Accademia nazionale delle scienze detta dei XL

The Accademia nazionale delle scienze [National Academy of Sciences], also called Accademia Nazionale dei XL [The Academy of the Forty] is the national science academy of Italy. Founded in 1782, the original name of the society was Società Italiana [the Italian Society], which was changed in 1801 to Società Italiana delle Scienze detta dei XL [Italian Society of the Forty], and then in 1949 to Accademia Nazionale dei XL [National Academy of the XL] and lastly in 1979 to the present one, Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL. The only national scientific Academy continuously in function since its establishment, it is presently an autonomous non-profit organization.

The Academy was founded in 1782 as Società Italiana (Italian Society) on the initiative of the mathematician and hydraulic engineer Antonio M. Lorgna. The founding Members were, besides Lorgna, the forty most distinguished scientists of all over Italy, including Lazzaro Spallanzani, Alessandro Volta, Lodovico de Lagrange, Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich: hence the current name Society of the XL, Società dei Quaranta (nowadays “Academy of the XL”).

The creation of the Italian Society gave practical effect to the patriotic aspiration of Italian scientists before the geographical and political unification of the Country, namely to see a United Italy at least in Science.

In the same year of the foundation, the first number of the Memorie accademiche (Academic memoirs) was published: the preface expresses patriotic concepts by saying that “Italy’s disadvantage is to have its forced divided” and that one had to “associate the knowledge and work of many illustrious separated Italians” to start their unification.

The publication of the Memorie, a real scientific periodical, was answering a practical need of Italian scientists of the time who had difficulties in publishing their work: there was no authoritative and internationally appreciated communication tool that could collect the national scientific production, as was the case for France or England.

The “Society of the XL” establishes itself rapidly and is considered in a few years the sole representative of Italian Science: Frederick the Great King of Prussia, the French and Russian Academies and later the American ones developed close relations with the “Italian Society” which changed its name to “Italian Society of Sciences called of the XL” after Lorgna’s death.

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