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Lincean Academy

Lincean Academy

The Accademia dei Lincei, (literally the "Academy of the Lynxes", but also known as the Lincean Academy), is located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. As the oldest Italian academy, it has been the official scientific academy of Italy since 1871. At its foundation in Rome 1603 by Federico Cesi, it was a locus for what was then the ongoing scientific revolution. It is named after the lynx, whose sharp vision was invoked symbolically as characteristic of those dedicated to science.
- Timeline of one of the world's oldest scientific societies.
- 1603–1651 L'Accademia (Federico Cesi)
- 1745–1847 Le tre Rinascite dei Lincei
- 1870–1923 La Reale Accademia dei Lincei
- 1926–1944 I Lincei e l' Accademia d'Italia
- 1946–present day: L'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The Pontifical Academy of Science also claims a heritage descending from from the first two incarnations of the Academy, by way of the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes") ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), founded 1847.

L'Accademia

The academy replaced the first scientific community ever, the Academia Secretorum Naturae, that was closed due to Inquisition. It was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi (1586-1630), an aristocrat from Umbria (the son of Duke of Acquasparta and a member of an important family from Rome) who was passionately interested in natural history, above all in botany. When Cesi visited Naples, he met the polymath Giambattista della Porta, and founded a branch of Porta's academy in that city together 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 took on the goal of understanding 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, which the new science was calling 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." Galileo was admitted to the group 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 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, who sold them in 1763 to George III of the United Kingdom. The drawings were discovered in Windsor Castle in 1986 by art historian David Freedberg.

Le tre Rinascite dei Lincei

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.

La 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.

I Lincei e l' 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.

L'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

- [http://www.lincei.it/ Official website, with brief history (in Italian).]
- Van Helden, A. (2004, May 24). [http://cnx.rice.edu/content/m11955/latest/ Accademia dei Lincei]. Connexions
- [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/Lincei.html University of St Andrews (Scotland) article about the academy.]

References

- This draws material from the corresponding article in the Italian wikipedia, retrieved 09:12, Feb 2, 2005 (UTC) Category:Science and technology in Italy Category:Scientific societies ja:アッカデーミア・デイ・リンチェイ

Rome

Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital of Italy and of its Latium region. It is located on the Tiber and Aniene rivers, near the Mediterranean Sea, at . The Vatican City, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of the Pope. Rome is the largest city and comune in Italy; the comune or municipality is one of the largest in Europe with an area of 1290 square kilometers. Within the city limits, the population is 2,823,807 (2004); almost 4 million live in the general area of Rome as represented by the province of Rome. The current mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni. With a GDP of €75 billion (higher than New Zealand's and equivalent to Singapore's — all three have roughly the same population of around 4 million), in the year 2001 the comune of Rome produced 6.5% of Italy's total GDP, the highest rate among all of Italy's cities. The city's history extends nearly 2,800 years, during which time it has been the seat of ancient Rome (the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire), and later the Papal States, Kingdom of Italy and Italian Republic.

History

Demographics

Throughout its long history Rome has been a centre of learning, trade and commerce. The native Italian population have shared their city throughout the ages with migrants from across Europe and the wider world. In ancient times a large proportion of the population were foreign merchants, slaves, officials and their descendants who came from across the wide empire which bore the city's name. Today the population is very diverse with immigrants thought to make up as much as 20% of the population of the city.

Economy

Today Rome has a dynamic and diverse economy concentrating on innovation, technologies, communications and the service sector. They produce 6.5% of the national GDP (more than any other city in the Italy) and continues to grow at a higher rate than those in the rest of the country. Tourism is inevitably one of Rome's chief industries. The city is also a centre for banking, publishing, insurance, fashion, high-tech industries, housing, cinema (particularly at the famous Cinecittà studios, dubbed the "Hollywood on the Tiber"), and the aerospace industries. Many international headquarters, government ministries, conference centres, sports venues and museums are located in Rome's principal business districts: the E.U.R. (Esposizione Universale Roma); the Torrino (further south from the E.U.R.); the Magliana; the Parco de' Medici-Laurentina and the so-called Tiburtina-valley along the ancient Via Tiburtina.

Transportation

Esposizione Universale Roma district.]] Esposizione Universale Roma) from the park around the artificial lake. Rome, EUR district.]] Rome has an intercontinental airport named Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport - FCO, but more commonly known as Fiumicino, which also is Italy's chief airport, and the Giovan-Battista Pastine international airport (commonly referred to as Ciampino Airport), a joint civilian and military airport southeast of the city-center, along the Via Appia, which handles mainly charter flights and regional European flights including some low-cost airlines. A third airport, called Aeroporto dell'Urbe, is located in the north of the city along the ancient Via Salaria and handles mainly helicopters and private flights. A fourth airport, called Aeroporto di Centocelle, in the eastern part of Rome between the Via Prenestina and the Via Casilina, has been abandoned for some years now, but is currently being redeveloped as one of the largest public parks in Rome. A subway system operates in Rome called the "Metropolitana" or Rome Metro which was opened in 1955. There are 2 lines (A & B), a third (C) and a new branch of the B-line (B1) are under construction, while a fourth line (D) has been planned. The frequent archaeological findings delay underground work. Today's (2005) total length is 38 km. The two existing lines, A & B, only intersect at one point, Termini Station, the main train station in Rome (which also is the largest train station in Europe, underneath and around which exists now a lively shopping center known as the "Forum Termini" with more than 100 shops of various types). Other stations includes: Tiburtina (second-largest, which is currently being redeveloped and enlarged to become the main high-speed train hub in the city), Ostiense, Trastevere, Tuscolana, S. Pietro, Casilina, Torricola. The Rome Metro is part of an extensive transport network made of a tramway network, several suburban and urban lines in and around the city of Rome, plus an "express line" to Fiumicino Airport. Whereas most FS-Regionale lines (Regional State Railways) do provide mostly a suburban service with more than 20 stations scattered throughout the city, the Roma-Lido (starting at Ostiense station), the Roma-Pantano (starting nearby Termini) and the Roma-Nord (starting at Flaminio station) lines offer a metro-like service. Rome also has a comprehensive bus system. The web site (translated in english) of the [http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lng=2 public transportation company (ATAC)] allows a route to be calculated using the buses and subways. [http://www.atac.roma.it/biglietti/index.asp?COD=320&LNG=2 Metrebus integrated fare system] allows holders of tickets and integrated passes to travel on all companies vehicles, within the validity time of the ticket purchased. Chronic congestion caused by cars during the 1970s and 1980s led to the banning of unauthorized traffic from the central part of city during workdays from 6.00 a.m to 6 p.m. (this area is officially called Zona a Traffico Limitato, Z.T.L. in short). Heavy traffic due to night-life crowds during week-ends led in recent years to the creation of other Z.T.L.s in the Trastevere and S. Lorenzo districts during the night, and to the experimentation of a new night Z.T.L. also in the city center (plans to create a night Z.T.L. in the Testaccio district as well are underway). In recent years, parking-spaces along the streets in wide areas of the city have been converted to pay-parkings, as new underground parkings spread throughout the city. In spite of all these measures, traffic remains an unsolved problem, as in the rest of the world's cities.

