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Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries pp 227–244Cite as

Foundation of the Lisbon Polytechnic School Astronomical Observatory in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Step Towards Establishing a University

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 309))

Abstract

This paper focuses on the establishment of the Astronomical Observatory at the Lisbon Polytechnic School (AOLPS) in the 1870s and explores its interplay with the launching of an astrophysics research programme at this school. In the late nineteenth century, the establishment of an astrophysics research programme represented a challenge to university observatories. As national observatories were mostly concerned with meridian astronomy, astrophysics provided university observatories with the chance to assume the leadership in this new branch of astronomical science. Yet, in the case of Lisbon Polytechnic School (LPS), the option for an astrophysics research programme can be related to academic prestige and capacity to influence scientific and educational policies at a national scale in its plea for a university status. Indeed, this institution was eventually transformed into the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, in 1911, in the aftermath of the Republican revolution. The inability of AOLPS to identify itself as a research institution and to fulfil the expectations behind its creation resulted from the higher education institutional context in which it emerged. In a peripheral country, where scientific professions scarcely existed, the main educational motivation of faculties of science was to provide applied education to students and prospective civil servants. In this context, there was little room to implement an educational policy based upon research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An overview of university teaching in Portugal at the turn of nineteenth century can be found in Carvalho(1986) and Brandão and Almeida (1937). See also Universidades(s) (1991).

  2. 2.

    LPS was soon upgraded to Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon .

  3. 3.

    Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (ANTT), Ministério do Reino, mç. 3668, fl. n.n.

  4. 4.

    A very preliminary history of AOLPS can be found in Andreia (1937, p. 23–24), Silva (1996, vol. I), Silva (1998), Rivotti and Sepulveda (1987), Bonifácio (2009, pp. 245–261), and Carolino (2011).

  5. 5.

    Collecção de Leis e Outros Documentos Officiaes publicados no 1º semestre de 1837: art. 4.

  6. 6.

    Four courses addressed respectively to military officers and to military and civil engineers (1st course), to artillery officers (2nd course), to navy officers (3rd course) and to navy engineers (4th course) were given at this institution. A fifth and general course including whole disciplines taught at the School was also planned. Apart from these courses, students of medicine and pharmacy also made their scientific preliminary studies at the Lisbon Polytechnic School . Collecção de Leis (1837, pp. 53–54).

  7. 7.

    As the nineteenth century progressed, astronomers tended to distinguish a third branch of astronomy, called occasionally “cosmic physics” or “physical astronomy”, which focused on the physical constitution of the celestial bodies and on the structure of heavens (for example, Newcomb and Holden 1889, p. 3). With the development of spectroscopy, this branch paved the way for astrophysics.

  8. 8.

    Arquivo Histórico do Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (hereafter AH-MNHNC), Programma d’Astronomia que foi objecto da 4ª Cadeira na Escola Polytechnica no anno lectivo de 1836 a 1837, Cxa. 1606, f.n.n. [Programma dos exames] 4ª cadeira, Cxa. 1606, fl.n.n. See also Folque (1840, pp. 36–50).

  9. 9.

    See Actas do Conselho [Minutes of the Board of LPS], liv. 1, 27 October 1838, liv. 2, 24 March 1842.

  10. 10.

    Diário do Governo, 14 September 1871.

  11. 11.

    Actas do Conselho, 28 April 1871, liv. 6, pp. 116–117.

  12. 12.

    Diário do Governo, 14 September 1871.

  13. 13.

    Diário do Governo, 14 September 1871.

  14. 14.

    Actas do Conselho, 30 October 1872, liv. 6, 140.

  15. 15.

    Evidence points to the fact that Carvalho considered the AOLPS as ‘his own observatory’. For example, he used some AOLPS instruments at his discretion, not hesitating in taking them with him. Actas do conselho, 1 October 1891, liv. 7, 103.

  16. 16.

    A political biography of Carvalho (though completely ignoring his ‘scientific’ career) can be found in Fernandes (2010).

  17. 17.

    Mariano Cirilo de Carvalho ’s engagement in the establishment of AOLPS was later recognized by the director of LPS—see Escola Politécnica (1878, p. 10 (see also p. 41).

