Georg Franz August Buquoy

1781-1851 

Research into the natural sciences and the humanities in the Bohemian lands was greatly enriched in the first half of the 19th century by Count Georg Franz August von Buquoy, or Jiří František August Buquoy in Czech (1781-1851). Count Buquoy was a leading exponent of what is known as nature philosophy. This self-taught scholar’s unprecedented interest in the natural sciences and the humanities ranged from mathematics, physics, chemistry, physiology and other natural sciences through to the national economy and philosophy.

 

Count Jiří František August Buquoy came to Bohemia in 1787. After graduating from the Theresianum academy in Vienna in 1803, at the age of 22 he became the heir to estates in southern Bohemia following the death of his uncle. After marrying Countess Maria Gabriela Rottenhan, Count Buquoy lived at the chateau in Nové Hrady, in Prague, and particularly in his wife’s family residence at the chateau of Červený Hrádek. The geographical position of this chateau in the Ore Mountains was ideal for Buquoy, as in the nearby spas of western Bohemia he met various prominent scientists and also became friends with Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Not only did he accompany him on his natural science walks, but he and Goethe also used to discuss various matters, mostly his work Theory of Colours. In 1815 Buquoy published a book on national economic theory (Die Theorie der Nationalwirtschaft), which is still well known today. In the same year he then met Alexander Humboldt in Paris, and also lectured in theoretical physics at the French Academy. However, mathematics would remain the king of science for him throughout his life. 

Buquoy managed his estate but rejected any form of public office, as his main aim was to devote himself fully to research. His nature philosophy effort to bring together science, philosophy and poetry is evident not only from his other writings, but also from his essays published in 1821–1846 in Lorenz Oken’s journal Isis. Over time, Buquoy went on to become an honorary or corresponding member of a number of prominent scientific institutions, such as the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences in 1825. In 1818 Buquoy provided ideological as well as financial support for the establishment of the National Museum (formerly the Patriotic Museum); a major role was played in the founding of this institution by the provincial patriot Kaspar Maria, Count of Sternberg. It was also allegedly Count Buquoy who first used the term biology in the Bohemian lands in 1820 in his article Über die Methode in der Biologie überhaupt (On an Overall Method in Biology). His interdisciplinary erudition was also reflected on a practical level. Besides establishing and running new glassworks and producing the unique hyalite glass, he also built the first wooden steam engine in the Bohemian lands, for example, and in 1838 also established the Žofínský Prales virgin forest in Novohradsko, the first protected area in Central Europe. In the same year Buquoy established another protected area, the virgin forest in nearby Hojná Voda. 

 

References

Bečvář, M.: Rottenhanové a Buquoyové na Červeném Hrádku/Die Herren von Rottenhan und von Buquoy in Rotenhaus (The Rottenhans and Buquoys at Červený Hrádek). Chomutov 2014.

Janko, J.: Vědy o životě v českých zemích 1750 –1950 (The Life Sciences in the Bohemian Lands 1750-1950). Prague 1997, pp. 110.

Koblasa, P.: Buquoyové. Stručné dějiny rodu (The Buquoys. A Brief History of the Family). České Budějovice 2002.

Teichl, R.: Goethe und Georg Graf von Buquoy. Chronik des Wiener Goethe-Vereins, vol. XIX, 3/1905, no. 3, pp. 17–30.

Urzidil, J.: Goethe v Čechách (Goethe in Bohemia). Prague 2009, pp. 95–98.

LeO