Knowledge and Technology Transfer in the Age of Enlightenment: The Scientific Correspondence between Franciszek Bieliński (1683-1766) and Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782)
Knowledge and Technology Transfer in the Age of Enlightenment: The Scientific Correspondence between Franciszek Bieliński (1683-1766) and Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782)

Summary/Abstract: The scientific life in mid-seventeenth-century Europe was characterised by numerous academies of sciences and scientific associations whose aim was to propagate the development of the sciences, art and literature. Some have called it “the new Age of Academies all over Europe”. These institutions brought together not only educated professionals but also a large number of amateur scientists. They called for the deliberate abandonment of verbal dispute in favour of visual demonstration/experimentation, and for the creation of paid scientific professionals who would devote their full time to the enterprise. These scientists conducted numerous experiments, the results of which were demonstrated at academic sessions. Franciszek Bieliński became Grand Marshal of the Crown in 1742. During the many years of his public service, he aimed to improve the well-being of Warsaw inhabitants, especially by paving the streets and creating a modern sewerage system. In the light of recent scholarly studies, Franciszek Bieliński is perceived as a figure of very wide horizons, striving to join the Parisian academic scientific discourse in order to transfer knowledge and technology to Poland. Bieliński exchanged letters with the eminent member and three-time president of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1666–1803), Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau, who among numerous other projects tested new methods of horticulture, agriculture and forestry. The article aims to discuss the scientific research undertaken by Bieliński in regards to technology transfer in the area of agriculture, on the basis of unanalysed documents. Recently found correspondence shows that Grand Marshal Bieliński was involved in experimental research supervised by Duhamel du Monceau, under the aegis of the Paris Academy of Sciences. It pertained to modern agricultural crops and the application of new technologies. The agricultural experiments that Bieliński carried out on his private lands in Otwock over many years focused on improving and increasing agricultural production in accordance with the instructions given by Duhamel du Monceau. An interesting research finding was the detailed description of one of the earliest transfers of advanced technology in the field of agricultural machinery. Reports of the work conducted in Poland, which were sent to Duhamel du Monceau, proved to be so useful and important that the latter mentioned these in the proceedings of the Paris Academy of Sciences.

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