Maximilian Hell (Hungarian:Hell Miksa) (bornRudolf Maximilian Höll; May 15, 1720 – April 14, 1792) was anastronomer and an ordainedJesuit priest from theKingdom of Hungary. The lunar craterHell is named after him.
Born as Rudolf Maximilian Höll inSelmecbánya,Hont County,Kingdom of Hungary (present-daySlovakia),[5] but later changed his surname to Hell. He was the third son from the second marriage of his father Matthias Cornelius Hell (Matthäus Kornelius Hell) and his mother Julianna Staindl. The couple had a total of 22 children. Registry entries indicate that the family was ofGerman descent, while Maximilian Hell later in life (ca. 1750) is known to declare himself as Hungarian.[5] but his mother tongue wasGerman.[5] Even so, Hell considered himself aHungarian.[5][6]
The place of birth of Maximilian's father is unknown; the settlementsKörmöcbánya (todayKremnica),Schlagenwald, (todayHorní Slavkov) orSchlackenwerth (todayOstrov nad Ohří) are most frequently given. Born in a mixed German, Hungarian and Slovak town,[5] he presumably knew Slovak to a certain extent[5] and he probably understood Hungarian,[5] but his mother tongue wasGerman.[5] Even so, Hell considered himself aHungarian.[5][7]
Hell, with another Jesuit priest,János Sajnovics tried to explore the already widely discussed but insufficiently documentedaffinity between the language of theSami,Finns and theHungarians during and after their residency inVardø. (Demonstratio idioma Ungarorum et Lapponum idem esse, 1770 Copenhagen)[1][8][9]
Title page of the Ephemerides Vindobonensem for 1781.
Hell became the director of theVienna Observatory in 1756.[10] He published the astronomical tablesEphemerides astronomicae ad meridianum Vindobonemsem ("Ephemerides for the Meridian of Vienna"). He and his assistantJános Sajnovics went toVardø in the far north ofNorway (then part ofDenmark-Norway) to observe the 1769transit of Venus. He was elected as a foreign member of theRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters on October 13, 1769. This society also funded the publication of his 1770 account of the Venus passageObservatio transitus Veneris ante discum Solis die 3. Junii anno 1769 (Copenhagen, 1770).[11]
Besidesastronomy, Hell also had an interest inmagnet therapy (the alleged healing power of magnets), although it wasFranz Anton Mesmer who went further with this and received most of the credit.[12]
There was some controversy about Hell's observations of the transit of Venus because he stayed in Norway for eight months, collecting non-astronomical scientific data about the arctic regions for a planned encyclopedia (which never appeared, in part due to the suppression of theJesuit order). The publication of his results was delayed, and some (notablyJoseph Johann Littrow) accused Hell posthumously of falsifying his results. However,Simon Newcomb carefully studied Hell's notebooks and exonerated him a century after his death inVienna.
Elementa Algebrae Joannis Crivelli magis illustrata et novis demonstrationibus et problematibus aucta. Vindobonae, 1745. (Book of Joannis Crivelli, updated by Maximilian Hell)
Adiumentum Memoriae manuale chronologico-genealogico-historicum. München, 1750 és Ingolstadt, 1763.
Compendia varia praxesque operationum arithmeticarum, itemque regulae aureae simplicis compositae etc. cumprimis ad usus mercatorum et civiles applicatae.Claudiopoli, 1755.
Elementa mathematica naturali philosophiae ancillantia ad praefixam in scholis normam concinnata. I. Elementa Arithmeticae numericae et litteralis seu Algebrae. Claudiopoli, 1755.
Exercitationum mathematicarum partes tres. Vindobonae, 1755.
Ephemerides astronomicae ad meridianum Vindobonensem. Vindobonae 1756-1793.
Exercitationum mathematicarum partes tres, una cum Exercitationibus arithmeticis et regula Rabbatae, Anatocismi et iuris civilis de quarta Falcidia. Viennae, 1759.
Elementa Algebrae Authore R. P. Maximiliano Hell e S. J. Posnaniae, typis S. J. 1760.
Dissertatio complectens calculos accuratissimos transitus Veneris per discum Solis in tertiam Iuni 1769. praedicti, methodosque varias observationem hanc instituendi. Viennae, 1760.
Kurzer Unterricht der Oster-Feyer für den ungelehrten, gemeinen Mann, samt der gründlichen Wiederlegung einer Schrift, welche Herr Christoph Sigismund Schumacher, Calender-Schreiber in Dresden unter den Innschrift: Untersuchung der Oster-Feyer von anno 1700 bis 2500 verfasst u. anno 1760 in Druck gegeben hat. Wien, 1760.
Introductio ad utilem usum Magnetis ex chalybe. Viennae, 1762.
Transitus Veneris ante discum Solis anni 1761. die Astron. 5. Junii calculis definitus et methodo observandi illustratus a Max. Hell S. J. Vindobonae, é.n.
