Accademia dei Lincei

The Accademia dei Lincei (Italian pronunciation: [akːaˈdɛːmja dei linˈtʃɛi]) (literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy.

Founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi, it was one of the first academies of science to exist in the World as a locus for the incipient scientific revolution. The academy was named after the lynx, an animal whose sharp vision symbolizes the observational prowess that science requires. "The Lincei did not long survive the death in 1630 of Cesi, its founder and patron", and "disappeared in 1651". It was revived in the 1870s to become the national academy of Italy, encompassing both literature and science among its concerns.

The Pontifical Academy of Science also claims a heritage descending from the first two incarnations of the Academy, by way of the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), founded in 1847.

The first Accademia dei Lincei was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi, an aristocrat from Umbria (the son of Duke of Acquasparta and a member of an important family from Rome) who was passionately interested in natural history - particularly botany. Cesi's father disapproved of the research career that Federico was pursuing. His mother, Olimpia Orsini, supported him both financially and morally. The Academy struggled due to this disapproval, but after the death of Frederico's father he had enough money to allow the academy to flourish. The academy, hosted in Palazzo Cesi-Armellini near Saint Peter, replaced the first scientific community ever, Giambattista della Porta's Academia Secretorum Naturae in Naples that had been closed by the Inquisition. Cesi founded the Accademia dei Lincei with three friends: the Dutch physician Johannes Van Heeck (italianized to Giovanni Ecchio) and two fellow Umbrians, mathematician Francesco Stelluti and polymath Anastasio de Filiis. At the time of the Accademia's founding Cesi was only 18, and the others only 8 years older. Cesi and his friends aimed to understand all of the natural sciences. The literary and antiquarian emphasis set the "Lincei" apart from the host of sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian Academies. Cesi envisioned a program of free experiment that was respectful of tradition, yet unfettered by blind obedience to authority, even that of Aristotle and Ptolemy, whose theories the new science called into question. While originally a private association, the Academy became a semi-public establishment during the Napoleonic domination of Rome. This shift allowed local scientific elite to carve out a place for themselves in larger scientific networks. However, as a semi-public establishment, the Academy's focus was directed by Napoleonic politics. This focus directed the member's efforts towards stimulating industry, turning public opinion in favor of the French regime and secularizing the country.

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