ABSTRACT This paper offers an opportunity to ponder the way the Catholic Church and its methods of information control reshaped, and paradoxically even enabled, the dissemination and practice of science in early modern Italy. Focusing on the activities of Newtonian scholars operating in Rome in the First half of the eighteenth century – especially the Celestine monk Celestino Galiani (1681–1753) and prelate Francesco Bianchini (1662–1729) – I will argue that major contributions to the spread of Newtonianism in Italy came from individuals operating within the Church, acting more-or-less independently from the Church’s oversight. These scholars realized they were witnessing an inexorable transition and that the medieval scholastic cosmology and physics could not survive. In order to rescue the Church – and to avoid further embarrassment, especially after the Galileo Affair – renewal was needed. Counterintuitively, the dissemination of Italian Newtonianism was largely a Catholic effort.

中文翻译：

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18 世纪后期罗马的牛顿主义和信息控制

摘要 本文提供了一个机会来思考天主教会及其信息控制方法在现代早期意大利如何重塑甚至自相矛盾地启用科学传播和实践的方式。重点关注 18 世纪上半叶在罗马开展活动的牛顿学者的活动——尤其是塞莱斯廷修道士 Celestino Galiani（1681-1753）和教士 Francesco Bianchini（1662-1729）——我将论证对意大利的牛顿主义来自于在教会内部运作的个人，或多或少地独立于教会的监督。这些学者意识到他们正在目睹一个不可阻挡的转变，中世纪经院宇宙学和物理学无法生存。为了拯救教会——并避免进一步的尴尬，尤其是在伽利略事件之后——需要更新。与直觉相反，意大利牛顿主义的传播主要是天主教的努力。