Tabulae Solares ad Meridianum Parisianum, quas novissimis suis observationibus deduxit vir celeberrimus Nicolaus Ludovicus de Caille… Cum supplemento reliquarum tabularum solarium, quas supputavit Maximilianus Hell Astronomus Caesareo-Regius. Editio post primam Parisianam anni 1758 altera et auctior. Vindobonae, 1763.
Tabulae lunares ad meridianum Parisianum, quas supputavit vir Cl. Tobias Mayer. - cum supplemento reliquarum tabularum Lunarium D. Cassini, de la Lande et P. Hell. Bécs, 1763.
Tabulae planetarum Saturni, Jovis, Martis, Veneris et Mercurii ad Meridianum Parisianum, quas supputavit vir cel. D. Ioannes Cassini … correctis typi erroribus et adiectis tabulis perturbationum, aberrationum et nutationum D. de la Lande, D. Euleri, D. Mayer cum earumdem praeceptis concinnatis a P. Max. Hell. Viennae, 1763.
Elogium Rustici Tyrolensis Petri Anich Oberperfuessensis coloni, tornatoris etc. Viennae, 1766.
Observationes astronomicae ab anno 1717. ad annum 1752. a patribus Soc. Jesu Kögler etc. Pekini factae et a P. Augustino Hallerstein S. J. Tribunalis mathematici Praeside 1772 collectae, ac in Europam missae. Ad fidem autographi Manuscripti edidit P. Hell. Viennae, 1768.
Observatio transitus Veneris ante discum Solis die 3. Junii anno 1769. Wardoëhusii etc. Hafniae, 1770.
Dissertatio de parallaxi Solis ex Observationibus Transitus Veneris 1769. Viennae, 1772.
Methodus astronomica sine usu Quadrantis vel Sectoris aut alterius cuiusvis instrumenti in gradus circuli divisi … elevationem cujusvis in continente siti loci accuratissime determinandi. Wien, 1775.
Max Hell's Schreiben über die alhier in Wien entdeckte Magnetenkur, an einen seiner Freunde. Wien, 1775.
Unpartheiischer Bericht der alhier gemachten Entdeckungen der künstlichen Stahlmagneten in verschiedenen Nervenkrankheiten. Wien, 1775.
Erklärung über das zweite Schreiben Herrn D. Mesmers die Magnetenkur betreffend an das Publikum. Wien, 1775.
Von der wahren Grösse, die der Durchmesser des vollen Mondes zu haben scheint, wenn man mit freyem Auge ansieht. (Beyträge zu den verschiedenen Wissenschaften, 1775.)
Monumenta aere perenniora inter astra ponenda etc. Wien, 1789.
Tabula geographica Ungariae veteris ex historia Anonymi Belae regi notarii. Pestini, 1801.
Sacharum praeservativum adversus scorbutum cum Epistola D. Alberitz Med. Doctoris. (?)
^Charles Anthony Federer; Harvard College Observatory (1962).Sky and Telescope. Sky Pub. Corp. p. 213.
^abcdefghiG. Balázs, Lajos (2004). "The European scientist: symposium on the era and work of Franz Xaver von Zach (1754–1832): proceedings of the symposium held in Budapest on September 15–17, 2004".Acta Historica Astronomiae.24.Verlag Harri Deutsch: 46.ISBN978-3-8171-1748-2.
^"God God, who had believed that we will find brothers from the same ancient father in the Lapp people! Hungarians, our brethren, who speak our Hungarian language, wear our Hungarian clothes, live according to the customs of our Hungarian fathers, summing it up: our brethren." Maximilian Hell's letter to Pater Höller, written inVardø, April 6, 1769. More letters from Hell at:[1] (Hungarian)
^"God God, who had believed that we will find brothers from the same ancient father in the Lapp people! Hungarians, our brethren, who speak our Hungarian language, wear our Hungarian clothes, live according to the customs of our Hungarian fathers, summing it up: our brethren." Maximilian Hell's letter to Pater Höller, written inVardø, April 6, 1769. More letters from Hell at:[2] (Hungarian)
^Jacek Juliusz Jadacki; Witold Strawiński; Jerzy Pelc (1998).In the World of Signs: Essays in Honour of Professor Jerzy Pelc. Rodopi. p. 459.ISBN9789042003897.
^Mikko Korhonen (1986).Finno-Ugrian Language Studies in Finland, 1828-1918. Societas Scientiarum Fennica. p. 226.ISBN9789516531352.
Moutchnik, Alexander (2006). "Forschung und Lehre in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Der Naturwissenschaftler und Universitätsprofessor Christian Mayer SJ (1719–1783)".Algorismus, Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik und der Naturwissenschaften (in German).54. Augsburg: Erwin Rauner Verlag.ISBN3-936905-16-9.
