Ferdinand Augustin Haller von Hallerstein (; 27 August 1703 – 29 October 1774), also known as August Allerstein or by his Chinese name Liu Songling (), was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

from

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

(then

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, now

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

). He was active in 18th-century China and spent 35 years at the imperial court of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

as the head of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and Board of Mathematics. He created an armillary sphere with rotating rings at the Beijing Observatory and was the first

demographer Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

in China who precisely calculated the exact number of Chinese population of the time (198,214,553). He also participated in Chinese

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

, serving concurrently as a missionary, "cultural ambassador" and

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

between 1739 and 1774.

Life and work

Hallerstein was born on 27 August 1703 in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

(in older sources in

Mengeš Mengeš (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 28.) is a town in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipali ...

, incorrectly citing the date as 18 August 1703),

(then part of the

, now in Slovenia) as a member of the Hungarian branch of the famous

Haller von Hallerstein Haller von Hallerstein is a noble Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family from the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg which belonged to the wealthy ruling oligarchy during Nuremberg's ''Golden Age'' in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance ...

family from Nuremberg, Germany. He was baptized ''Ferdinandus Augustinus Haller L.B. ab Hallerstein'' in Ljubljana on 28 August 1703. He spent his youth in

, where his family owned Ravbar Castle, and studied at the

college in Ljubljana. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences in all the three cities, from Germany and Vienna, where he mainly published his scientific disputes, to Rome and Lisbon, the city of his correspondence and of his personal friend – the Queen of Portugal. It was from Portugal that he travelled to India as a missionary, where he worked in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and then continued his travel to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. The former

Beijing Astronomical Observatory Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) is an observatory in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. It was founded in 1958 and is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The observatory comprises 5 observing stations. The principal observing site for ...

, now a museum, still hosts the armillary sphere with rotating rings, which was made under Hallerstein's leadership and is considered the most prominent astronomical instrument. His list and the Chinese translation reached Europe in 1779. The Chinese emperors objected to census-taking, or at least to census-publication, lest the Chinese might recognize their strength and grow restless. It confirms all the calculations of one of his predecessors, Father Amiot and affords proof of the progressive increase of the Chinese population. In the 25th year, he found 196,837,977 souls, and in the following year, 198,214,624. Hallerstein's census is to be found in "Déscription Générale de la Chine", p. 283. He was buried in the Jesuits' Zhalan Cemetery in Beijing.

Legacy

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, translations of his letters were published in the 18th century. A part of the Third Conference of the European Society for the

History of Science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

was dedicated to Hallerstein and his transfer of mid-European science to Beijing and back. In recent years he has attracted the attention of Chinese historians as the creator of the most intriguing astronomic instrument at the old Beijing observatory, the spherical astrolabe, a "celestial globe". The asteroid 15071 Hallerstein is named after Hallerstein.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallerstein, Ferdinand Augustin 1703 births 1774 deaths Carniolan mathematicians Carniolan astronomers Carniolan Jesuits Chinese mathematicians 18th-century Chinese astronomers Chinese Jesuits Carniolan Christian missionaries Demographers 18th-century Carniolan people Qing dynasty people Slovenian mathematicians Slovenian astronomers Members of the French Academy of Sciences 18th-century astronomers from the Holy Roman Empire Scientists from Ljubljana People from Mengeš Jesuit missionaries in China Slovenian Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit scientists Haller von Hallerstein