Academy
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Italy.
Founded in the
Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct Sovereignty, sovereign rule of ...
in 1603 by Federico Cesi, the academy was named after the
lynx
A lynx is a type of wild cat.
Lynx may also refer to:
Astronomy
* Lynx (constellation)
* Lynx (Chinese astronomy)
* Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory
Places Canada
* Lynx, Ontar ...
, an animal whose sharp vision symbolizes the observational prowess that science requires.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He w ...
was the intellectual centre of the academy and adopted "Galileo Galilei Linceo" as his signature. "The Lincei did not long survive the death in 1630 of Cesi, its founder and patron", and "disappeared in 1651".
During the nineteenth century, it was revived, first in the Vatican and later in the nation of Italy. Thus the Pontifical Academy of Science, founded in 1847, claims this heritage as the ''Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes")'', descending from the first two incarnations of the Academy. Similarly, a lynx-eyed academy of the 1870s became the national academy of Italy, encompassing both literature and science among its concerns.
The ''Accademia''
The first Accademia dei Lincei was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi, an aristocrat from Umbria (the son of Duke of Acquasparta and a member of an important family from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
) who was passionately interested in natural history – particularly
botany
Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...
. Cesi's father disapproved of the research career that Federico was pursuing. His mother,
Olimpia Orsini Olimpia may refer to:
Sports teams
*Club Atlético Olimpia, a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay
*Club Deportivo Olimpia, a football team based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
* Club Olimpia, a sports club based in the city of Asunción, Paraguay
...
, supported him both financially and morally. The Academy struggled due to this disapproval, but after the death of Frederico's father he had enough money to allow the academy to flourish. The academy, hosted in Palazzo Cesi-Armellini near Saint Peter, replaced the first scientific community ever,
Giambattista della Porta
Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation.
Giamb ...
's ''
Academia Secretorum Naturae The first scientific society, the Academia Secretorum Naturae was founded in Naples in 1560 by Giambattista della Porta, a noted polymath. In Italian it was called ''Accademia dei Segreti'', the Academy of the Mysteries of Nature, and the members r ...
'' in Naples that had been closed by the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
. Cesi founded the Accademia dei Lincei with three friends: the Dutch physician
Johannes van Heeck
Johannes van Heeck, (Deventer 2 February 1579 – presumably Sant'Angelo Romano c.1620), (also known as Johann Heck, Joannes Eck, Johannes Heckius, Johannes Eckius and Giovanni Ecchio) was a Dutch physician, naturalist, alchemist and astrologer. ...
(Italianized to Giovanni Ecchio) and two fellow Umbrians, mathematician
Francesco Stelluti
Francesco Stelluti (12 January 1577, in Fabriano – November 1652, in Rome) was an Italian polymath who worked in the fields of mathematics, microscopy, literature, and astronomy. Along with Federico Cesi, Anastasio de Filiis and Johannes van Heec ...
and polymath Anastasio de Filiis. At the time of the Accademia's founding Cesi was only 18, and the others only 8 years older. Cesi and his friends aimed to understand all of the
natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...
. The literary and antiquarian emphasis set the "Lincei" apart from the host of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Italian Academies. Cesi envisioned a program of free
experiment
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs wh ...
that was respectful of tradition, yet unfettered by blind obedience to authority, even that of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...
and
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...
, whose theories the new science called into question. While originally a private association, the Academy became a semi-public establishment during the Napoleonic domination of Rome. This shift allowed the local scientific elite to carve out a place for themselves in larger scientific networks. However, as a semi-public establishment, the Academy's focus was directed by Napoleonic politics. This focus directed the member's efforts towards stimulating industry, turning public opinion in favour of the French regime and secularizing the country.
The name "Lincei" 'the
lynx
A lynx is a type of wild cat.
Lynx may also refer to:
Astronomy
* Lynx (constellation)
* Lynx (Chinese astronomy)
* Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory
Places Canada
* Lynx, Ontar ...
-like (i. e., lynx-eyed, sharp-eyed) ones' came from
Giambattista della Porta
Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation.
Giamb ...
's book '' Magia Naturalis'', which had an illustration of the fabled cat on the cover and the words " ..with lynx-like eyes, examining those things which manifest themselves, so that having observed them, he may zealously use them".''Della Porta's Life – From Giambattista Della Porta Dramatist'' by Louise George Clubb – Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey, 1965 /ref> Accademia dei Lincei's symbols were both a lynx and an
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
; animals with, or reputed to have, keen sight (in classical and medieval bestiaries the lynx was reputed to be able to see through rock and "new walls"). 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''). According to
T. O'Conor Sloane
Thomas O'Conor Sloane (November 24, 1851 – August 7, 1940) was an American scientist, inventor, author, editor, educator, and linguist, perhaps best known for writing ''The Standard Electrical Dictionary'' and as the editor of ''Scientific Ame ...
