Talk:Franz Xaver von Zach

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Ethnicity vs Geographical Affiliation

is this not funny, The Anglos claim his as Hungarian (so that Germany loses yet another point) while the de.wikipedia.org claims his as Austrian (thus German).

xxx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.87.123.159 (talk) 14:10, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The above comment was added by Sinebot —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.87.123.159 (talk) 14:15, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The term Austrian was at that time not associated with ethnicity. There were a lot of non-German speaking Austrians. My relatives considered themselves to be Hungarian but they only spoke German. They also did not mix with other ethnicities. They also did not mix with German Catholics because they were Protestants.

The best term would be German speaking Hungarian. Or Hungarian of German ethnicity. 2001:871:22B:8654:71A2:3D67:4D2F:A683 (talk) 08:04, 17 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct. He was German and never would have called himself Hungarian by "nationality". Then again, he probably wouldn't have stressed his German nationality either. It should be noted that von Zach wrote and published in French while living in and near Genoa, which was in the Kingdom of Piedmont, modern Italy, at that time. He spoke several languages including German, French, Italian, and English, and he was one of the great cosmopolitan astronomers of the late Enlightenment. He signed himself "Baron de Zach" rather than "Baron von Zach" for the last two decades of his life. 216.80.110.88 (talk) 06:03, 26 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not exactly. In a letter he wrote to Schedius to Hungary in 1802: "As you can see, a 'True Hungarian' heart is beating inside me". It is really sad that he couldn't even put his feet to the teritory of the Holy Roman (later Astrian) Empire due to his life-long enemies among the Jesuits. His rank of "Baron" was also Hungarian. He got it from Franz II. emperor in 1801. (He felt he hadn't deserved it, only his brother who was an officier in the Austrian army) Anyway I also think he would not emphasize his nationality and would call himself today as an European Astronomer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.88.137 (talk) 09:13, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

People at that time where very concious of their ethnicity. Mixing was frowned on. My ancestors also claimed to be Hungarian although they could bearly speak Hungarian and their mother tongue was German. Buda also had a German speaking majority. Many Germans lived in Pest. If he claimed to be Hungarian then he was talking about the region and not about his ethnecity.

I believe this article needs to reflect his ethnicity and not his geographical affiliation. Ferenc Krausz, who currently received the noble prize, also is "Hungarian" but considers himself to be of German-Austrian ethnicity. 2001:871:22B:8654:71A2:3D67:4D2F:A683 (talk) 07:56, 17 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Capodimonte

Zach did not direct the observatory, but had an important role during its creation. See the web page of the observatory [1] --2.34.107.154 (talk) 20:34, 7 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. I have changed this. There seems to be some confusion. He did direct an observatory, which he founded, in Genoa, but the previous version mentioned that while living in Genoa he directed an observatory in Naples! He did have a role in the founding of it, though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.29.76.37 (talk) 07:06, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]