Francis Borgia Kéri

* Kenézlő, October 10, 1702 – † Nagyszombat, December 1, 1768 / astronomer, physicist, historian, university professor ; ; His name is also spelled Kéry. He studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Nagyszombat and Vienna. He worked as a Jesuit teacher in several places (Szakolca, Nagyszombat, Graz, Vienna), lecturing on philosophy, theology, Greek language and physics. Upon his return to Hungary, he was the superior of the seminary first in Buda and then in Košice. He taught at the university of Nagyszombat from 1735, and was the rector of the university in 1752–1754 and 1762–1764. ; He was the first practitioner of astronomy in Nagyszombat (1735–1736), even before the observatory was set up, and he had to make his own instruments (reflecting telescopes, etc.). The founding of the university observatory, which was extremely well-equipped for its time, falls during his first rectorship, and it is very likely that he played a major role in this. He had already been involved in astronomy before, writing a dissertation on the comet observed in 1729–1730. The more lasting value of his work is represented by his achievements as a telescope builder. Perhaps the high price and difficulty in obtaining the famous English reflecting telescopes prompted him to experiment with the production and polishing of the metal material of concave telescope mirrors himself. His experiments, which he began in the 1730s, were so successful that his contemporaries and later Jesuit authors also remember his work with the greatest praise. Of his works on physics, three deal with mechanical issues and one with optical issues. His books discuss the physics of his time at a high level and reflect the ideological struggle that was going on between Cartesianism and Newtonianism at the time. Kéri's works represent an eclectic stance between the two approaches. As a historian, he collected the Hungarian aspects of Byzantine source texts. ; ; His main works: ; Dissertatio astronomica de cometa viso 1729 et 1730, 1736, ; Epitome historiae Byzantinae I–II., 1738–1742), ; Dissertatio physica de Corpore generatim…, 1752, ; Dissertatio de causis motuum in corporibus, 1754, ; Dissertatio de luce eiusque proprietatibus, 1756.