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Maximilian Hell, the Practice of Science and the Symbolic Geography of the Enlightened Monarchy of the Habsburgs

Type: 
Lecture
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Speaker: 
Laszlo Kontler
Building: 
Nador u. 11
Room: 
Hanak Room
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - 5:30pm
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Date: 
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm
We are pleased to announce the third lecture of this semester in the series
"History Department Scholarly & Social Meeting"  taking place next
Tuesday, November 20, in Hanák Room, at 17:30.
 
Professor László Kontler will speak about:
 

Maximilian Hell, the practice of science and the symbolic geography of the enlightened monarchy of the Habsburgs.

The astronomer Maximilian Hell (1720-1793) was one of the foremost Jesuit scholars active in Central Europe in the eighteenth century. Besides scientific credentials, building a reputation and authority rested for him on the combination of influential and prestigeous positions, courtly-governmental patronage, intensive networking in the international republic of letters, and the solid background of his order. Roughly half-way into his career the relatively unproblematic nature of this constellation was overthrown by the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the concomitant changes in the overall political and cultural climate in the Habsburg Monarchy. The paper is a case study on the larger issue of the limitations and opportunities in the "uses" of scientific authority for "moving" in society: preserving and adjusting a scope of action amidst circumstances of political and cultural transformation.
  
PROGRAM:
 
17:30 - 18:15: Presentation by László Kontler.
Place: Hanák Room (Nádor 11, 2nd floor)
 
18:15 - 18:50: Discussion
 
19:00 - open end: Drinks and informal meeting of students and faculty.
Place: TBA

  
The Scholarly-Social Meetings, a joint student-faculty initiative, combine lecture series with after-hours integrative event. The aim of the Scholarly-Social Meetings is to provide insights into the work undertaken at our department and, no less importantly, to bring our students and faculty together in a more informal way, building up an academic community beyond the day-to-day scholarly activities.

All faculty, students and staff are welcome!
 
We are looking forward to seeing you all,

Nadia Al-Bagdadi        

(Head of Department)
 
Matthias Riedl
Jan Bröker
Francesco La Rocca
(Organizers)