Shaping a scientific persona in verse: Ruggiero Boscovich and Jesuit Latin didactic poetry

Abstract This article examines Ruggiero Boscovich’s didactic poetry as a means for reassessing his intellectual development. While rooted in the Jesuit tradition of Latin didacticism, Boscovich’s poetic work underwent significant transformations as he moved across different scientific and cultural environments. By tracing the evolution of his poem on solar and lunar eclipses—from its early formulation within Jesuit pedagogical models to its later reconfigurations in the Newtonian milieu of England and the Lucretian literary climate of France—the article argues that these changes reflect Boscovich’s strategic ability to adapt the presentation of his ideas to new contexts. His poetic production thus illuminates, among the many dimensions of his work, the negotiation and public shaping of his scientific identity.