Technikatörténeti szemle 12. (1980-81)

TANULMÁNYOK - Francis S. Wagner: Nagy Károly levelezése az American Philosophical Society könyvtárában

16. Ugyanezt a szöveget latin fordításban is mellékelték. 17. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. I. Printed October 4, 1884. p. 656. 18. Szerzője maga Nagy Károly Elemi arithmologia (Bécs, 1835.) címen, amiért a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia 200 arany nagyjutalmát kapta. 19/20. Nagy Károly szerkesztette 1837 és 1843 között a magyar tudós társasági Névkönyvhöz az astronómiai naplót (csillagászati táblázatokkal) és kalendáriumot. FRANCIS S. WAGNER: KAROLY (CHARLES) NAGY'S CORRESPONDENCE HOUSED IN THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY Karoly Nagy's (1797—1868), member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, approximately one-year long sejourn to the United States is delineated in some detail by both archival sourcesand selected literature. Among his multifarious activities in the United States, he was industrious in establishing the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' first foreign contact: that with the Benjamin Franklin-founded and Philadelphia-based American Philosophical Society on December 25, 1832. His personal contacts and correspondence were maintained and conducted above all with Peter Duponceau, then president of the Society, and its librarian-treasurer, John Vaughan. The resultant fruitful relationship between these two prestigious institutions was interrupted only during the Hungarian War of Independence in 1848—1849 and the two world wars. In addition to the cultural exchange program, Nagy was intensively engaged in helping advance the work of the American Philosophical Society through promotion of scientific knowledge in a variety of fields. Among the wealth of items he sent to the Society were a very interesting collection of minerals and a precise representation of the moon with its mountains. He also acquainted the Society with the level of European instrument-making including microscopes and telescopes with emphasis on the Ploessel- (Vienna, Austria) manufactured items by means of description and samples, the latter which he mailed via London to Philadelphia. Karoly Nagy, himself an excellent mathematician and astronomer, was well aware that Hungarian linguistic and belletristic publications, for reasons self-evident, could not occupy a leading role in the foreign exchange program. Consequently he consistently introduced more practical subjects. For example, he communicated the results of his pendulum experiments to the American Philosophical Society and sent his invariable pendulum to Philadelphia for further investigation. The efforts of Nagy were so greatly appreciated by the American Philosophical Society, that already at its April 19, 1933 meeting Nagy became „a duly elected member of the Society."