Education

Z.T.L. Rome continues to be the major education and research center of Italy, with many major universities that offer degrees in all fields. Among the prestigious educational establishments in Rome is the University of Rome La Sapienza (founded 1303), which is Europe’s biggest university with almost 150,000 students. The city is also home to three other public universities: Università degli studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, more commonly called Roma 2, University of Roma Tre and the Istituto Universitario di Scienze Motorie. Undisputed as the greatest repository of western art of the last 3,000 years of human history, Rome is home to many foreign academic institutions, as well, such as The American Academy, The British School, The French Institute, The German Archaeological Institute, The Swedish Institute, and The Finnish Institute, The Japan Foundation. Several private universities are as well located in Rome, as:
- LUISS University (Libera università internazionale degli studi sociali), probably the most prestigious private university in Rome;
- Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, a renowned university in Italy;
- John Cabot University, a private American University;
- LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria SS. Assunta);
- University of Malta, an International University;
- Libera Università di Roma "Leonardo da Vinci";
- Libera Università Degli Studi "S. Pio V";
- UPTER University;
- I.S.S.A.S. University. Still located in Rome are the Accademia di Santa Cecilia - the world's oldest academy of music (founded 1584), St. John's University's Rome campus which is located at the Pontificio Oratorio San Pietro, several academies of fine arts, colleges of the church, medical and Health research instituts.

Monuments and sights

- See Wikipedia's category "Monuments and sights of Rome"

Houses of worship

Churches

Rome is home to over 900 churches.

Basilicas

Patriarchal basilicas

- San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John in Lateran)
- San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's)
- San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the Walls)
- Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major)
- San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence outside the Walls)

Other basilicas

- Sant'Agnese fuori le mura (St. Agnes outside the Walls)
- Sant'Andrea delle Fratte
- Santi Apostoli (Holy Apostles)
- San Bernardo alle Terme
- San Clemente (St. Clement)
- Santi Cosma e Damiano (SS. Cosmas and Damian)
- Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
- San Lorenzo in Lucina
- San Marco (St. Mark)
- Santa Maria degli Angeli
- Santa Maria in Aracoeli
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva
- San Martino ai Monti
- San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains)
- Santa Prassede (St. Praxedis)
- San Saba
- Santa Sabina
- San Sebastiano fuori le mura
- Santi Quattro Coronati
- Santa Maria in Trastevere

Other important churches

The following do not yet have Wikipedia articles, but are important nonetheless:
- San Giorgio al Velabro;
- San Giovanni dei Fiorentini;
- San Lorenzo in Miranda (temple of Antoninus and Faustina)
- Santi Marcellino e Pietro;
- Santa Maria della Pace;
- Santa Maria dei Monti;
- Santo Stefano Rotondo;

Non-Christian places of worship

- Great Synagogue of Rome
- Great Mosque of Rome and Islamic Cultural Center Image:Sicht vom petersdom roma.jpg|View over Rome from St. Peter's Basilica. Image:RomeSinagogue.jpg|Rome's main Synagogue in the old Jewish Ghetto district, on the banks of the Tiber river.

Administrative subdivision of Rome

The Administrative subdivision of Rome consists in the division of the large territory of Rome into 19 Districts.

Province of Rome

Rome is the capital of a province, with an area of 5,352 sq. km, and a total population of 3,700,424 (2001) in 120 comuni. The province can be viewed as the extended metropolitan area of the town of Rome, although in its more peripheral portions, especially to the north, it comprises towns surrounded by firmly rural landscape, just as towns elsewhere thruout Italy.

Markets and shopping areas

Porta Portese

Street market on Sunday mornings, from very early to around 1pm, on the left bank of the Tiber, between Porto Portese and Stazione Trastevere, centred on Via Portuense. The wares are mainly clothes, both old and new. The second-hand clothing stalls are by far the more popular, with the clothes sorted by type (leathers and furs, jeans, coats, children’s clothes, etc) and piled on large tables with everything at the same (low) price. Tables start at 50c, and range up to 20 euro for high-quality leather and fur.

Campo de' Fiori

Campo de' Fiori is one of the oldest markets in Rome, where food and flowers are most frequently found. Though the name literally means "field of flowers," there are no fields in sight; it's in the middle of downtown Rome, off of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. The market is open every morning of the week except Sunday. Campo de' Fiori, surrounded by many bars and restaurants, is also a popular destination at night for locals and foreigners alike.

Symbols and trivia

Rome is commonly identified by several proper symbols, including the Colosseum, the she-wolf (Lupa capitolina), the imperial eagle, and the symbols of Christianity. The famous acronym SPQR recalls the ancient age and the unity between Roman Senate and Roman people. Rome is called "L'Urbe" (The City), "Caput mundi" (head of the world), "Città Eterna" (eternal city), and "Limen Apostolorum" (the threshold of the apostles). The town's colors are golden yellow and red (garnet): they stand, respectively, for christian and imperial dignities. Rome has two holidays of its own: April 21 (the founding of Rome), and June 29 (the feast of its patron saints, Peter and Paul). Other locally important dates are December 8 (the Immaculate Conception) and January 6 (Epiphany). The Grande Raccordo Anulare (commonly shortened "Il GRA" or "Il Raccordo"), which is more than 80 km long, once encircled the city. Rome has since grown past this round motorway, with new districts well beyond it. Some proverbs about the Eternal City:
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
- All roads lead to Rome.
- Rome wasn't built in a day. During its long history, Rome has always had a scarcity of native inhabitants, so by tradition a "true" Roman is one whose family has lived in Rome for no less than 7 generations: this is the original "Romano de Roma" (in Romanesco, the local dialect of Italian). For the autonomistic party Lega Nord, Rome is the symbol of the allegedly parasytical Italian central government, crystalized in their slogan Roma ladrona ("Thief Rome"). Image:Roma01.jpg|Senatus PopulusQue Romanus. Great Seal of Rome's municipality Image:polizia-roma.gif|Seal of Rome's City Police, with the seal and the she-wolf.

Events

Roma Europa Festival, September Annual appointment for modern art and theatre, music and dance, with artists from of all Europe. Festival Romics, October Comics and Cartoon Festival: exhibitions, cartoon film showings of designers and publishing companies. Roma Jazz Festival, October Festival of jazz music since of 1876. Italian and international artists. Roman Summers, from June to September Various events from music to theater, literary meetings and cinema. Events that take place in the most characteristic places in Rome that attract the participation of thousands of artists from all over the world.

