The Concept of Electricity and Magnetism in Central Europe in the Eighteenth Century as Presented in Physics by Martin Krúzi

In the eighteenth century, many Piarists working in Central Europe also adopted the positive ideas of the Enlightenment. Martin of St. Urban Krzi, SchP (1736–1801) was among them. The article examines the reception of Early Modern natural sciences in the eighteenth century in today’s Slovakia and neighbouring regions through the lens of electricity and magnetism as understood by Martin Krzi and other Piarists and Jesuits in Hungary and beyond. Building on previous research on Krzi’s views, this study focuses for the first time on his interpretation of experimental and theoretical knowledge about electricity and magnetism. An analysis of his manuscript “Physics” reveals how Krzi, shaped by the educational and theological framework of the Piarist Order as well as by the modern knowledge of his time, interpreted these phenomena. A comparison with contemporary approaches in the wider Central European region reveals similarities in the adoption of experimental science into the Catholic education curriculum. The article aims to shed light on the emerging of modern physics from natural philosophy and its implementation into Catholic scholastic teaching in this region.