The Geographic Diffusion of Modern Science: 1600-1863

Abstract

The Geographic Diffusion of Modern Science: 1600-1 863 Alvin W. Urquhart* Of the many ideas which have come to dominate life in the twentieth century, modern science is among the more important . The separation of scientific thought as a distinct way of viewing reality, the development of specifically scientific institutions, and the emergence of professional scientists have been of concern to many historians. Geographers in recent decades, on the other hand, have paid little attention to science as a cultural phenomenon. Science is, however, amenable to investigation in the mode of cultural diffusion. Modern science1 developed in western Europe and gradually diffused until the present day, when it has become accepted as a valued idea in nearly all parts of the world.2 With antecedents among classical and Muslim scholars, modern science originated in the Renaissance cities of Italy and soon diffused to the prosperous centers of the Low Countries, France, Britain, and the German states. The actual transmission of modern scientific knowledge was at first highly localized, mainly through personal contacts. Later, science was spread by letter writing and scientific publications. Scientific societies, universities, and, more recently, commercial and governmental research facilities have institutionalized modern science. Mapping the location of the sites of early scientific activities has been limited, the maps of Pledge (1939) which show the birthplaces of early West European scientists being a major exception. To show different stages in the geographic diffusion of science, I have mapped data which historians of science have assembled in their attempts to understand better the nature, contexts, and processes of the growth of science. The maps presented here are simply examples, showing the distribution of communicating scientists or scientific organizations at different periods between 1600 and 1863. * Dr. Urquhart is a professor of geography at the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. 55 56ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS The noting of geographic locations was incidental to the purposes of the authors whose works I have used. However, the nearly complete populations of major scientific institutions have allowed me to show the diffusion of modern science during critical periods of its infancy. I have not had to evaluate what should or should not be considered science, but have merely had to plot distributions and confirm cartographically what historians of science have intuitively expressed in writing. Direct Personal Contact Such groups as Giambattista della Porta's Accademia dei Segreti, located in Naples, depended on personal communication among small groups of observers and experimenters. This society inspired Prince Fredrigo Cesi to organize the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome in 1603, with branches in Naples, Florence, and Germany by 1609. The Accademia dei Lincei's best known member, Galileo, joined in 1611, remaining a member until the society disbanded in 1630. In Florence, Torricelli, a student of Galileo, was instrumental in gaining the patronage of the Medici prince, Leopold II, who formally organized the Accademia del Cimento in 1657 to develop Galileo's ideas. Another contemporary Italian scientific group, the Coro Anatomico, was organized in Bologna. Among German speakers, the Societas Ereunetica (1622-1624) in Rostock, the Academia Naturae Curiosorum in Schweinfurt, and the Collegium Curiosum sive Experimentale at the University of Altdorf (1672) were also local centers of seventeenth-century scientific activity (Armytage 1965). These groups were local transmitters of science as were the less remembered practical teachers and working artisans of Renaissance society. Their knowledge was diffused as they moved from one place to another or as they sent letters to correspondents more widely scattered throughout western Europe. Letter Writing Harcourt Brown (1934) admirably discussed the several groups which met in France from 1620 to 1680 to exchange scientific ideas and showed how correspondence and visits linked them with other YEARBOOK · VOLUME 47 · 198557 groups of people with similar scientific interests in France, Italy, and England. The personal contacts and interchange of letters and reports stimulated the diffusion of scientific ideas among the major centers of intellectual activity in the seventeenth century. The chief link between the academies of Italy and Paris was Nicolas-Claude Fabric de Peiresc (1580-1637) (Brown 1934, pp. 1-16). Educated in Rome, Padua, Florence, and Naples, Peiresc traveled widely until 1620, when he settled in...