Cultural Events

White Night

Series of events at venues throughout Rome on September: concerts, special outdoor performances, churches and monuments open to the public during, museums open all night with free entrance, shops open all nights. ([http://www.lanottebianca.it/index.asp?lang=en&destinazione=cosa_])

External links

- [http://www.comune.roma.it/cultura/ Official Site of the City of Rome]
- [http://www.romasotterranea.it/ Roma Sotterranea/Subterranean Rome]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/home.html Bill Thayer's Gazetteer of Rome]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Arc/5319/eng.htm Andrea Pollett's Virtual Roma]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/9259/roma_ant.htm Roma Antica e Roma Moderna], in Italian
- [http://www.forbeginners.info/rome/ Rome for Beginners]
- [http://www.alberghi-a.roma.it/info.htm Informations and useful numbers about Rome]

Ancient Rome

- [http://www.romeartlover.it/Rome.htm Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth Century traveller]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/ Encyclopædia Romana, by James Grout]
- [http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/page4.html La maquette de Rome]
- [http://intranet.grundel.nl/thinkquest/introduction.html "Forum Romanum", a ThinkQuest site]
- [http://www.vroma.org/~forum/ "Forum Romanum" Project at VRoma]

Christian Rome

- See Wikipedia's category "Churches of Rome"

Galleries

- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov:81/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=15316 Satellite image of Rome] at NASA's Earth Observatory
- [http://myweb.lmu.edu/fjust/Rome.htm Ancient Rome, Images and Pictures]
- [http://map.cs.telespazio.it/fontane/index.html Fontanelle di Roma], including the aqueducts
- [http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/roma/movie.htm A virtual travel of Rome] pictures and virtual reality movies
- [http://www.rome.info/pictures/ Free Rome Pictures]
- [http://sabin.ro/gallery/album412 Rome Photo Gallery]
- [http://digilander.libero.it/fotogian/roma.html Photos of Rome]
- [http://www.photoroma.com/ PhotoRoma]
- [http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim/rooma/pages/MAIN.HTM Vedute di Roma]
- [http://www.secretrome.com Pictures of Rome]
- [http://rome.arounder.com/fullscreen.html Arounder.Com] (QTVR panoramas)

Maps

- [http://www.italy-weather-and-maps.com/maps/italy/lazio.gif Rome and environs (Lazio)]
- [http://www.statravel.co.uk/images/off/short_breaks/map/map_rom.gif downtown Rome]
- [http://www.walkingrome.com/links/Pianta-di-Roma-Web.jpg downtown Rome (WalkingRome)]
- [http://www.activitaly.it/infobase/index.php?lang=en Interactive map (Activitaly)]
- [http://www.duke.edu/~rkl7/Images/Rome%20City%20map.jpg Map of Ancient Rome]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rome&spn=0.039455,0.126549&t=k&hl=en Google Maps satellite images of Rome]

Travel guides

- Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Holy cities Category:Roman sites of the Lazio
- Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:World Heritage Sites in Italy Category:Christianity als:Rom ko:로마 ja:ローマ simple:Rome

Academy

An academy is an institution for the study of higher learning. The name Academy rose from Plato's Athenian school of philosophy, founded in approximately 385 BC. The term is also used for various other institutions in modern times (see below).

The original Academy

Before the Akademeia was a school, however, even before Cimon enclosed its precincts with a wall (Plutarch Life of Cimon xiii:7), it contained a sacred grove of olive trees outside the city walls of ancient Athens (Thucydides ii:34). The archaic name for the site was Hekademeia, which by classical times evolved into Akademeia and was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an eponymous Athenian hero, a legendary "Akademos". The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena and other immortals; it had sheltered a religious cult since the Bronze Age, a cult that was perhaps associated with the hero-gods the Dioskouroi (Castor and Polydeukes), for the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the Divine Twins where Theseus had hidden Helen. Out of respect for its association with the Dioskouri, the Spartans would not ravage these original "groves of Academe" when they invaded Attica (Plutarch, Life of Theseus xxxii), a piety not shared by the Roman Sulla, who axed the sacred olive trees in 86 BC to build siege engines. Among the religious observations that took place at the Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within the city to the Promemeikos altar in the Akademeia. Funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back to the polis (Paus. i 29.2, 30.2; Plut. Vit. Sol. i 7). The road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians. The Platonic Academy is usually contrasted with Aristotle's own creation, the Peripatetics. Famous philosophers entrusted with running the Academy include Arcesilaus, Speusippus, Xenocrates and Proclus.

The revived neoplatonic Academy of Late Antiquity

After a lapse during the early Roman occupation, the Academy was refounded (Cameron 1965) as a new institution of some outstanding Platonists of late antiquity who called themselves "successors" (diadochoi, but of Plato) and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition reaching back to Plato. There cannot really have been any geographical, institutional, economic or personal continuity with the original Academy in the new organizational entity (Bechtle). The last "Greek" philosophers of the revived Academy in the 6th century were drawn from variouis parts of the Hellenistic cultural world and suggest the broad syncretism of the common culture (see koine): Five of the seven Academy philosophers mentioned by Agathias were Syriac in their cultural origin: Hermias and Diogenes (both from Phoenicia), Isidorus of Gaza, Damascius of Syria, Iamblichus of Coele-Syria and perhaps even Simplicius of Cilicia himself (Thiele). The emperor Justinian closed the school in AD 529, a date that is often cited for the end of Antiquity. According to the sole witness, the historian Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I in his capital at Ctesiphon, carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532 guaranteed their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion), some members found sanctuary in the pagan stronghold of Harran, near Edessa. One of the last leading figures of this group was Simplicius, a pupil of Damascius, the last head of the Athenian school. The students of the Academy-in-exile, an authentic and important Neoplatonic school surviving at least until the 10th century, contributed to the Islamic preservation of Greek science and medicine, when Islamic forces took the area in the 7th century (Thiele). One of the earliest academies established in the east was the 7th century Academy of Gundishapur in Sassanid Persia. Sassanid Persia Raphael painted a famous fresco depicting "The School of Athens" in the 16th century. The site of the Academy was rediscovered in the 20th century; considerable excavation has been accomplished. The Church of St. Triton on Kolokynthou Street, Athens, occupies the southern corner of the Academy, confirmed in 1966 by the discovery of a boundary stone dated to 500 BC.

Modern use of the term academy

Because of the tradition of intellectual brilliance associated with this institution, many groups have chosen to use the word "Academy" in their name. During the Florentine Renaissance, Cosimo de' Medici took a personal interest in the new Platonic Academy that he determined to re-establish in 1439, centered on the marvellous promise shown by Marsilio Ficino, scarcely more than a lad. Cosimo had been inspired by the arrival at the otherwise ineffective Council of Florence of Gemistos Plethon, who seemed like a Plato reborn to the Florentine intellectuals. In 1462 Cosimo gave Ficino a villa at Careggi for the Academy's use, situated where Cosimo could descry it from his own villa. The Renaissance drew potent intellectual and spiritual strength from the academy at Careggi. During the course of the following century many Italian cities established an Academy, of which the oldest survivor is the Accademia dei Lincei of Rome, which became a national academy for a reunited Italy. Accademia dei Lincei, 1885, in a Greek Ionic academically correct even to the polychrome sculpture]] Other national academies include the Académie Francaise; the Royal Academy of the United Kingdom; the International Academy of Science, the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY; the United States Naval Academy. In emulation of the military academies, police in the United States are trained in police academies. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the annual Academy awards. A fundamental feature of academic discipline in those academies that were training-schools for artists was regular practice in making accurate drawings from antiquities, or from casts of antiquities, on the one hand, and on the other, in deriving inspiration from the other fount, the human form. Students assembled in sessions drawing the draped and undraped human form, and such drawings, which survive in the tens of thousands from the 17th through the 19th century, are termed académies. In the early 19th century "academy" took the connotations that "gymnasium" was acquiring in German-speaking lands, of school that was less advanced than a college (for which it might prepare students) but considerably more than elementary. An early example are the two academies founded at Andover and Phillips Exeter Academy. Amherst Academy expanded with time to form Amherst College. Mozart organized public subscription performances of his music in Vienna in the 1780s and 1790s, he called the concerts "academies." This usage in musical terms survives in the concert orchestra Academy of St Martin in the Fields and in the Brixton Academy, a concert hall in Brixton, South London. Academies proliferated in the 20th century until even a three-week series of lectures and discussions would be termed an "academy." In addition, the generic term "the academy" is sometimes used to refer to all of academia, which is sometimes considered a global successor to the Academy of Athens. See also: national academy, list of honorary societies, academician, military academy

Honorary Academy

See the Académie Française and its many emulaters among national honorary academies of strictly limited membership..

