(from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Acts of the Erudite'') was the first

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

of the German-speaking lands of Europe, published from 1682 to 1782.

History

''Acta Eruditorum'' was founded in 1682 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Otto Mencke Otto Mencke (; ; 22 March 1644 – 18 January 1707) was a 17th-century German philosopher and scientist. Work Mencke obtained his doctorate at the University of Leipzig in August 1666 with a thesis entitled: ''Ex Theologia naturali – De A ...

, who became its first editor, with support from

Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathem ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, who contributed 13 articles over the journal's first four years. It was published by

Johann Friedrich Gleditsch Johann Friedrich Gleditsch (15 August 1653 – 26 March 1716) was a major book publisher in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Early career Gleditsch was born in Eschendorf, near Pirna, on 15 August 1653, son of pastor Georg Gleditsch (16 ...

, with sponsorship from the Duke of Saxony, and was patterned after the French ''

Journal des savants A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' and the Italian ''Giornale de'letterati''. The journal was published monthly, entirely in Latin, and contained excerpts from new writings, reviews, small essays and notes. Most of the articles were devoted to 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 repeatab ...

and mathematics, including contributions (apart from Leibniz) from, e.g.,

Jakob Bernoulli Jacob Bernoulli (also known as James or Jacques; – 16 August 1705) was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He was an early proponent of Leibnizian calculus and sided with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz during the Leib ...

, Humphry Ditton,

Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...

, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus,

Pierre-Simon Laplace Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. He summarized ...

and

Jérôme Lalande Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (; 11 July 1732 – 4 April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. Biography Lalande was born at Bourg-en-Bresse (now in the département of Ain) to Pierre Lefrançois and Marie‐Anne‐Gab ...

, but also from humanists and philosophers such as

Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff or Seckendorf (December 20, 1626December 18, 1692), Germany, German politician, statesman and scholar, was a member of the House of Seckendorff, a noble family which took its name from the village of Sugenheim, Seckendo ...

, Stephan Bergler,

Christian Thomasius Christian Thomasius (1 January 1655 – 23 September 1728) was a German jurist and philosopher. Biography He was born in Leipzig and was educated by his father, Jakob Thomasius (1622–1684), at that time a junior lecturer in Leipzig Universi ...

and Christian Wolff. After

's death in 1707, ''Acta Eruditorum'' was directed by his son, Johann Burckhardt Mencke, who died in 1732. The journal had changed its name by then to ''Nova Acta Eruditorum''. Beginning in 1756 it was led by Karl Andreas Bel.

Role in the Calculus War

Although Mencke once exchanged letters and publications with

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

, Newton was not a correspondent of ''Acta''. The dispute between Newton and Leibniz over credit for the

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

differential calculus In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus—the study of the area beneath a curve. ...

started with a contribution by Leibniz to the May 1697 issue of ''Acta Eruditorum'', in response to which Fatio de Duillier, feeling slighted by being omitted from Leibniz's list of the best mathematicians of Europe, announced that Newton had discovered calculus before Leibniz and the last had probably even relied on Newton's achievements. In the following acrimonious squabble, ''Acta'' by and large acted as a mouthpiece for Leibniz's camp, much as '' Philosophical Transactions'' did for Newton's. Mencke tried to tone down the dispute, but rebuttals from both sides were too forceful. "Where Mencke was powerless to call the tune, he did his utmost at least to set the tone," says H. Laeven in his description of the row. This dispute also influenced ''Acta'' to express the feelings of national cohesion and defining German scholarship within the international field of influence.

Notes

References

* H. Laeven, ''"The "Acta Eruditorum" under the Editorship of Otto Mencke. The History of an International Learned Journal between 1682 and 1707"'', trans. L. Richards, Amsterdam: APA-Holland University Press, 1990. Electronic version available through repository of University Library Nijmegen. * A.H. Laeven and L.J.M. Laeven-Aretz, ''"The authors and reviewers of the Acta Eruditorum 1682-1735"'', Molenhoek, The Netherlands, 2014. lectronic publication Identifies and lists all authors and reviewers of individual contributions between 1682 and 1735. Available through repositories of University Library Leipzig and University Library Nijmegen. *
(Nova) Acta Eruditorum
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