
The ''Accademia d'Italia''
In the
fascist period, it was incorporated into the new Accademia d'Italia, the
Italian Academy. After the fall of the fascist regime, when the Accademia d'Italia was suppressed, at the suggestion of
Benedetto Croce the Lincean Academy recovered its independence.
The ''Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei''
In
1986, the Academy was placed under a statute that says it shall be composed of 540 members, of whom 180 are ordinary Italian members, 180 are foreigners, and 180 are Italian corresponding members.
The members are divided into two classes: one for
mathematical,
physical, and
natural sciences; the other for
moral,
historical, and
philological sciences.
In
2001, the natural sciences were re-divided into five categories: mathematics,
mechanics and applications;
astronomy,
geodesy,
geophysics and applications; physics,
chemistry and applications;
geology,
paleontology,
mineralogy and applications; and
biological sciences and applications. At the same time, the moral sciences were divided into seven categories: philology and
linguistics;
archeology;
criticism of
art and of
poetry; history,
historical geography, and
anthropology;
philosophical science;
juridical science;
social and
political science.
External links
★
Official website, with brief history (in Italian).
★
Notes on the Accademia dei Lincei from the Scholarly Societies Project
References
★ This article draws material from the in the Italian wikipedia, retrieved 09:12, Feb 2, 2005 (UTC)
★ O'Connor, JJ and Robertson, EF. (2004).
"The Accademia dei Lincei." University of St Andrews (Scotland).
★ Van Helden, A. (2004, May 24).
Accademia dei Lincei. ''Connexions.''
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