Research Academy

In Imperial Russia and Soviet Union the term "academy", or Academy of Sciences was reserved to denote a state research establishment, see Russian Academy of Sciences. The latter one still exists in the Russian Federation, although other types of academies (study and honorary) appeared as well.

External links

- [http://php.iupui.edu/~cplaneau/plato_02.html Christopher Planeaux' history of the site of the Academy]
- [http://www.harrys-athens-greece-guide.com/ancient-plato.asp Site of the Academy rediscovered] (needs better site linked)
- [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21103a/e211ca03.html Site of the Academy]
- [http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/athens/1.html The Demosion Sema along the road to the Academy]
- [http://www.filmacademy.co.uk Film Academy]
- [http://www.charlemont.org The Academy at Charlemont]

Reference

- Allen Cameron, "The last days of the Academy at Athens," in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society vol 195 (n.s. 15), 1969, pp 7-29.
- [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-04-19.html Gerald Bechtle, Bryn Mawr Classical Review of Rainer Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen. Stuttgart, 1999] (in English).
- John Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy, Göttingen 1978.
- Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, 1981. Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900 (New Haven: Yale University Press) Category:Academia Category:History of ideas Category:School types Category:Science ja:アカデメイア

Scientific revolution

:This article is about the period in history, not the process of scientific progress via revolution, proposed by Thomas Kuhn and discussed at paradigm shift In the history of science, the scientific revolution was the period that roughly began with the discoveries of Kepler, Galileo, and others at the dawn of the 17th century, and ended with the publication of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton. These boundaries are controversial, with some claiming that the proper start of the scientific revolution was the publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, while others wish to extend it into the 18th century. Nevertheless, the basic themes of the revolution are readily recognised. The seventeenth century was a period of major scientific change. But at that time the word "science" did not have its current meaning, and "scientist" had not been coined; Newton was called a natural philosopher. Not only were there major theoretical and experimental developments, but even more importantly, the way in which scientists worked was radically changed. At the beginning of the century, science was highly Aristotelian; at its end, science was mathematical, mechanical, and empirical.

Emergence of the revolution

There is much scholarly debate as to the nature, emergence, and even the existence of the scientific revolution. This debate began with the work of Alexandre Koyré when he coined the term and definition of 'The Scientific Revolution' in 1939, which later influenced the work of traditional historians A. Rupert Hall and J.D. Bernal and subsequent historiography on the subject (Stevin Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, 1996). To some extent, this arises from different conceptions of what the revolution was; some of the rancor and cross-purposes in such debates may arise from lack of recognition of these fundamental differences. Since the time of Voltaire, many observers have considered that a revolutionary change in thought, called in recent times a scientific revolution, took place around the year 1600; that is, that there were dramatic and historically rapid changes in the ways in which scholars thought about the physical world and studied it. Science, as it is treated in this account, is essentially understood and practiced in the modern world; with various "other narratives" or alternate ways of knowing omitted. A striking case for this point of view is presented by the historian of science Howard Margolis as part of a larger (and controversial) theory of the causes of the revolution (Margolis, 2002). It may be summarized in the following lists of significant advances in science:

Early and Medieval Views of Science

2nd century
- Galen's work in anatomy
- Ptolemy's calculations of planetary motion. (This and Galen's anatomy, though largely superseded by later work, are none the less important contributions to science.) Ptolemy believed that the earth was the center of the universe.
- Aristotle's belief that God placed earth at the center of the universe with a hierarchical order to the Universe. The universe, according to Aristotle consisted of concentric spheres. All bodies naturally moved toward the center and moved toward rest, therefore a God must exist in order to move things into motion, which was later revoked by Newton's theories.
- Dante's view of the four elements: fire, earch, water, and air, which made up earth and purgatory.
- Galen believed that there were four bodily humors--blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. This idea was later revoked by Andreas Vesalius. Galen believed that sickness was caused by an inbalance of any of the humors.

New Scientific Thought

About 1600, Ideas and People who emerged:
- Uniform acceleration of falling bodies (Galileo)
- Inertia and inertial frames of reference
- The Earth as a magnet
- Theory of lenses
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion (Kepler), coupled with Copernicus' publication of Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.
- Telescopic discoveries: moons of Jupiter, lunar mountains, phases of Venus, etc. (Galileo)
- Laws of hydrostatics
- Constant period of the pendulum (Newton)
- Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) published On the Fabric of the Human Body (1543), which discredited Galen's views. He found that the circulation of blood resolved from pumping of the heart. He also assembled the first human skeleton from cutting open cadavers.
- William Harvey (1578-1657) solved how blood circulates via disections.
- Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler searched for understanding of the stars. Although the Danish Brahe rejected the Copernican belief that the earth revolved around the sun, his assistant Kepler, a German, proved that Copernicus' theory had validity. He established, using trigonometry and geometric algebra, laws of planetary motion.
- William Gilbert (1544-1603), an English scientist, published a book describing the magnet in 1600.
- Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), whose greatest scientific experiment amounted to stuffing snow into a dead chicken, nevertheless penned inductive reasoning, proceeding from observation and experimentation. This contrasted with Rene Descartes who took a more theoretical approach to science.
- Galileo was tried for his belief of the Copernican system because he lived in Italy, a Catholic state at the height of an inquisition that prosecuted heresy. Because the pope was a personal friend of Galileo's, he fortunately escaped death and instead lived the rest of his life in house arrest if he chose to renounce his support for Copernicus's views, which he did. He is perhaps best known for his law of falling bodies, which he proved not only theoretically through a thought experiment, but also through experimentation, uniting both the inductive observational part of science with the theoretical and logical branch.
- René Descartes(1596-1650) and Isaac Newton(1642-1727): Descartes pioneered Deductive reasoning, publishing in 1637 Discourse on Method. He is widely known for issuing the statement, "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum). Newtonian Synthesis, on the other hand is built upon Kepler, Galileo and Descartes--Newton believed that scientific theory should be coupled with rigid experimentation. Newton postulated the theory of Universal Gravitation. Newton became a wealthy hero--knighted by the king and elected to Parliament in 1689 representing Cambridge University. However, Newton did clash with Goetfried Leibniz on various issues, including who first invented Calculus and on the question of whether or not God intervened in everyday affairs. It is not easy to find work of comparable importance, apart from that of Copernicus, to fill out the intervening period. Margolis reports that the most commonly suggested candidate for filling the gap is Alhazen's theory of intromission; that is, that vision is by means of light emitted from bodies, not rays from the eye. Giving this important work its full value (regardless of its antecedents in Aristotle), it still does not go far to fill fourteen centuries, and the other candidates are few:

[One may reasonably judge that] Gilbert and Stevin each discovered more that has proved important for modern science than the combination of everyone who lived during the fourteen centuries between them and Ptolemy. But for Kepler and Galileo a claim this bold is not merely arguable, but beyond real dispute. If you measure what either Kepler or Galileo discovered against everything discovered in the previous 1400 years, it is no contest. (Margolis, 2002; p. 139)

In this interpretation these extraordinary changes, beginning with Copernicus and extending to the early 17th century, are the raw data on which are built the theoretical studies of how and why the revolution took place, and what changes in society and thought resulted from it. Other accounts of what constitutes the revolution exist and lead to quite different studies.

