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Josip Ruđer Bošković (Ruggiero
Giovanni Boscovich)
was born in 1711 into Dubrovnik’s family with 8 children, died in
Milan in 1783. His father, a trader from Hercegovinia and mother,
daughter of a noble Italian, provided all of their children with
proper education (his brother Bartolomeo was also a Jesuit
mathematician who worked in Rome, which teachings were considered
too avant garde for the time). After elementary education at the
Jesuit College in Dubrovnik (Collegium Ragusinum), due to his
outstanding learning and intellectual capabilities, at the early age
of 14 he joint the Society of Jesus (famous for its education of
youth, and at that time having some 800 establishments and 200,000
pupils under its control throughout the world) in Rome where he
pursued his studies.
There, he studied mathematics and physics; and so brilliant was his
progress in these sciences that in 1740 he was appointed professor
of mathematics in the college. He was especially appropriate for
this post due to his acquaintance with recent advances in science,
and his skill in a classical severity of demonstration, acquired by
a thorough study of the works of the Greek geometers. Several years
before this appointment, he had made a name for himself with an
elegant solution of the problem of finding the Sun's equator and
determining the period of its rotation by observation of the spots
on its surface.
His professorship demanded a lot of energy and effort. But
nevertheless, he always had enough time for research in all the
fields of physical science. He published a very large number of
dissertations, some of them of considerable length. Among the
subjects were the transit of Mercury, the Aurora Borealis (corona),
the figure of the Earth, the observation of the fixed stars, the
inequalities in terrestrial gravitation, the application of
mathematics to the theory of the telescope, the limits of certainty
in astronomical observations, the solid of greatest attraction, the
cycloid, the logistic curve, the theory of comets, the tides, the
law of continuity, the double refraction micrometer, various
problems of spherical trigonometry.
Bošković also showed much ability in dealing with practical
problems. In 1742 he was consulted, with other men of science, by
the Pope Benedict XIV, as to the best means of securing the
stability of the dome of St. Peter's, Rome, in which a crack had
been discovered. His suggestion of emplacing five concentric iron
bands was adopted. He also agreed to take part in the Portuguese
expedition for the survey
Brazil
and the measurement of a degree of the meridian, but was persuaded
by the Pope to stay in Italy and to undertake a similar task there
with Christopher Maire, an English Jesuit who measured an arc of two
degrees between Rome and Rimini. The operation began at the end of
1750, and was completed in about two years. An account was published
in 1755, under the name De Litteraria expeditione per pontificiam
ditionem ad dimetiendos duos meridiani gradus a PP. Maire et
Boscovicli. The value of this work was increased by a carefully
prepared map of the States of the Church.
Abreast with all the other work that he was involved with, Bošković
was a few times set of dissolving diplomacy crises. A dispute arose
between the grand duke of Tuscany and the republic of Lucca with
respect to the drainage of a lake. As agent of Lucca, Bošković was
sent, in 1757, to
Vienna
and succeeded in bringing about a satisfactory arrangement in the
matter.
In Vienna in 1758, he published his famous work, Theoria
philosophiae naturalis redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura
existentium (Theory of Natural philosophy derived to the single
Law of forces, which exist in Nature), containing his atomic theory
and his theory of forces. A second edition was published in 1763 in
Venice, a third in 1922 in London, and a fourth in 1966 in the
United States.
A fifth edition was published in
Zagreb
in 1974.
Anther diplomacy mission arisen soon. The British government
suspected that warships had been outfitted in the port of Dubrovnik
for the service of France and that therefore the neutrality of
Dubrovnik
had been violated. Bošković was selected to undertake an
ambassadorship to London (1760), to vindicate the character of his
native place and satisfy the government. This mission he discharged
successfully — a credit to him and a delight to his countrymen.
During his stay in England he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society.
The egotism and petulance of Bošković provoked his rivals and made
him many unnecessary enemies, so that in hope of peace he was driven
to frequent change of residence. But, for his lifetime, Bošković
never lost connections with Dubrovnik, maintained especially through
a regular correspondence with his elder brother Baro and sister
Anica. He never stopped to care for the welfare of his native town
and was always ready to answer requests by the Dubrovnik Senate and
to assist in diplomatic and political issues.
In 1761 astronomers were preparing to observe the transit of Venus
across the Sun. Under the influence of the Royal Society Bošković
decided to travel to Istanbul. He arrived late and then traveled to
Poland via Bulgaria and Moldavia then proceeding to Saint Petersburg
where he was elected as a member of Russian Academy of Sciences. Ill
health compelled him soon to return to Italy.
In 1764 he was called to serve as the chair of mathematics at the
University of Pavia, and he held this post with the directorship of
the observatory of Brera near Milan, for six years.
He was invited by the Royal Society of London to undertake an
expedition to California to observe the transit of Venus in 1769
again, but this was prevented by the recent decree of the Spanish
government on the expulsion of the Jesuits from its dominions.
Boscovich had many enemies and he was driven to frequent changes of
residence. About 1777 he returned to Milan, where he kept teaching
and directing the Brera observatory.
Deprived of his post by the intrigues of his associates, he was
about to retire to Dubrovnik when in 1773 the news of the
suppression of his order in Italy reached him. Uncertainty led him
to accept an invitation from the King of France to come to Paris
where he was appointed director of optics for the navy, with a
pension of 8000 "livres" and a position was created for him.
He naturalized in France and stayed ten years, but his position
became irksome, and at length intolerable. He, however, continued to
work in the pursuit of science knowledge, and published many
remarkable works. Among them was an elegant solution of the problem
to determine the orbit of a comet from three observations and works
on micrometer and achromatic telescopes.
In 1783 he returned to Italy, and spent two years at Bassano,
occupying himself with the publication of his Opera pertinentia ad
opticam et astronomiam, etc., published in 1785 in five volumes
quarto.
After a visit of some months to the convent of Vallombrosa, he went
to Brera in 1786 and resumed his literary labours. At that time his
health was failing, his reputation was on the wane, his works did
not sell, and he gradually fell prey to illness and disappointment.
He died in Milan and was buried in the church of St. Maria Podone.
Russian scientists have always shown a strong interest in his work
and more recently western scientists have become better acquanted
with his contributions. This resurgence of interest in his works is
evident from a host of recent books and articles. His legacy has
been preserved in the special
Boscovich Archives
in the Rare Boooks library at the University of California in
Berkeley. Amoung the 180 items housed there are found not only many
of his 66 scientific treatices, but also correspondence (over 2,000
letters) with other mathematicians such as Euler, D'Lambert,
Lagrange, Laplace, Jacobi and Bernoulli.
Some of the
work have already been mentioned, and to these may be added his
"Elementorum matheseos tomi tres," in quarto (1752).
Bošković, while in England he gave the impulse
to the observations of the approaching transit of Venus, on 6 June,
1761, and it is not unlikely that his proposal to employ lenses
composed of liquids, to avoid chromatic aberration, may have
contributed to Dolland's success in constructing achromatic
telescopes. |
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