Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 69-70. (Budapest, 1973)

KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Vida, Mária: Hell Miksa (1720 — 1792), a polihisztor csillagász (angol nyelven)

still not an independent subject at the universities, but the various observation stations were already established there as „places for research", and together with their physical instruments and methods they became an integral part of the institutions of higher education. They did not serve practical ends directly (were rather in the line of producing scientists), but they had an important role in the formation of a unified scientific view of the world. Hell's significance lies in this interrelationship between medical history and science history, especially in an age when scientists, non-physicians often had to take a stand in connection with some novel tendencies in medicine which tended to over-generalize a newly discovered scientific law or symptom, Miksa Hell was born at Szélakna, a part of the town of Selmecbánya (today Banská Stiavnica in Slovakia), on May 15th, 1720. He came from a noted family of engine-men in the mines: his father was Máté Kornél Hell (Holl), chiefengine-man and physicist at the Selmec mines, who invented the "Selmecbánya" pump, also used in Bavaria and Sweden. All members of the large Hell family showed considerable mechanical talent, one of Miksa's 22 brothers and sisters (József) became another well-known engine-man. Miksa already as an adolescent spent his time with constructing various sun-dials and water-clocks and building other instruments. He studied at the Jesuits at Besztercebánya (today Banská Bystrica) and at Trencsén (Trencin) and finishing the secondary school at the age of eighteen he joined the Jesuit Order. Three years later, in 1741, he went to Vienna to study at the faculty of arts, where his favourite subjects became philosophy and mathematics. In 1744—45, through the good offices of the historian Fröhlich Erasmus, Joseph Frantz (the professor of mathematics and experimental physics) entrusted him with putting the museum of the natural sciences into order. In accordance with the rules of his order Hell had to leave Vienna soon and was sent to the secondary school of Lőcse (today Levoca) where he tought Latin, Greek, geography and arithmetic until 1748, when he returned to Vienna to complete his studies in theology. Here he was given the task by Count Königseck, the Head of the Imperial Treasury to teach mathematics and mine-surveying at the university to those interested in mining. The further career of Miksa Hell is a good illustration of the new phase that the evolution of science entered around the second half of the 18th century. As a result of the development of the natural sciences and due to their specialization the polyhistors began to give way to the experts of the various branches of science. Despite his versatile knowledge from the beginning of the 1750s Hell turned intensively to a new field, to astronomy. After his ordainment in 1751 he went to Nagyszombat where the building of the university observatory was started on the basis of his plans. Before its completion, however, he was appointed professor of mathematics and astronomy to the short-lived Báthory University of Kolozsvár (today Cluj, Rumania). During the three years spent there he enlarged the physical institute of the university and intensively studied the connections of electricity and magnetism. A few years later he could see to his satisfaction that the experiments of Benjamin Franklin and Becoria verified his own conceptions. But his main interest continued to be astronomy. He followed