16
The Invitation to Berlin
Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften (The Royal Prussian Academy
of Sciences) in Berlin was one of the highest ranked scientific institutions in Europe
in the eighteenth century. The Academy was founded in 1700 by Frederick I of
Prussia and was a French language institution which flourished under the regime of
his son Frederick the Great in 1740–1786. Since 1760, Andreas Sigismund
Marggraf, one of the more prominent German chemists in the eighteenth century,
held the position as director of the class of physics, which also included chemistry.
This was one of the most prestigious positions a chemist could hold in the eighteenth century. In 1774, however, Marggraf’s health started to decline; he had
suffered a series of strokes that had left him partly paralysed. It was clear that a
successor had to be found, but it was also decided that the search for a successor
had to be conducted in secret. Marggraf was not to know of the process, and it was
also feared that the Academy would be overwhelmed by applications if a vacancy
was openly advertised [1]. The intrigues that followed have been studied in detail
by Otto Zekert in his Scheele biography, [2] and by Eva Nyström in a M.Sc. thesis
at Uppsala University [3].
Physicist Joseph-Louis de Lagrange (1736–1813), the director of the class of
mathematics, took the first initiative. He first turned to Jean-Baptiste le Rond
d’Alembert (1717–1783), French mathematician, physicist and closely associated
with the Academy and King Frederick. d’Alembert had been co-editor of the
famous Encyclopédie with Denis Diderot (1713–1784), and was well acquainted
with the scientific circles in Paris. d’Alembert made some inquiries and somehow
he learned of Scheele, whom he had not had any personal correspondence with. At
this point, Scheele had only published two papers, the controversial paper on
hydrofluoric acid and the investigation of pyrolusite. Still, Scheele was well known
by chemists in Paris via Bergman’s correspondence with Macquer. It can, for
example, be noted that this was about the same time that Lavoisier sent a copy of
his Opuscules physiques et chymiques to Scheele (Sect. 21.8). d’Alembert wrote to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_16
231
The Invitation to Berlin
Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften (The Royal Prussian Academy
of Sciences) in Berlin was one of the highest ranked scientific institutions in Europe
in the eighteenth century. The Academy was founded in 1700 by Frederick I of
Prussia and was a French language institution which flourished under the regime of
his son Frederick the Great in 1740–1786. Since 1760, Andreas Sigismund
Marggraf, one of the more prominent German chemists in the eighteenth century,
held the position as director of the class of physics, which also included chemistry.
This was one of the most prestigious positions a chemist could hold in the eighteenth century. In 1774, however, Marggraf’s health started to decline; he had
suffered a series of strokes that had left him partly paralysed. It was clear that a
successor had to be found, but it was also decided that the search for a successor
had to be conducted in secret. Marggraf was not to know of the process, and it was
also feared that the Academy would be overwhelmed by applications if a vacancy
was openly advertised [1]. The intrigues that followed have been studied in detail
by Otto Zekert in his Scheele biography, [2] and by Eva Nyström in a M.Sc. thesis
at Uppsala University [3].
Physicist Joseph-Louis de Lagrange (1736–1813), the director of the class of
mathematics, took the first initiative. He first turned to Jean-Baptiste le Rond
d’Alembert (1717–1783), French mathematician, physicist and closely associated
with the Academy and King Frederick. d’Alembert had been co-editor of the
famous Encyclopédie with Denis Diderot (1713–1784), and was well acquainted
with the scientific circles in Paris. d’Alembert made some inquiries and somehow
he learned of Scheele, whom he had not had any personal correspondence with. At
this point, Scheele had only published two papers, the controversial paper on
hydrofluoric acid and the investigation of pyrolusite. Still, Scheele was well known
by chemists in Paris via Bergman’s correspondence with Macquer. It can, for
example, be noted that this was about the same time that Lavoisier sent a copy of
his Opuscules physiques et chymiques to Scheele (Sect. 21.8). d’Alembert wrote to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_16
231