Johannes Fåhraeus, Amsterdams koopman en vertegenwoordiger van de Zweedse natuurwetenschapper Carl Peter Thunberg: Handelsfirma’s en internationale wetenschappelijke netwerken in de achttiende eeuw

Willem-Jan van Grondelle; Els Vermij

doi:10.5117/DAE2023.001.GRON

ISSN: 2589-4617
E-ISSN: 2667-2081

Johannes Fåhraeus, Amsterdams koopman en vertegenwoordiger van de Zweedse natuurwetenschapper Carl Peter Thunberg

Handelsfirma’s en internationale wetenschappelijke netwerken in de achttiende eeuw
Authors: Willem-Jan van Grondelle¹, Els Vermij²
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Affiliations: ¹ Onafhankelijk onderzoeker ² Onafhankelijk onderzoeker
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Source: De Achttiende Eeuw, Volume 55, Issue 2023, Sep 2023, p. 5 - 23
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5117/DAE2023.001.GRON
Language: Dutch
- Published online: 01 Sep 2023

Abstract

The development of science in the seventeenth and eighteenth century is marked by exchange of ideas and research results on an international scale. This led to an extensive exchange of letters and – in the case of natural history – of materials such as (dried) plants, seeds and minerals. Logistical support by all kinds of go-betweens was essential in this process. This is where merchants could be useful. A collection of thirty-nine letters from the Sweden-born Amsterdam merchant Johannes Fåhraeus to the Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg shows that Fåhraeus operated as Thunbergs representative in Amsterdam for fifteen years. Due to his international commercial contacts he could offer Thunberg financial services, arrange shipping services of letters and parcels to and from Sweden, and provide political and economic information. This role of go-between implied a real bond of trust. Together with other members of the Swedish community in Amsterdam, Fåhraeus played an important facilitating role for the development of modern science.

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