The first scientific society, the Academia Secretorum Naturae was founded in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

in 1560 by

Giambattista della Porta Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation. Giamb ...

, a noted

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

. In Italian it was called ''Accademia dei Segreti'', the Academy of the Mysteries of Nature, and the members referred to themselves as the ''otiosi'' (men of leisure). The society met at the home of della Porta in the ''Due Porte'' section of Naples so-named in reference to two entrances to caverns that apparently served as a meeting place. (The site has recently been the object of urban archaeology.) "Candidates for membership had to present a new fact in

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

as a condition of membership," but otherwise membership was open. Its activities came under the subject of an ecclesiastical investigation and della Porta was ordered by

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

to close his Academy in 1578 under suspicion of

sorcery Sorcery may refer to: * Magic (supernatural), the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces ** Witchcraft, the practice of magical skills and abilities * Magic in fiction, ...

.faculty.ed.umuc.edu, "''Giambattista della Porta (1535-1615)''", 2006 Jeff Matthews

Notes

Sources

Arianna Borrelli Arianna may refer to: * Ariana (name), a given name Opera * ''L'Arianna'', (English: ''Arianna''), by Monteverdi, first performed 1608 * ''Arianna'' (Marcello), by Benedetto Marcello, first concert performance 1727 * ''Arianna in Creta'', by H ...

: Giovan Battista Della Porta’s Neapolitan Magic & His Humanistic Meteorology, in: ''Variantology 5. Neapolitain Affairs.'' (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2011), . * Siegfried Zielinski: ''Deep Time of the Media. Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means'' (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), . Academies of sciences 1560 establishments in Italy Scientific organizations established in the 16th century Organizations established in the 1560s Learned societies of Italy {{sci-org-stub