, their other motto was ''Sagacius ista''. When Cesi visited
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, he met with many scientists in fields of interest to him including the botanist, Fabio Colonna, the natural history writer, Ferrante Imperato, and the
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
della Porta. Della Porta was impressed with Cesi, and dedicated three works to the Linceans including a treatise on distillation called ''De Distillatione'', a book on curvilinear geometry called ''Elementa Curvilinea'', and ''The Transformations of the Atmosphere''.David Freedberg, The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, His Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2002. Della Porta encouraged Cesi to continue with his endeavours. Giambattista della Porta joined Cesi's academy in 1610. While in Naples, Cesi also met with Nardo Antonio Recchi to negotiate the acquisition of a collection of material describing Aztec plants and animals written by
Francisco Hernández de Toledo Francisco Hernández de Toledo (1514 in La Puebla de Montalbán, Toledo – 28 January 1587 in Madrid) was a naturalist and court physician to the King of Spain.
Hernández was among the first wave of Spanish Renaissance physicians practicing accor ...
. This collection of material would eventually become the ''Tesoro Messicano'' (''Mexican Treasury'').
The goal was nothing less than the assembly of modern science reflected on the method of observation: the church of knowledge. The Academy was to possess in each quarter of the global
communes
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
with adequate endowments to retain membership. These communes were complete with
libraries
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
,
laboratories
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...
,
museums
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
,
printing presses
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the c ...
, and
botanical gardens
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
. Members frequently wrote letters around their observations. The Lyncæis denounced
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
as a ''mollis'' and ''effeminata requies''. Membership was banned to
monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
. Members were ordered to "penetrate into the interior of things in order to know the causes and operations of nature, as it is said the lynx does, which sees not only what is outside, but what is hidden within."
Galileo was inducted to the exclusive Academy on April 25, 1611, and became its intellectual centre. Galileo clearly felt honoured by his association with the Academy for he adopted ''Galileo Galilei Linceo'' as his signature. The Academy published his works and supported him during his disputes with the
Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition, formally the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, respon ...
. Among the Academy's early publications in the fields of astronomy, physics and botany were Galileo's " Letters on Sunspots" and "
The Assayer
''The Assayer'' ( it, Il Saggiatore) was a book published in Rome by Galileo Galilei in October 1623 and is generally considered to be one of the pioneering works of the scientific method, first broaching the idea that the book of nature is to b ...
", and the ''Tesoro Messicano'' describing the flora, fauna and drugs of the New World, which took decades of labour, down to 1651. With this publication, the first, most famous phase of the Lincei was concluded. The new usage of microscopy, with "references to magnification tools can be found in the works of Galileo and several Lincei, Harvey, Gassendi, Marco Aurelio Severino—who was probably also in contact with the Lincie—and Nathanial Highmore." Domenico Bertoloni Meli, in Mechanism, Experiment, Disease: Marcello Malpighi and Seventeenth-Century Anatomy (Johns Hopkins University Press: 2011; p. 41). Microscopes were not just by the Lincei for astronomical and mathematical work, but were also used for new experimentations in anatomy, as this was the time of the rise of mechanistic anatomy, and the theories of atomism. Experimentation proliferated across the board. Cesi's own intense activity was cut short by his sudden death in 1630 at forty-five.
The Linceans produced an important collection of micrographs or drawings made with the help of the newly invented
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
. After Cesi's death, the Accademia dei Lincei closed and the drawings were collected by
Cassiano dal Pozzo
Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588 – 22 October 1657) was an Italian scholar and patron of arts. The secretary of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, he was an antiquary in the classicizing circle of Rome, and a long-term friend and patron of Nicolas Poussin, w ...
, a Roman antiquarian, whose heirs sold them. The majority of the collection was procured by
George III of the United Kingdom
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until Acts of Union 1800, the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was ...
, in 1763. The drawings were discovered in
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
in 1986, by art historian David Freedberg. They are being published as part of ''The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo''.
Johannes van Heeck
Johannes van Heeck, (Deventer 2 February 1579 – presumably Sant'Angelo Romano c.1620), (also known as Johann Heck, Joannes Eck, Johannes Heckius, Johannes Eckius and Giovanni Ecchio) was a Dutch physician, naturalist, alchemist and astrologer. ...
– Dutch physician
*
Giambattista della Porta
Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation.
Giamb ...
– Italian scholar, polymath and playwright
*
Adam Elsheimer
__NOTOC__
Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintin ...