Theoretical developments

In 1543 Copernicus' work on the heliocentric model of the solar system was published, in which he tried to prove that the sun was the centre of the universe. Ironically, this was at the behest of the Catholic Church as part of the Catholic Reformation efforts for a means of creating a more accurate calendar for its activities. For almost two millennia, the geocentric model had been accepted by all but a few astronomers. The idea that the earth moved around the sun, as advocated by Copernicus, was to most of his contemporaries preposterous. It contradicted not only the virtually unquestioned Aristotelian philosophy, but also common sense. For suppose the earth turns about its own axis. Then, surely, if we were to drop a stone from a high tower, the earth would rotate beneath it while it fell, thus causing the stone to land some space away from the tower's bottom. This effect is not observed. It is no wonder, then, that although some astronomers used the Copernican system to calculate the movement of the planets, only a handful actually accepted it as true theory. It took the efforts of two men, Johannes Kepler and Galileo, to give it credibility. Kepler was a brilliant astronomer who, using the very accurate observations of Tycho Brahe, realised that the planets move around the sun not in circular orbits, but in elliptical ones. Together with his other laws of planetary motion, this allowed him to create a model of the solar system that was a huge improvement over Copernicus' original system. Galileo's main contributions to the acceptance of the heliocentric system were his mechanics and the observations he made with his telescope, as well as his detailed presentation of the case for the system (which led to his condemnation by the Inquisition). Using an early theory of inertia, Galileo could explain why rocks dropped from a tower fall straight down even if the earth rotates. His observations of the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, the spots on the sun, and mountains on the moon all helped to discredit the Aristotelian philosophy and the Ptolemaic theory of the solar system. Through their combined discoveries, the heliocentric system gained more and more support, and at the end of the 17th century it was generally accepted by astronomers. Both Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Galileo's mechanics culminated in the work of Isaac Newton. His laws of motion were to be the solid foundation of mechanics; his law of universal gravitation combined terrestrial and celestial mechanics into one great system that seemed to be able to describe the whole world in mathematical formulae. Not only astronomy and mechanics were greatly changed. Optics, for instance, was revolutionised by people like Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens and, once again, Isaac Newton, who developed mathematical theories of light as either waves (Huygens) or particles (Newton). Similar developments could be seen in chemistry, biology and other sciences, although their full development into modern science was delayed for a century or more.

Experimental developments

The development of telescopes in Holland and subsequent improvements by Galileo and others greatly expanded the accuracy and range of celestial observations. The emerging technology of the microscope brought the world of the very small within reach of the human observer, although it would take an additional two centuries before the instrument was perfected. Another notable invention was the air-pump, extensively used by Robert Boyle and others.

Methodological developments

The most important changes were in the way that science was done. Three main developments can be identified as mathematisation, mechanisation, and empiricism.

Mechanisation

Aristotle recognised four kinds of causes, of which the most important was the "final cause". The final cause was the aim or goal of something. Thus, the final cause of rain was to let plants grow. Until the scientific revolution, it was very natural to see such goals in nature. The world was inhabited by angels and demons, spirits and souls, occult powers and mystical principles. Scientists spoke about the 'soul of a magnet' as easily as they spoke about its velocity. The rise of the so-called "mechanical philosophy" put a stop to this. The mechanists, of whom the most important one was René Descartes, rejected all goals, emotion and intelligence in nature. In this modern view, the world consisted of matter moving in accordance with the laws of physics. Where nature had previously been imagined to be like a living entity, the scientific revolution viewed nature as following natural, physical laws.

Empiricism

"Look at the world, but don't experiment!"—such was the view of the natural philosophers before the scientific revolution. Nature, it was thought, should be looked at as it worked on its own. If one did an experiment, one was putting nature in "unnatural" circumstances, and hence the results of an experiment would not agree with the true way nature worked. Under the influence of philosophers like Francis Bacon, an empirical tradition was developed in the 17th century. The Aristotelian belief of natural and artificial circumstances was abandoned, and a research tradition of systematic experimentation was slowly accepted throughout the scientific community. Bacon's philosophy of using an inductive approach to nature -- to abandon assumption and to attempt to simply observe with an open mind -- was in strict contrast with the earlier, Aristotelian approach of deduction, by which analysis of "known facts" produced further understanding. In practice, of course, many scientists (and philosophers) believed that a healthy mix of both was needed -- the willingness to question assumptions, yet also interpret observations assumed to have some degree of validity. At the end of the scientific revolution the organic, quantitative world of book-reading philosophers had been changed into a mechanical, mathematical world to be known through experimental research. Though it is certainly not true that Newtonian science was like modern science in all respects, it closely resembled ours in many ways -- much more so than the Aristotelian science of a century earlier.

Literary criticisms

A recent trend in literary theory, "cultural materialism" questions whether there was a scientific revolution, or, if a revolution occurred, it questions whether it was important. Literary critics who hold this point of view have a special (and some would claim, mistaken), definition of what the term "revolution" means. These literary critics hold that if a scientific revolution did not occur instantaneously, and without historical precedent, then by definition it cannot be a revolution, and can only be an evolution. If the scientific revolution was only an evolution, then it would have little or no intelligibility as a single event, but nonetheless, like all evolutionary processes, "the scientific evolution" invites serious consideration as a process or group of processes, in order to understand if and how language, culture and society have changed and are changing as a result. The scientific revolution, as a change in theoretical outlook, is normally identified as a four step process (this is not true of 'scientific practice' which is much less clearly definable historically). First, Galileo is seen as the father of "theoretical experimentalism", in that he legitimised observation, as opposed to pure reason, as a route to authentic knowledge, and presented the observations (for instance, in his falling body experiments) with an analysis that had the rigour of Euclidean proof. Second (but not subsequent to, or, in direct conjunction with Galileo) Francis Bacon projects (what we would now think of as) the Galilean "experimental truth revealing process" onto the entire map of the natural universe, setting forth an agenda for every natural phenomenon then known, to be subjected to experimental scrutiny. Third, Robert Boyle sets about regularising Galileo's experimental work as characterised by his reports of "falling bodies experiments" into a practical method for ensuring that the observational process accumulates a body of knowledge which is public, thorough and "self-correcting" by the practice of publication, replication and review of scientific experiments. Fourth, Newton produces the first widely read works which purport to address the most significant fundamental natural processes with "Boylean rigour". Although cultural materialism doesn't necessarily dismiss the main thrust of these claims, it does not accept that they fully account for the changes which are attributed to them, or that they reflect the nature or even the points in time when the relevant changes occurred. If Boyle's "public science" model coexisted with "pre-scientific" disciplines, then the "revolution" was "romanticised" by their biographers, who wished to paint a picture of the 'new wisdom' being adopted at the same time as the abandonment of the "wicked, secretive and pagan" practices of the pre-scientific "mystics".

