“The sciences were never at war”: Sir Joseph Banks and Anglo-French scientific cooperation during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

The article is devoted to the history of interactions between Sir Joseph Banks, President of the London Royal Society in 1778–1820, and the French naturalists during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. From the beginning of the French Revolution the communication between the English and French scientists was hindered and, in some cases, stopped altogether. Banks’ actions helped to renew contacts and reactivate scientific life in both countries. His input was essential for the intellectual heritage of French scientists such as Jacques Julien de La Billardière, Déodat de Dolomieu, and Pierre Bernard Milius. The exchange of periodicals, the conservation of natural science collection and returning it to France, the naturalists’ liberation from captivity – the credit for all of this belongs to Joseph Banks. The analysis in this article is based on the correspondence between Banks, French naturalists and British ministers, published by the British embryologist Sir Gavin de Beer in 1960. The article reveals the context in which this publication appeared and offers Russian translation of the fragments of these letters. Special attention is given to the British scientific culture. Thus, the author suggests to ponder on the extent to which Banks’ actions were determined by the professional culture of the time or by the English mentality. Both of these factors could have possibly influenced Banks’ actions, paradoxical in a sense that in the situation of armed conflicts they turned out to be potentially advantageous for the French science.