History of Natural Sciences in Bohemia During the First Half of the 19th Century With An Emphasis on Naturphilosophie
Abstract
In the frame of the lecture of Lenka Ovčáčková three natural scientists have been presented who contributed extensively to the development of natural sciences in Bohemia at the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th century. The outstanding scientific commitment of the mining scientist, mineralogist and geologist Ignaz von Born (1742-1791), who co-founded around 1770 in Prague the first scientific society in Bohemia, was carried on both in terms of idealistic dedication as well as of particular geological research by the theologist, mineralogist and palaeobotanist Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761-1838) who played a central role in the foundation of the Vaterländisches Museum (later National Museum) in Prague in 1818.
His collecting activities in mineralogy and palaeobotany also led to the establishment of close contact with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who often stayed at West Bohemian spas and combined his stays with extended studies into the geology/palaeovulcanology of the region. Goethe's approach to natural sciences shaped by Naturphilosophie was inspiring the polymath Georg Franz August von Buquoy (1781-1851) who also is famous for the foundation of the first nature reserve in Europe, the primeval forest Žofínský prales.
Buquoy did not only contribute significantly to the evolvement of many branches of natural sciences but also developed a distinct physis-oriented and meta-empirical Naturphilosophie.