Universities and scientific disciplines between XVI and XVIII century
In the Kingdom of Naples
By the end of the eighteenth century it can be said that there are no schools or faculties where the architecture and engineering are taught and that they release corresponding academic titles. With regard, in particular, to the teaching of mechanics, up to the eighteenth century in the Italian Universities, it remains confined to the traditional patterns of "natural philosophy", in the preparation courses for obtaining the title of "magister artium". In experimental physics, the space devoted to the mechanics alien from any application to the arts or machines is very limited. Only military architecture, hydraulic architecture, artillery can be regarded as true "applied sciences" but they have little to do with the material production system, which has received interest and attention from the cultural enlightenment revolutions, It has not yet gained credit in universities (V. Marchis, Machine History, p.175-176; Laterza Publishers 1994). Bearing in mind these general aspects of university studies, we now look wider than what happened in Naples in particular in the period in question; We will point out in the next publications the main events in the rest of Italy and then in Europe.
Universities and scientific disciplines in the Kingdom of Naples..The training of an engineer, in the period we referred to, took place in several ways: some study mathematical sciences and, starting with theoretical knowledge, then practice with an already experienced engineer; Others get to engineer through the Academy of Fine Arts; Those who ultimately want to become architects-military engineers, follow the specially established schools. The scientific and technical disciplines proposed to an aspiring engineer stemmed from the great current of modern technical progress, which dates back to the sixteenth century. The development of mathematical studies and their applications has given a primary contribution to the evolution of the engineer. In fact, the historical study of mathematics in Naples from 1650 to 1732 shows that there was little evolution as well as physical and natural sciences, at least in the face of what happened elsewhere. This was due to the depressing economic and environmental conditions in which scholars and teachers were forced to work in the Kingdom of Naples.
Many examples, derived from historical documents, show that the tendency of scholars, as mathematicians, since the beginning of the sixteenth century was to address the application of sciences. Analyzing the effect of this tendency on school establishments, engineers' training sites, however considered, find that the sciences are lagging behind in older organizations such as universities, while they are more easily transposed into bodies already facing the immediate future. Such as the military schools and therefore the greatest progress lies in the military field, where the conditions were very privileged. At the University of Naples the teaching of elementary mathematics was not given before 1654, when the first mathematics degree was instituted by Tommaso Cornelio (Cosenza 1614 - Naples 1684) for the involvement of the lawyer Francesco d'Andrea and only in 1703 a perpetual mathematics chair was obtained. These two faculties constituted the Faculty of Mathematics, who issued a mathematics degree to candidates who followed the courses; The duration of these courses was adjusted from time to time to the time required for the learning by the candidates.
With the first reform proposed by Monsignor Celestino Galiani, there was a clear step towards new trends, that is, towards a practical application of the sciences, with the creation of a second Mathematics Chair. The Chair of Arithmetic and Algebra was then established in 1761. At Genovesi, who from 1741 taught Metaphysics at the University, and for whom Intieri, in 1754, had founded the Chair of Civil Economics, Mechanics of Arts and Commerce, Since 1767 was entrusted with the task of proposing a reform of university studies by Bernardo Tanucci. In it Genoese transposed much of his ideas. The Genovesi project found no practical application but served to inspire some parts of the reform, which was then decreed by Ferdinand IV, in Portici on 26 September 1777. It is significant that the decree was communicated to the chaplain Major with a letter from King of October 1777, in which it was stated that it was the intention of the Sovereign to form a complete and complete body of what is necessary for the perfect education of youth, starting from the first elements to the most sublime faculties and sciences.
After this reform, which established a faculty of mathematics separate from that of Natural Sciences, the faculties of Mathematics became six; Among them there was the one of Mechanics, entrusted to Father Scolopus Nicolò Cavallo (1724-1802) and that of Practical Architecture and Geometry, entrusted to Canon Torello. In 1802 there were the professions of Civil Architecture and Private Geometry, Analytical Mathematics, Synthetic Mathematics and Mechanics. To meet the needs arising from the design and construction of large buildings, of which Charles III was providing the capital of the Kingdom and its surroundings, In 1752 the Academy of Drawing was founded, the same year that the Academy of St. Leonardo was founded in Madrid. The ordering of this Neapolitan Academy was divided into two levels of study: the upper grade was represented not only by the Drawing, the Academy of Nude, and the Academy of Architecture. The latter was founded around 1762. At first the teachers of this Academy were chosen among the artists belonging to the old Royal factories. They, being not architects, showed a major gap in technical education, which was eliminated by taking engineer Antonio Vincenzo Ferraresi, as a professor of civil architecture.
This Academy, which had already been headquartered in the Royal Laboratories, moved to the Palazzo degli Studi. Along with that described, the development of Mathematics in Naples in the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century followed a different course in the military institutions. This development did not take place in the Universities but in the Military Academy, which gave rise to another study address, which was soon opposed to that of the University and was often in the fight with it. These were more modern analytical studies; The new one who had come to this military academy and was spreading it was largely based on scientific studies and, in particular, those of mathematics and physics, in their multiple perceptions and applications, and was enlivened by contacts that, at the European level, there were teachers and students in this field, creating a happy enlargement of scientific and technical horizons. After setting up in 1735, the Academy of Marina and in 1744, the Artillery or Artillery Academy, Charles III set up in 1754 the Academy of Engineers or the Engineers' College. In 1742 the Engineer's Body received a new sorting. On February 1, 1754, he was nominated by the King as Director and Examiner of the Academy of Engineers; That assignment was assigned to the mathematician Niccolò de Martino, whom the King had called upon by the Court of Spain, where he was secretary of the Embassy.
