HALLERSTEIN, AUGUSTIN von. — Jesuit, missionary, and astronomer, born at Lubiana on 27 August 1703, died at Peking on 29 October 1774. Already during his journey
to China (1735–39), he had the opportunity to exercise his zeal at Lisbon, Mozambique, Goa, and Malacca; having subsequently arrived in Peking, preceded by a reputation as a mathematician, he was invited by the Emperor to the court, made a mandarin of the second rank, and appointed a member of the Tribunal of Mathematics, of which he was named president after the death of Fr. I. Kögler. He was also visitor (1751–1758) and, on two occasions, provincial (1757–62; 1766–73) of the Chinese mission. He used the prestige he enjoyed with the Emperor above all to make the application of the persecutory laws less harsh. He died of an apoplectic stroke upon hearing of the suppression of the Society of Jesus.
He undertook many scientific journeys for topographical surveys and composed a considerable number of works on mathematics, astronomy, and cartography, partly alone and partly with the collaboration of Fathers I. Kögler and A. Pereira. His works, almost all presented in extensive letters, through which he maintained contact not only with the Fathers but also with the leading scientists of Europe, were published for the most part in Philosophical Transactions (London 1746–52); Novi Commentarii Academiae Petropolitanae... pro a. 1762-63 (pp. 503–12); Nova acta Academiae Petropolitanae (XIX [Hist.], p. 70 ff.; [Memor.], p. 630 ff.); and in: anon., Mémoires concernant l'histoire des Chinois (IX, p. 440 ff.); M. Hell, Observationes astronomicae, ab a. 1717 ad a. 1752 a patribus S. J. factae et a p. A. H... collectae (Vienna 1768, p. 382 ff.), and various works concerning China.