– German artist
*
Johann Faber
Johann Faber (1478 – May 21, 1541) was a Catholic theologian known for his writings opposing the Protestant Reformation and the growing Anabaptist movement.
Biography
Johann Faber, the son of a blacksmith, was born in Leutkirch, Swabia a ...
– German physician and botanist, coined name "''microscope''"
*
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He w ...
– Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
*
Johann Schreck
Johann(es) Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo 鄧玉函, Deng Zhen Lohan, (1576, Bingen, Baden-Württemberg or Constance – 11 May 1630, Beijing) was a German Jesuit, missionary to China and polymath. He i ...
– German Jesuit, Missionary to China and polymath
*
Francesco Stelluti
Francesco Stelluti (12 January 1577, in Fabriano – November 1652, in Rome) was an Italian polymath who worked in the fields of mathematics, microscopy, literature, and astronomy. Along with Federico Cesi, Anastasio de Filiis and Johannes van Heec ...
– mathematician
*
Nicola Antonio Stigliola
Nicola Antonio Stigliola (Also: Colantonio Stelliola) (1546 Nola – 1623 Naples) was an Italian philosopher, printer, architect, and medical doctor. He was a friend of Tommaso Campanella and Giordano Bruno and a member of the Accademia de ...
– Italian philosopher, printer, architect, and medical doctor
*
Luca Valerio
Luca Valerio (1553–1618) was an Italian mathematician. He developed ways to find volumes and centers of gravity of solid bodies using the methods of Archimedes. He corresponded with Galileo Galilei and was a member of the Accademia dei Lince ...
– Italian mathematician
*
Giovanni Ciampoli
Giovanni Ciampoli or Giovanni Battista Ciampoli (Florence, 1589 – Iesi, 8 September 1643) was a priest, poet and humanist. He was closely associated with Galileo Galilei and his disputes with the Catholic Church.
Education and friendship with ...
– poet, intellectual, Secretary of Briefs to Pope Gregory XV and chamberlain to Urban VIII
*
Virginio Cesarini
Virginio Cesarini (20 October 1595, in Rome – 1 April 1624, in Rome) was an Italian poet and intellectual.
Youth and Education
The son of Giuliano Cesarini, duke of Civitanova, and his wife Livia Orsini, he was sent together with his brother ...
– poet, intellectual, and chamberlain to Popes Gregory XV and Urban VIII
The Accademia is re-founded
In 1801, Abbot
Feliciano Scarpellini Feliciano may refer to:
People
*Feliciano (name), including a list of people with the name
Places
*San José de Feliciano, Argentine city
*Feliciano River, river in Argentina
*Estadio Feliciano Gambarte, stadium in Argentina
*Dom Feliciano
Dom F ...
and
Gioacchino Pessuti
Gioacchino is a masculine Italian given name, equivalent to the English Joachim. Notable people with the name include:
* Gioacchino Assereto (1600–1649), Italian painter
* Gioacchino Cocchi (1720–1804), Italian composer
* Gioacchino Colombo ( ...
, with the patronage of
Francesco Caetani
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
, founded the ''Accademia Caetani'' which took the name of ''Accademia dei Lincei''. The period from 1801-1840 has been termed the "Second Renaissance" of the Accademia. Conflicting goals and general shifts in the "geo-political scale" left the Academy in a state of limbo, which ultimately led to its collapse in the 1840s. During the French domination of the Accademia, the institution saw a transition from a private association to a municipal institution. Despite efforts from the early 1800s onward, the Accademia underwent a true revival 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
Quintino Sella (; 7 July 1827 – 14 March 1884) was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer.
Biography
Sella was born at Sella di Mosso, in the Province of Biella.
After studying engineering at Turin, he was sent in 1843 to study ...
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
Quintino Sella (; 7 July 1827 – 14 March 1884) was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer.
Biography
Sella was born at Sella di Mosso, in the Province of Biella.
After studying engineering at Turin, he was sent in 1843 to study ...
infused new life into the '' Nuovi Lincei,'' reaffirming its ideals of secular science, but broadening its scope to include humanistic studies: history, philology, archaeology, philosophy, economics and law, in two classes of ''Soci'' (Fellows).
Members
*
Mario Ageno
Mario Ageno (March 2, 1915 – December 23, 1992) is considered one of Italy's most important biophysicists.
Early life and education
Born in Livorno from a Genoese family, he studied Physics for two years in Genoa, when one of his professors no ...
*
Giusto Bellavitis
Giusto Bellavitis (22 November 1803 – 6 November 1880) was an Italian mathematician, senator, and municipal councilor. Charles Laisant (1880) "Giusto Bellavitis. Nécrologie", ''Bulletin des sciences mathématiques et astronomiques'', 2nd s ...
