A Meeting with Giovanni Domencio Cassini

June 18, 1673

Literature and art fascinate me greatly. These are the only things that could possibly distract me from my main focus on improving French economy through my mercantilist views. Today, I met up with Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Having appointed him the superintendent of the Observatory that I had founded, I wanted to see how things were progressing. He entertained me by relating to me the discoveries and happenings that occurred throughout his life and at the Observatory.

I found out a great deal about the life of this Italo-French astronomer. He had been educated by Jesuits at Genoa and was nominated in 1650 as the professor of astronomy in the University of Bologna. He observed and wrote a treatise on the comet of 1652 and was employed by the senate of Bologna as the hydraulic engineer. Later on, Cassini was appointed by Pope Alexander VII as inspector of fortifications in 1657, and subsequently became the director of waterways in the papal states. I had hired him as superintendent because of his popularity for determining the rotation periods of Jupiter, Mars, and Venus by 1667. Although his appointment was supposedly temporary, Cassini was naturalized today as a French subject. His abilities to contribute to scientific discovery seem vast, so I have encouraged him to continue his observations with my patronage. I hope that my support of the arts will receive countless praises. I believe the enhancing of French culture is also essential to the success of French economy.