The Foundation of the First Göttingen Observatory: A Study in Politics and Personalities

This is the date given in Wagner Ferdinand , Chronik der Stadt Göttingen (Göttingen 1937), 55.

We know from 4/V f/1, 14, 16, 17 in the Dekanat u. Universität Archiv in Göttingen that von Schmettau first sent a brief description of his plans to von Münchhausen on 27 November 1749, that accounts of these also appeared in public newspapers, and that a more detailed description, dated Berlin, 27 February 1750, was probably transmitted to Segner from Hanover on 9 March 1750. This last-mentioned document, now preserved under Cod. Ms. Tob. Mayer 15₂ in the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitäts-Archiv in Göttingen, is classified in the Verzeichnis der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate, I Hannover 3 Göttingen, iii (Berlin, 1894), 154–8, as “ein Brief von unbekannter Hand (französischer) aus Berlin”.

This is stated in a private memorandum by C. L. Scheidt, in 4/V f/1, 15, Dekanat u. Universität Archiv. Göttingen.

Details of the cartographic activities of Franz , Lowitz , Mayer , and their colleagues in Nuremberg can be found in: Ruge S. , “Aus der Sturm- und Drang-Periode der Geographie”, Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Geographie, v (1885), 249–60; also in Sandler C. , “Die Homännischen Erben”, ibid., vii (1890), 333–55 and 418–48.

Cf. ref. 3.

A considerable quantity of unpublished correspondence relating to these negotiations is contained among the Personalakten of Lowitz 4/Vb 27 and Franz 4/Vb 23 (loc. cit., ref. 3); also in the correspondence of Scheidt to Michaelis Johann David , Cod. Ms. philos. 157 in the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitäts-Bibliothek, Göttingen.

Keller Karl , “Johann Andreas Segner”, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technik und Industrie, v (1913), 54–72.

A copy of the letter of appointment is in Mayer's Personalake 4/Vb 18, 15 (loc. cit., ref. 3). His duties were defined as the teaching of practical mathematics, and research, and his annual salary fixed at 400 rthl plus 40 rthl “Licent aequivalent-Gelder”. The title Professor of Economy that was accorded to him was purely nominal.

Balck to Segner , 31 October 1748; Cod. Ms. Tob. Mayer 15₄ (loc. cit., ref. 6).

Correspondence by Insinger H. , Von Munchhausen , Penther , Willig M. L. , Segner, and Heumann on this subject is contained among the largest collection of manuscripts pertaining to the Göttingen Observatory sub-headed “Die Anlegung und fernere Unterhaltung des Observatorii, 1748 u. flgd.”, 4/V f/1 (loc. cit., ref. 3). Cf. items 2–13. Additional letters to Segner from Balck on 31 October 1748 and from von Münchhausen on 8 November 1748 are preserved in Cod. Ms. Tob. Mayer 154 (loc. cit., ref. 6). Cf. items 1, 2.

The original document is preserved together with the Georg Akt zu Loceum, Hanover 11 March 1751 in Cod. Ms. Tob. Mayer 154, (loc. cit., ref. 6). Cf. item 8.

See the specification in 4/V f/1, 33 (loc. cit., ref. 3); and Johann R. von Hardenberg's P.M. of 28 June 1751 in Cod. Ms. Tob. Mayer 154, 19 (loc. cit., ref. 6).

Official permission for this transfer was granted by von Münchhausen on 26 September 1754 (ibid., 199). A complete index and description of the Bülow instruments, prepared by Lowitz in 1763 at the request of the Hanoverian government, is contained in 4/V f/4, 12–33 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Segner and Mayer to the Hanoverian government, Göttingen 1 April 1751, in 4/V f/1, 32 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Heumann's first estimate, dated Hanover 12 June 1750, amounted to just over 1804 rthl, his second to just over 1698 rthl. See 4/V f/1, 27 and 71 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Kampe's specification, dated 27 November 1752, is in ibid., 133. In an undated letter to Franz, preserved in Cod. Ms. philos. 159, p. 42 (loc. cit., ref. 6), Mayer says that he would not be sending any further commission to Nuremberg since Lowitz had broken his promise to make the quadrant for the Göttingen observatory. Presumably this had occurred earlier.

Best W. P. (London) to Privy Secretary Balck (Hanover), 23 July 1754, in 4/V f/1, 191 (loc. cit., ref. 3). In fact, at Mayer's suggestion, a mural quadrant was made instead. See von Münchhausen to Best, 11 October 1754 in ibid., 202 et seqq. All the vital documents relating to this contract are in 4/V f/2 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Proof of this is contained in von Münchhausen's P.M. to Segner, dated 8 February 1753, 4/V f/1, 136 (loc. cit., ref. 3). It cost just over 112 rthl. (Cf. ibid., 153).

Segner P. M. 30 November 1752, ibid., 131.

Von Münchhausen to the Mayor of Göttingen, 1 December 1753, in ibid., 172.

Von Münchhausen to Segner, 18 May 1754, in ibid., 184. The missing items are 185 and 186.

Segner to the Hanoverian government, 27 May 1754, in ibid., 189.

Catalogi Praelectionum Gottingenses S.S. 1736—W.S. 1761.

