Stéphane Mourlane

 

The Academy of Lincei is the oldest scientific academy in the world. It was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi. This noble Roman who’s passionate about botany, and who made the Lucretiliens Mountains (Monti Lucretili) in south-east of Rome his main field of research, was joined in his approach by the mathematician Francesco Stelluti, the astronomer Anastasio De Filiis, and the Dutch doctor and naturalist Johannes Van Heeck. The founders chose as an emblem the lynx (lince), whose eyesight symbolized the qualities of observation that scientists must have. They used the maxim "Sagacius ista" to demonstrate for perseverance in their work. The inscription of Galileo in the Academy in 1611 made it somehow famous, but also brought it the distrust of the Church. The Academy, which openly supported Galileo and his geocentric theory against the Inquisition, was blacklisted. It could not, however, continue after the death of its founder in 1630 despite the recognized quality of the works published under its auspices.

It was refounded in 1745 at Rimini by a lecturer doctor at the University of Siena, Giovanni Bianchi who used to publish studies on botany, zoology and hydraulics under the name of Janus Plancus. But once again, the activity of the Academy found trouble to survive after the death of its instigator. After a first attempt of revival in 1802, the Pontifical Academy of new Lincei was instituted in 1847 by Pope Pius IX to perpetuate the legacy of Cesi. The formation of the Italian State, that took Rome as a capital, led in 1870 to a new refoundation of the institution that became the National Royal Academy of Lincei. Quintino Sella, a hydraulic engineer who was remarquable both in the scientific field for his works in crystallography, his qualities of a mountaineer - he was the founder of the Italian Alpine Club - and his political career - he was Minister of Finance in the Ruttazzi government in 1862 – was at the origin of this academy that would focus on the radiation sciences of the new Kingdom of Italy. According to a principle that’s still present, the Academy was divided into two classes: physical sciences and humanities, each class hosting 90 Italian members and likewise of foreigners. It took place in a Roman palace of the sixteenth century sold to the Italian State by the heir of a noble Florentine family, Tommaso Corsini. The latter also bequeathed to the Academy the family library containing about 40,000 volumes collected in the eighteenth century by his most prestigious ancestor, Pope Clement XII. This fund, which contains valuable incunables added to what remained from the original library of the Academy, of which a big portion was lost in the sinking of the ship carrying the books to the Imperial Library of Berlin after acquisition at an auction. This fund thus continued to expand to form a particularly rich composite, covering a broad spectrum of the scientific research.

During the inter-war years, the Academy with rather liberal guidelines, would face totalitarian Fascist regime claims that intended to regulate and exploit the scientific community. In 1929, Mussolini inaugurated an Academy of Italy in order to "coordinate the Italian scholar movement in the fields of science, literature and arts, while preserving a pure national character, according to the genius and traditions of the race and promote expansion and influence beyond the borders of the State." (Article 2 of the Statutes). The Academy of Lincei, whose members had to swear allegiance to the Fascist regime in 1933, was integrated in 1939 in this new institution. It could only regain its autonomy and activities after the war, at the instigation of the philosopher Benedetto Croce, one of the ten scholars who refused to swear allegiance to the Duce, after the most important members of the Facist regime were ousted. Article 1 of the Statutes, that was renovated in 2001, indicated that the Academy of Lincei "aimed to promote, coordinate, integrate and disseminate scientific knowledge in its highest expression in the framework of the unity and universality of culture."

Giuseppe Gabrielli, Contributi alla storia della Accademia dei Lincei, Roma, Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 1989.