Nature in Seclusion. The Monastic Republic of Letters in Southern Germany

Monasteries were famous for their extensive libraries and richly decorated churches. Less well known are their observatories and their mathematical-physical collections with telescopes, air pumps, and friction machines. But how did the way of life in the monastery and scientific practices influence...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 2024-09, Vol.47 (3), p.215-241
Main Author: Bloemer, Julia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pumps
Churches
Monasteries
Observatories
Telescopes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Monasteries were famous for their extensive libraries and richly decorated churches. Less well known are their observatories and their mathematical-physical collections with telescopes, air pumps, and friction machines. But how did the way of life in the monastery and scientific practices influence each other? This paper examines the interaction of scientific practices and religious way of life using the example of southern German monasteries in the second half of the eighteenth century. It shows how the monks pragmatically linked monastic life and research practice, thereby forming their own specific scientific culture. This closes an important gap in the understanding of scholarship in the eighteenth century by foregrounding the monasteries as places of knowledge production, which have so far received little attention alongside universities and academies.
ISSN:0170-6233
1522-2365
1522-2365
DOI:10.1002/bewi.202300010