*
Ersilia Caetani Lovatelli
Ersilia Caetani-Lovatelli or Ersilia Caetani (12 October 1840 – 22 December 1925) was an Italian aristocrat, art historian, cultural historian and archaeologist.
Personal life
Caetani-Lovatelli was born in Rome in 1840 to Michelangelo Caetani, ...
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952)
was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a ...
*
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...
*
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" an ...
*
Edward Augustus Freeman
Edward Augustus Freeman (2 August 182316 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, and Liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for Parliament. ...
*
Giovanni Gentile
Giovanni Gentile (; 30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944) was an Italian neo- Hegelian idealist philosopher, educator, and fascist politician. The self-styled "philosopher of Fascism", he was influential in providing an intellectual foundation for ...
*
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
*
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
*
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
*
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classics, classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19 ...
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named after ...
*
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical ...
George Rawlinson
George Rawlinson (23 November 1812 – 6 October 1902) was a British scholar, historian, and Christian theologian.
Life
Rawlinson was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire, the son of Abram Tysack Rawlinson and the younger brother of the famous ...
Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; ; 27 March 184510 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achie ...
*
Manlio Simonetti
Manlio Simonetti (2 May 1926 – 1 November 2017) was an Italian scholar of Patristics and the history of Biblical interpretation.
Biography
Simonetti was born in Rome on 2 May 1926.
His early studies were in Classics (philology and history) at ...
*
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest ...
*
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literatur ...
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
period the Lincean Academy was effectively replaced by the new Accademia d'Italia, the Italian Academy, but was not fully absorbed by that institution until 1939.Fascist Italy, John Whittam, page 84 In 1949, after the fall of the fascist regime, at the suggestion of
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952)
was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a ...
the Lincean Academy recovered its independence. A brief history of this period of the Accademia, as well as the complete inventory of publications and documents produced in the same period, can be found in the book by .
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
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
physical
Physical may refer to:
*Physical examination
In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally cons ...
, and
natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
, and
philological
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
sciences.
In 2001, the natural sciences were re-divided into five categories: mathematics,
mechanics
Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects ...
and applications;
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
,
geodesy
Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), Earth rotation, orientation in space, and Earth's gravity, gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properti ...
,
geophysics
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
and applications; physics, chemistry and applications;
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
,
paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fos ...
,
mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...
and applications; and
biological sciences
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
and applications. At the same time, the moral sciences were divided into seven categories: philology and
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
;
archeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
;
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or govern ...
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...
; history,
historical geography
Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. It is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with history, anthropology, eco ...
, and
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
The Accademia regularly awards prestigious prizes to talented researchers and scholars. Notable prizes include:
* Premio Presidente della Repubblica
*
Feltrinelli Prize The Feltrinelli Prize (from the Italian "Premio Feltrinelli", also known as "International Feltrinelli Prize" or "Antonio Feltrinelli Prize") is an award for achievement in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical a ...
*
Alfredo di Braccio Award
The Alfredo di Braccio Award is a prestigious prize for young Italian scientists given by the Italian Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is o ...
for young Italian researchers in Physics and Chemistry
* Premio del Ministro per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
* Premio Linceo
* Premio Internazionale Cataldo Agostinelli e Angela Gili Agostinelli
Italia
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
n
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
The Ministry of Culture ( it, Ministero della Cultura - MiC) is the Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Italy in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the ''Monument historique, monuments historiqu ...
). The complete inventory of the
Reale Accademia d'Italia
The Royal Academy of Italy ( it, Reale Accademia d'Italia, italic=no) was a short-lived Italian academy of the Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by royal decree,See reference . but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929. It was e ...
, which incorporated the
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...
between 1939 and 1944.
*
*, available at Connexions '.
*Walton, S.A., ''Theophrastus on Lyngurium: medieval and early modern lore from the classical lapidary tradition'', 2001, ''Annals of Science'', 2001 Oct;58(4):357-79 PDF on Academia.edu *David Freedberg, ''The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, His Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History'', Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2002.
*
T. O'Conor Sloane
Thomas O'Conor Sloane (November 24, 1851 – August 7, 1940) was an American scientist, inventor, author, editor, educator, and linguist, perhaps best known for writing ''The Standard Electrical Dictionary'' and as the editor of ''Scientific Ame ...
. ''Facts Worth Knowing Selected Mainly from the Scientific American for Household, Workshop, and Farm Embracing Practical and Useful Information for Every Branch of Industry''. Hartford: S. S. Scranton and Co. 1895.
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...