References

- Howard Margolis: It Started with Copernicus. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002 ISBN 0-07-138507-X
- Shapin, Steven. The Scientific Revolution. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN 0-266-75021-3
- This book suggests we re-examine and re-evaluate the mythology of 'The Scientific Revolution' to see if it was a cohesive or even real a historical event. The problem of the late 16th century to early 17th century was that while new methodologies were developed and used by a few, basic ideas remained relatively consistent - notably Newton reintroducing occult (hidden) forces (ie gravity) despite the want of a visibly mechanistic world system - while natural philosophers argued against others and amongst themselves over their legitimacy by using propagandized definitions of 'ancient' and 'modern'.

Science

- Barry Gower: Scientific Method. London: Routledge, 1997 ISBN 0-415-12281-3
- This book is concerned with the sequence of changes from which the modern understanding of science has developed and thus gives a useful grounding in the philosophical and historical basis of the scientific revolution

History

- I. Bernard Cohen: Revolution in Science. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985 ISBN 0-674-76777-2
- Bertrand Russell: The Scientific Outlook. London: Allen & Unwin, 1931
- A highly influential work. The first chapter 'Examples of the scientific method' paints a history of the key developments in the scientific revolution, from the perspective of a devotee of 'scientific thinking'.

Literary criticism

- Richard S. Westfall: Never at Rest: A biography of Isaac Newton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980 ISBN 0-521-23143-4
- A biography of Newton which begins the process of identifying the interplay between the 'theopolitical' issues and science which formed the basis of the 'actions and equal and opposite reactions' between the ideologies at the heart of both the mythologies and the realities of the scientific revolution.
- Robert Markley: Fallen Languages: Crises of representation in Newtonian England, 1660-1740. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993 ISBN 0-8014-2586-3
- This book puts the language of Boyle and the Royal Society under the 'literary theory' microscope. The author claims to find new insights in terms of the transition from Aristotelianism and examining the impact of 'hidden' theological constraints and influences on the key proponents of the scientific revolution.
- Lawrence M. Principe: The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his alchemical quest .... Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1998 ISBN 0-691-01678-X
- Did Boyle really advocate a move away from alchemy to chemistry? Was this the first key move from mysticism to science? Implies that the scientific 'revolution' never occurred, and was a fabrication of biographers.
- Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer: Leviathan and the Air Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the experimental life. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985 ISBN 0-691-08393-2
- Thomas Hobbes argued in the 1660's that the 'public science' model did not reveal the truth; this book examines the 'first criticisms of the scientific revolution' which may be interesting because they come from come from a 'fellow anti-aristotelian' such as Hobbes.

Anthropology

- Bruno Latour: We Have Never Been Modern; translated by Catherine Porter. New York; London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993 ISBN 0-7450-0682-5 ISBN 0-7450-1321-X (pbk)
- This takes the revolutionary stance presented in Leviathan and the air pump (above) and both develops and challenges it

Pontifical academy of science

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences was founded in 1936 under its current name by Pope Pius XI and is placed under the protection of the reigning Supreme Pontiff (the current Pope). Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. The Academy has its origins in the Accademia dei Lincei ("Academy of Lynxes") established in Rome in 1603, under Pope Clement VIII by the learned Roman Prince, Federico Cesi (1585-1630) who was a young botanist and naturalist.

Historical Background

Cesi wanted his Academicians to create a method of research based upon observation, experiment, and the inductive method. He thus called this Academy "dei Lincei" because the scientists which adhered to it had to have eyes as sharp as lynxes (the lynx is a large cat) in order to penetrate the secrets of nature, observing it at both microscopic and macroscopic levels. The leader of the first academy was the famous scientist Galileo Galilei. It was dissolved after the death of its founder and re-created by Pope Pius IX in 1847 and given the name Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), and was re-founded in 1936 by Pope Pius XI and given its current name. Pope Paul VI in 1976 and Pope John Paul II in 1986 subsequently updated its statutes. Since 1936 the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has been concerned both with investigating specific scientific subjects belonging to individual disciplines and with the promotion of interdisciplinary co-operation. It has progressively increased the number of its Academicians and the international character of its membership. The Academy is an independent body within the Holy See and enjoys freedom of research. From the statutes of 1976: :"The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has as its goal the promotion of the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences, and the study of related epistemological questions and issues."

Work of the Academy

Since the Academy and its membership is not influenced by factors of a national, political, or religious character it represents a valuable source of objective scientific information which is made available to the Holy See and to the international scientific community. Today the work of the Academy covers six main areas: :(a) fundamental science, :(b) the science and technology of global questions and issues, :(c) science in favor of the problems of the Third World, :(d) the ethics and politics of science, :(e) bioethics, :(f) epistemology. The disciplines involved are sub-divided into nine fields: the disciplines of physics and related disciplines; astronomy; chemistry; the earth and environmental sciences; the life sciences (botany, agronomy, zoology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, the neurosciences, surgery); mathematics; the applied sciences; and the philosophy and history of sciences.

Members of the Academy

The new members of the Academy are elected by the body of Academicians and chosen from men and women of every race and religion based on the high scientific value of their activities and their high moral profile. They are then officially appointed by the Roman Pontiff. The Academy is governed by a President, appointed from its members by the Pope, who is helped by a scientific Council and by the Chancellor. Initially made up of 80 Academicians, 70 who were appointed for life, in 1986 John Paul II raised the number of members for life to 80, side by side with a limited number of Honorary Academicians chosen because they are highly qualified figures, and others who are Academicians because of the posts they hold, including: the Chancellor of the Academy, the Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, and the Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives.

