Named for Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), Swedish scientist, philosopher, poet and theologian. Swedenborg began publication of Sweden’s first scientific journal in 1715. His work on the philosophy of nature included a cosmological theory that was a precursor to the now widely accepted Kant-Laplace nebular theory. Soon after his death, Swedenborg societies were formed to study his thoughts, which he had published in numerous Latin volumes. His ideas have been a source of inspiration for many prominent writers, including Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Butler Yeats. (M 14972) _ _.