The Invitation to Berlin

Abstract

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.