We know from his letter to Euler, dated 24 April 1752 (op. cit., ref. 26, pp. 56, 57), that Mayer's interest in the theory of the water-wheel stemmed from his reading of Euler's “De machinarum tam simplicium quam compositarum usu maxime lucroso” (1747); not, as one might otherwise have supposed, from his contact with Segner.

Later, in 1758, when the French occupation of Göttingen during the Seven Years’ War hindered his astronomical researches, Mayer introduced further lecture-courses on spherical trigonometry, the construction and use of astronomical instruments, and (what we might now call) a historiography of pure and applied mathematics. Cf. ref. 23.

Forbes Eric G. , The Euler-Mayer correspondence (1751–1755): A new perspective on eighteenth-century advances in the lunar theory (London, 1971).

Cf. ibid., Introduction. I have attempted to isolate this theme in a study entitled The birth of scientific navigation, which should shortly be appearing as a National Maritime Museum of London monograph. Unpublished correspondence. “Betr. der von Seiten des Prof. Tobias Mayer in Göttingen gelöste englische Preisfrage über die Bestimmung der Longitudo maris, 1754–1765” is preserved in the Staatsarchiv Hannover: Hannover Des. 92 xxxiv No. II, 4, a¹. A number of pertinent letters from W. P. Best to Michaelis J. D. and von Münchhausen G. A. during this same period are contained in Cod. Ms. Michael. 320, pp. 535–671 (loc. cit., ref. 6).

Mayer Tobias , “Novae tabulae motuum solis et lunae”, Commentarii Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis, ii (1753), 383–430. The method of applying these tables to the practical problem of finding longitude at sea was published by their author in ibid., iii (1754), 375–96.

Euler to Mayer; Berlin, 26 February 1754. Cf. op. cit., ref. 26, p. 79.

Euler to Mayer; Berlin, 24 April 1753. Ibid., 64.

Pierre de Maupertuis's letter to Mayer, dated Berlin 27 August 1754, is preserved in Cod. Ms. philos. 159, “Briefe von und an J. Tobias Mayer” (loc. cit., ref. 6). Cf. p. 7.

Müller G. F. to Mayer, St Petersburg, 30 July 1754. This letter is classified under Mayer 15₂ in loc. cit., ref. 7. now preserved in loc. cit., ref. 6. The background to this invitation can be found in Die Berliner und die Petersburger Akademie der Wissenschaften im Briefwechsel Leonhard Eulers (Berlin, 1959).

His annual salary was to be 700 rthl, his travelling expenses 100 rthl and he was to be given free accommodation. Cf. ref. 31. Euler, writing on the same date as de Maupertuis, further assured him that he would be given full control of the Berlin Observatory. Cf. op. cit., ref. 26, p. 90.

Mayer to Euler; Göttingen, 6 October 1754. Cf. ibid., 93.

That this was indeed a motive behind the decision to retain Mayer at all costs, can be inferred from a laudatory appraisal of his scholarly merits in J. D. Michaelis's letter to von Münchhausen of 1 September 1754, which ends: “Wird seine Erfindung der longitudinis in England approbirt, so würde der Verlusst der Ehre unersetzlich seyn, wenn unsere Universität ihn verlöre”. Cf. Personalakte Tobias Mayer 4/Vb 18, 13 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

P.M. to Prof. Michaelis, 12 September 1754, in ibid., 15.

A further concession accorded to Mayer very soon after he reached his final decision to remain in Göttingen, was an interest-free advance of 800 rthl from the Hanoverian treasury on the purchase of a large house. The correspondence “Betr. den Hauskauf des Profess. Philosoph: Mayer 1754–57” is preserved among his Personalakte 4/Vb 18.

Draft of a letter to a Hanoverian Court Official, 14 October 1754, in Cod. Ms. philos. 159, p. 65a (loc. cit., ref. 6).

Segner to Von Münchhausen , 7 March 1751, in 4/V f/1 29 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Ibid., 7.

Scheidt to Michaelis , 13 September 1754, in Cod. Ms. philos. 157, p. 55 (loc. cit., ref. 6).

The evangelical theologian and orientalist, born in Halle on 27 February 1717, and Professor of Philosophy in Göttingen since 1746. Michaelis was first the Secretary and subsequently the Director of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences, being jointly responsible with Albrecht von Haller for the rules formulated at its foundation in 1751. He died in Göttingen on 22 August 1791.

Cf. 4/V f/1, 195 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Ibid., 194.

Segner to the Hanoverian Government, 19 September 1754, in ibid., 197.

Ibid., 198.

Von Münchhausen to Michaelis , 19 September 1754, in ibid., 196.

Segner to Euler ; Göttingen, 27 November 1754, in Archive of the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R., f. 136, op. 2, No. 3, pp. 426–7. Altogether there are 158 letters from Segner in this repository. Euler's replies have not been preserved.

Details of these negotiations are contained in the manuscripts “Betr. die von den Profess: Lowitz und Rath Franz gehobenen Praemunerations Gelder für eine zu verfertigende Erd und Himmels Kugel und deren Anzögerung. 1754–62”, 4/Vb, 27 (loc. cit., ref. 3).

Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, xxxiii (Leipzig 1891), 609.