On December 26, 1769, from the merger of the two Academies, Artillery and Engineers, the Royal Military Academy was founded; The first two can be considered the progenitors of today's Academy of Nunziatella. The Royal Military Academy with order of May 18, 1777, performed on 18 November of the same year, was placed in the Nunziatella building. Abbot Vito Caravelli was the director and author of studies, according to the actual measure of May 10, 1770, which stated: "the formation of scientific treatises that must teach throughout the four-year course will be a The duty of the Director of Science, whom we want to form them and publish them as a military course, in particular the teaching of our Royal Academy". Thus Vito Caravelli published a course on Mathematics and Astronomy and in 1786 a treatise on differential calculus (together with a treatise by Vincenzo Porto on the integral calculation); Giuseppe Saverio Poli the Course of Geography and Military History.
The following lessons were taught in the Military Academy: Mechanics and Experimental Physics - Tactics - Sublime Calculation - Conical Sections - Trigonometry and Practical Geometry - Solid Geometry - Reasonable Geometry and Arithmetic - Geography - Italian Eloquence - Latin Language Upper - Latin and Italian grammar - Read and write and numerate - Character - Drawing of figures - Country design (). Another important aspect of the military academies lies in the fact that they were not only bodies operating within patriotic borders, but were instrumental in contacting the technical experiences of other countries and other centers of study. Regarding contacts with the realities of other countries, we find that Saverio Poli goes to England to buy cars, while Giuseppe Parisi leads the students for instructional courses in France and Germany.
Francesco D'Andrea (Ravello 1625 - Candela 1698): He was a member and founder of the Academy of Investigators. Primary lawyer of the Kingdom of Naples traveled and participated in intellectual life and scientific studies in many Italian cultural environments.
Celestino Galiani (San Giovanni Rotondo 1681 - Naples 1753): Encyclopedic, scholar, philosopher, historian of the Church, but above all mathematician. He is also considered by modern historians as the greatest speaker of Newtonianism in Italy today. He was assigned the mathematics department at the University of Rome (1718). In 1731, when he went to Foggia to help and help his fellow citizens escaped by the tremendous earthquake of March 20, he had the news of his appointment to Archbishop of Taranto, where he was in less than a year, because the King of Naples named him "Cappellano Maggiore Of the Kingdom of Naples ", a very important charge that included the command of education, the rector of the University, Prefect of the Regi Studi.
Bartolomeo Intieri: An intelligent mathematician and Tuscan banker of humble origins, he transplanted to Naples as a young man and became totally involved in the life of the city (from the Student's Guide to the Faculty of Law at Federico II).
Marchese Bernardo Tanucci (Stia, Arezzo, 1698- at Naples 1783): Professor at the University of Pisa, entered the service of the Duke of Parma Charles of Bourbon. When he became King of Naples and Sicily, under the name of Charles III, he was appointed Minister of Justice (1752) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Reality (1754). On the departure of Charles III for Spain, he became Minister of Ferdinand IV, his successor, and inspired the reforming policy of the Bourbon monarchy of Naples.
The official birth of "Nunziatella" dates back to November 18, 1787, the day of the beginning of the courses of the Royal Military Academy. By decree of Admiral John Acton, Minister of War and of the Navy of the Kingdom of Naples, on 28 May 1787 was assigned to the Royal Military Academy the Jesuit Convent, placed on the hill of Pizzofalcone, next to the church called "Nunziatella". (From the Nunziatella Military School website).
Giuseppe Saverio Poli: Doctor and Naturalist, born in Molfetta on 24 October 1746, died in Naples on April 7, 1825. He studied in Padua between 1765 and 1770; He practiced in Naples the medical profession until 1776, when he was appointed professor of military history and geography at the Military Academy. Here he was tasked to equip the scientific cabinet for his teaching and for this he made many trips to various European countries. He was then appointed professor of physics at the medical school of the Incurabili in Naples. During his travels he collected abundant zoological material, which was the basis of the prestigious Zoological Museum of the University of Naples.
General Giuseppe Parisi (born in 1747, who died on 14 May 1985 in Nocera, was the founder of the most famous and ancient Military School of Europe, the Nunziatella of Naples. Military Engineer and Professor of Mathematics, already in 1780 and 1781 published the 1st and 2nd Tomo of Elements of military architecture composed for the use of the Academy of Battalion Regal Ferdinando. The 1st Book consisted of pages 328 and 12 illustrating the topics discussed and the 2nd Volume of 335 pages and 11 tables; In 1786 he published another book, continuation of the first two, always written for the Regal Academy of pages 311 and 37 figures and drawings related to the work described. (From "BASIC REGION News" 2001).
Sources for research: Naples State Archive | Athenaeum University Federico II of Naples, documents and texts from the 17th to the 20th centuries | Texts from the 17th to the 20th centuries of the Universities of the City of Rome, City of Florence, City of Turin, City of Paris |Sources for research: Sources for research: volume "THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL IN NAPLES 1811-1967" (edited by Giuseppe Russo, published on the occasion of the transfer of the Faculty of Engineering from Mezzocannone to the new buildings of Fuorigrotta) - extracted historical information and documents. |
Publication rapporteur and Research Coordinator: Prof. Lelio Della Pietra (Mechanics Applied to Machines, Federico II, Engineering, Naples).
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