Nobel Prize Members

During its various decades of activity, the Academy has had a number of Nobel Prize winners amongst its members, many of whom were appointed Academicians before they received this prestigious international award. These include: :Lord Ernest Rutherford (Physics, 1908) :Guglielmo Marconi (Physics, 1909) :Alexis Carrel (Physiology, 1912) :Max von Laue (Physics, 1914) :Max Planck (Physics, 1918) :Niels Bohr (Physics, 1922) :Werner Heisenberg (Physics, 1932) :Paul Dirac (Physics, 1933) :Erwin Schroedinger (Physics, 1933) :Sir Alexander Fleming (Physiology, 1945) :Chen Ning Yang (Physics, 1957) :Rudolf L. Mossbauer (Physics, 1961) :Max F. Perutz (Chemistry, 1962) :John Eccles (Physiology, 1963) :Charles H. Townes (Physics, 1964) :Manfred Eigen and George Porter (Chemistry, 1967) :Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall W. Nirenberg (Physiology, 1968) :Christian de Duve (Physiology, 1974) :Werner A. G. E. Palade (Physiology, 1974) :David Baltimore (Physiology, 1975) :Aage Bohr (Physics, 1975) :Abdus Salam (Physics, 1979) :Paul Berg (Chemistry, 1980) :Kai Siegbahn (Physics, 1981) :Sune Bergstrom (Physiology, 1982) :Carlo Rubbia (Physics, 1984) :Rita Levi-Montalcini (Physiology, 1986) :John C. Polanyi (Chemistry, 1986) :Jean-Marie Lehn (Chemistry, 1987) :Joseph E. Murray (Physiology, 1990) :Gary S. Becker (Economics, 1992) :Paul J. Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995) :Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Physics, 1997) :Ahmed H. Zewail (Chemistry, 1999) Other eminent Academicians include Padre Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959), founder of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and President of the Academy after its re-foundation until 1959, and Mons. George Lemaitre (1894-1966), one of the fathers of contemporary cosmology who held the office of President from 1960 to 1966.

Goals and Hopes of the Academy

The goals and hopes of the Academy were expressed by Pope Pius XI in the Motu Proprio which brought about its re-foundation in 1936: :"Amongst the many consolations with which divine Goodness has wished to make happy the years of our Pontificate, I am happy to place that of our having being able to see not a few of those who dedicate themselves to the studies of the sciences mature their attitude and their intellectual approach towards religion. Science, when it is real cognition, is never in contrast with the truth of the Christian faith. Indeed, as is well known to those who study the history of science, it must be recognized on the one hand that the Roman Pontiffs and the Catholic Church have always fostered the research of the learned in the experimental field as well, and on the other hand that such research has opened up the way to the defense of the deposit of supernatural truths entrusted to the Church....We promise again that it is our strongly-held intention, that the 'Pontifical Academicians' through their work and our Institution, work ever more and ever more effectively for the progress of the sciences. Of them we do not ask anything else, since in this praiseworthy intent and this noble work in that service in favor of the truth that we expect of them." (Pius XI) Forty years later (10 November 1979), John Paul II once again emphasized the role and goals of the Academy, on the 100th anniversary (centenary) of the birth of Albert Einstein: :"...the existence of this Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which in its ancient ancestry Galileo was a member and of which today eminent scientists are members, without any form of ethnic or religious discrimination, is a visible sign, raised amongst the peoples of the world, of the profound harmony that can exist between the truths of science and the truths of faith.....The Church of Rome together with all the Churches spread throughout the world, attributes a great importance to the function of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The title of 'Pontifical' given to the Academy means, as you know, the interest and the commitment of the Church, in different forms from the ancient patronage, but no less profound and effective in character....How could the Church have lacked interest in the most noble of the occupations which are most strictly human -- the search for truth?" :"....Both believing scientists and non-believing scientists are involved in deciphering the palimpsest of nature which has been built in a rather complex way, where the traces of the different stages of the long evolution of the world have been covered over and mixed up. The believer, perhaps, has the advantage of knowing that the puzzle has a solution, that the underlying writing is in the final analysis the work of an intelligent being, and that thus the problem posed by nature has been posed to be solved and that its difficulty is without doubt proportionate to the present or future capacity of humanity. This, perhaps, will not give him new resources for the investigation engaged in. But it will contribute to maintaining him in that healthy optimism without which a sustained effort cannot be engaged in for long." (John Paul II) At the time of the Pope's infamous October 1996 Statement on Evolution to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 26 of the 80 members (nearly one-third) of the Academy were holders of the Nobel Prize.

External links

- [http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdscien/ The Pontifical Academy of Science] -- The official Vatican site
- [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP961022.HTM Message to the Pontifical Academy of Science on Evolution] by Pope John Paul II, 22 October 1996
- Based on the information from [http://www.bringyou.to/PAS.PDF The Pontifical Academy of Sciences: A Historical Profile]

Inquisition

:This article deals with Catholic history between 1134 and 1834. For other uses see Inquisition (disambiguation). Inquisition (disambiguation) (1475).]] The term Inquisition (Latin: Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis Sanctum Officium) refers broadly to a number of historical movements surrounding the suppression of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. There were four major movements, starting with the Medieval Inquisition in 1184 and ending with the Spanish Inquisition in 1834.

Origin

The Inquisition was an institution within the Roman Catholic Church, charged with the eradication of heresies. Heresies (from Greek haeresis, sect, school of belief) were a problem for the Church from the beginning. Acts 15 recounts the convening of a council in Jerusalem to deal with the heresy of the Judaizers, who had contended with the Jerusalem faction in Asia and especially Galatia. In the subsequent centuries there were the Arians and Manicheans; in the Middle Ages there were the Cathari and Waldenses; and in the Renaissance there were the Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Rosicrucians. Efforts to suppress heresies were initially ad hoc, but in the Middle Ages a permanent structure came into being to combat heresies. Beginning in the 12th century, Church Councils required secular rulers to prosecute heretics.

History

There were four Inquisitions; in chronological order, they were the Medieval Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition, the Portuguese Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition. One would however be incorrect to presume that these were totally unrelated to each other and that the inquisition was limited to these discrete events.

Medieval Inquisition

:Main article: Medieval Inquisition The first of the Medieval Inquisitions is called the Episcopal Inquisition and was established in the year 1184 by a papal bull, an official letter from the Pope, entitled Ad abolendam; "For the purpose of doing away with". The Inquisition was in response to the growing Catharist heresy in southern France. It is called the "episcopal" because it was administered by local bishops, which in Greek is episcopos. The Episcopal Inquisition was not very effective for many reasons (see Medieval Inquisition). The Papal Inquisition in the 1230s was in response to the failures of the Episcopal Inquisition and was staffed by professionals, trained specifically for the job as decreed by the Pope. Individuals were chosen from different orders and secular clergy, but primarily they came from the Dominican Order who had a number of traits that made them suitable (see Medieval Inquisition).

Spanish Inquisition

:Main article: Spanish Inquisition The Spanish Inquisition was founded in 1478 in Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile. It was to a large extent under the control of the Spanish monarch, with only the Inquisitor General appointed by Rome. In its dealings with converted Muslims and Jews and also illuminists, the Spanish Inquisition, with its "auto de fe", represents a particularly notorious period in the history of the Inquisition. This inquisition also gave rise to the Peruvian Inquisition during the Viceroyalty of Peru which ended with its Independence on July 28, and also the Mexican Inquisition, which continued in the Americas until Mexican Independence. It was abolished in 1834.

Roman Inquisition

:Main article: Roman Inquisition Pope Paul III established, in 1542, a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials, whose task it was to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines. This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office, now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, part of the Roman Curia, became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. The Pope appoints one of the cardinals to preside over the meetings. There are usually ten other cardinals on the Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants all chosen from the Dominican Order. The Holy Office also has an international group of consultants, experienced scholars of theology and canon law, who advise it on specific questions. In 1616 these consultants gave their assessment of the propositions that the Sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and that the Earth moves around it, judging both to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy," and the first to be "formally heretical" and the second "at least erroneous in faith" in theology. This assessment led to Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium to be placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, until revised and Galileo Galilei to be admonished about his Copernicanism. It was this same body in 1633 that tried Galileo, condemned him for a "grave suspicion of heresy", and banned all his works. Not all prosecutions of alleged heretics, atheists and other deviations from the Catholic faith were prosecuted by the Inquisition. In some countries, such as France under the ancien régime, atheists and blasphemers could be prosecuted by civilian courts, with the possible penalty of death.

