Lincei meaning

Accademia dei lincei membri

Founded in the Papal States in by Federico Cesi , the academy was named after the lynx , an animal whose sharp vision symbolizes the observational prowess that science requires. Galileo Galilei was the intellectual centre of the academy and adopted "Galileo Galilei Linceo" as his signature. During the nineteenth century, it was revived, first in the Papal States and later in the nation of Italy.

Thus the Pontifical Academy of Science , founded in , claims this heritage as the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei "Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes" , descending from the first two incarnations of the Academy. Similarly, a lynx-eyed academy of the s became the national academy of Italy, encompassing both literature and science among its concerns.

The first Accademia dei Lincei was founded in by Federico Cesi , an aristocrat from Umbria the son of Duke of Acquasparta and a member of an important family from Rome who was passionately interested in natural history — particularly botany. Cesi's father disapproved of the research career that Federico was pursuing. His mother, Olimpia Orsini , supported him both financially and morally.

Accademia dei lincei pronunciation

The Academy struggled due to this disapproval, but after the death of Frederico's father, he had enough money to allow the academy to flourish. At the time of the Accademia's founding Cesi was only 18, and the others were only 8 years older. Cesi and his friends aimed to understand all of the natural sciences. The literary and antiquarian emphasis set the "Lincei" apart from the host of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Italian Academies.

Cesi envisioned a program of free experiment that was respectful of tradition, yet unfettered by blind obedience to authority , even that of Aristotle and Ptolemy , whose theories the new science called into question. While originally a private association, the Academy became a semi-public establishment during the Napoleonic domination of Rome.

This shift allowed the local scientific elite to carve out a place for themselves in larger scientific networks. However, as a semi-public establishment, the Academy's focus was directed by Napoleonic politics.