Eise Eisinga's World: The Profile of a Devotee to Astronomy between Enlightenment and Romanticism

Eise Eisinga, the creator of the Franeker Planetarium, is not merely an autodidact working in isolation but a devotee to astronomy and mathematics shaped by his time. This study challenges the long-held belief that Eisinga's work was unknown to others, instead revealing him as part of a broader network of knowledge exchange across 18th-century Netherlands. By tracing his connections and contextualizing his contributions within the intellectual landscape near universities, the research sheds light on how astronomy and mathematics thrived outside formal academic institutions during the Enlightenment and Romanticism eras.

Dijkstra, A. (2025). Eise Eisinga’s World: The Profile of a Devotee to Astronomy between Enlightenment and Romanticism. Cultivating and Communicating Natural and Technical Knowledge around 1800, 47–78. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789463728577_ch03