Portuguese Inquisition

The Portuguese Inquisition was established in Portugal in 1536 by the King of Portugal, Joao III, as a Portuguese analogue of the more famous Spanish Inquisition. The Portuguese Inquisition expanded its scope of operations from Portugal to Portugal's colonial possessions, including Brazil, Cape Verde and Goa, continued as a religious court, investigating and trying cases of breaches of the tenets of orthodox Roman Catholicism until it was abolished in 1821.

Other uses of the word "Inquisitions"

Even though the last Inquisition (The Spanish Inquisition) ended in 1834 almost 200 years ago, the word "Inquisition" remains a part of modern vocabulary; even those with no interest in European history associate it with negative meanings.[http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.asp] Because of the negative images associated with the Inquisition, the term has taken on a pejorative usage, and is often used to express disapproval, and is often used in a non-neutral manner, and not as a neutral historical descriptor.
- Some Christian fundamentalist authors like Jack Chick and Alberto Rivera, along with other like-minded authors, believe the Nazi Holocaust was an Inquisition against the Jews undertaken by Hitler, a Catholic, at the behest of the Pope.
- In modern American politics, United States Senate investigations are often called "Inquisitions" as a means of expressing disapproval of the investigators. For example some people call the Second Red Scare an inquisition.
- Robert Anton Wilson's book The New Inquisition (ISBN 1561840025) is critical of the application of the Scientific Method in the 20th century.
- Emperor Qian Long's literary inquisition in Qing dynasty China.

Derivative works

The Inquisitions have been the subject of many cultural works. Some include:
- The Spanish Inquisition was the subject of a classic Monty Python sketch ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!").
- The short story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum was set during the Spanish Inquisition.
- A body known as the Inquisition exists in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe.
- Mel Brooks's 1981 film The History of the World, Part I contains a musical number about the Spanish Inquisition.
- In Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, the Omnian church has both an Inquisition and an Exquisition.

External links

- [http://www.bede.org.uk/inquisition.htm Frequently Asked Questions About the Inquisition] by James Hannam

References

- Edward M. Peters, Inquisition. (University of California Press, 1989). ISBN 0520066308
- A brief, balanced inquiry, with an especially good section on the 'Myth of the Inquisition'. This is particularly valuable because much of the history available in English of the Inquisition was written in the 19th century by Protestants interested in documenting the dangers of Catholicism or Catholic apologists demonstrating that the Inquisition had been an entirely reasonable judicial body without flaws.
- Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. (Yale University Press, 1999). ISBN 0300078803
- This revised edition of his 1965 original contributes to the understanding of the Spanish Inquisition in its local context.
- Cecil & Irene Roth, A history of the Marranos, Sepher-Hermon Press, 1974.
- Simon Whitechapel, Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003). ISBN 1840681055
- William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition (TAN Books, 1997). ISBN 0895553260
- Favorable treatment of inquisitors. Category:Anti-Semitism Category:Jewish Spanish history Category:Religious persecution Category:Inquisition Category:State terrorism ja:異端審問

1603

Events

- March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James I of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England
- April 28 – Funeral of Elizabeth I of England in Westminster Abbey
- June 29 - Original Globe Theatre burns
- July 17 or July 19 - Sir Walter Raleigh arrested for treason.
- July 25 - Coronation of James I of England. By some criteria this was the start of the modern Great Britain
- November 17 - Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason in the converted Great Hall of Winchester Castle
- December 20 - Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.
- Johann Bayer's Uranometria, an atlas of the southern sky, is published.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu granted title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan and establishes the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan. This ends the Azuchi-Momoyama period and begins the Edo period.
- Accademia dei Lincei founded
- Huguenot Pierre de Gua is granted royal permission to settle in North America
- Rebellion in Transylvania
- Plague in England
- English crush Irish rebellion. Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone surrenders.
- Yaqob deposed as Emperor of Ethiopia by Za Sellase, who appoints his cousin Za Dengel to replace him.

Births

- January 27 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (died 1685)
- March 18 - Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (died 1697)
- March 18 - King John IV of Portugal (died 1656)
- April 19 - Michel le Tellier, French statesman (died 1685)
- June 17 - Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
- July 11 - Kenelm Digby, English privateer and alchemist (died 1665)
- August 17 - Lennart Torstenson, Swedish soldier and military engineer (died 1651)
- November 16 - Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior of the Jasna Góra Monastery (died 1673)
- December 21 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
- Louis Abelly, French monk and priest (died 1691)
- Adam Adami, German archbishop and diplomat
- John Ashburnham, English Member of Parliament (died 1671)
- Daniel Blagrave, English Member of Parliament (died 1668)
- Johannes Cocceius, Dutch theologian (died 1669)
- Valentin Conrart, one of the founders of the Académie française (died 1675)
- Denis Gaultier, French lutenist and composer (died 1672)
- Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (died 1663)
- Axel Lillie, Swedish soldier and politician (died 1662)
- Shackerley Marmion, English dramatist (died 1639)
- Aernout van der Neer, Dutch painter (died 1677)
- Adam Olearius, German scholar (died 1671)
- Alexandre de Prouville, French stateman and soldier (died 1670)
- Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (died 1659)
- Tokugawa Yorifusa, Japanese nobleman (died 1661) See also :Category:1603 births.

Deaths

- January 15 - Catherine Carey, Chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I of England
- February 23 - Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (born 1519)
- March 24 - Queen Elizabeth I of England, Wales, and Ireland (born 1533)
- March 25 - Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese warlord (born 1526)
- June 27 - Jan Dymitr Solikowski, Polish archbishop, writer, and diplomat (b. 1539)
- July 4 - Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer (b. 1521)
- September 8 - George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, English politician (b. 1547)
- November 8 - Robert Catesby, English conspirator (b. 1573)
- December 9 - William Watson, English conspirator (born 1559)
- December 10 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (born 1544)
- December 13 - François Viète, French mathematician (born 1540)
- December 22 - Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (born 1566)
- December 27 - Thomas Cartwright, English Puritan clergyman
- Peter Binsfeld, Bishop of Trier and witch-hunter (born 1545)
- Pierre Charron, French philosopher (born 1541)
- Baldassare Donato, Italian composer and singer (born 1525)
- Edward Fenton, English navigator
- Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (born 1539)
- Ralph Lane, English explorer (born 1530)
- Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Irish chieftain and rebel (born 1571)
- Grace O'Malley, Irish noblewoman and pirate (born 1530)
- Aleksander Ostrogski, Polish nobleman (born 1571)
- Krzysztof Mikolaj Piorun Radziwill, Polish nobleman (born 1547)
- Ikeda Tomomasa, Japanese kokujin and military commander (born 1544) See also :Category:1603 deaths. Category:1603 ko:1603년 ms:1603 simple:1603