  18. 18.

    Actas do Conselho, 24 March 1873, liv. 6, pp. 145–146.

  19. 19.

    I thank Pedro Raposo for helping me to identify engineer Le Cocq.

  20. 20.

    Parecer do Conselho da Escola Politecnica de Lisboa sobre a ida do astrónomo…, 21 May 1877, ANTT, Ministério do Reino, mç. 3668, fl. n.n.

  21. 21.

    Office letter 29 May 1877, ANTT, Ministério do Reino, mç. 3668, fl. n.n.

  22. 22.

    Office letter 1 June 1877, ANTT, Ministério do Reino, mç. 3668, fl. n.n.

  23. 23.

    Relatório apresentado pelo lente da Escola Polytechnica… 1ª parte da comissão…, ANTT, Ministério do Reino, mç. 3668, fl. n.n.

  24. 24.

    I am not aware of the existence of any reports concerning this second tour.

  25. 25.

    Previously, Pereira Coutinho taught astronomy in 1866–1867, 1871–1873 and 1875–1876.

  26. 26.

    Escola Politécnica (1878, pp. 43–44).

  27. 27.

    Escola Politécnica (1878, pp. 43–44). See Bonifácio (2009, pp. 288–289).

  28. 28.

    See, for example, Actas do Conselho, 4 February 1843, liv. 2; 8 October 1859, liv. 5; 11 January 1911, liv. 8; 26 June 1902, liv. 8; 21 June 1904.

  29. 29.

    Actas do Conselho, 1 June 1867, liv. 6, pp. 51–54.

  30. 30.

    Ante-Projecto de Organização dos Cursos da Escola Polytechnica de Lisboa, 1911, AH-MNHNC. I would like to thank Teresa Salomé Mota for drawing my attention to this document, which she has located.

  31. 31.

    For example, Cunha (1937).

  32. 32.

    The visit was described at Escola Politécnica (1937), pp. 1–2).

  33. 33.

    On the chemical observatory of LPS, see especially Leitão and Carneiro (2011) and Carneiro (2011).

  34. 34.

    Ilustração Portuguesa , 266, 27 March 1911, pp. 10–11.

  35. 35.

    Actas do Conselho, 23 February 1863, liv. 5, pp. 254–255.

  36. 36.

    In fact, the decision proved to be completely wrong. The observatory building soon presented with serious problems of stability, which got worse when a railway tunnel was opened in the 1880s. The first AOLPS was destroyed and a new one was built in 1898, provided with deeper foundations and far off from the limit of the superior ground of the botanical garden.

  37. 37.

    A coeval description of AOLPS can also be found at the newspaper Occidente, 5, 118 (1 April 1882), pp. 74–75.

  38. 38.

    Silva (1996, Documento 17_10_14). According to Rivotti, this letter was preserved in a particular collection, whose owner he thanks but does not identify.

  39. 39.

    For example, Bonifácio (2009, p. 343).

  40. 40.

    This topic is analysed at length in the chapter ‘Da Escola Politécnica e da Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa. Construções identitárias e culturas científicas’ by Simões et al. (2013).

  41. 41.

    Actas do Conselho Escolar da Faculdade de Ciências, AH-MNHNC, 21 July 1933, lv. 7, pp. 6–7.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out as part of the Research Project HC/0084/2009 funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. A first draft of this paper was presented at the 8th Step Meeting Science and Technology in the European Periphery (Corfu, Greece, 2012). I thank participants for comments and suggestions. I also would like to thank Ana Simões and Pedro Raposo, who read the manuscript and made many comments and suggestions.

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  1. Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), ISCTE—Lisbon University Institute/CEHC, Cacifo 221A-AA, Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal

    Luís Miguel Carolino

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Correspondence to Luís Miguel Carolino .

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  1. Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), Faculty of Sciences/University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana Simões

  2. Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), New University of Lisbon (FCT/NOVA), Lisbon, Portugal

    Maria Paula Diogo

  3. Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Kostas Gavroglu

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Carolino, L. (2015). Foundation of the Lisbon Polytechnic School Astronomical Observatory in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Step Towards Establishing a University. In: Simões, A., Diogo, M., Gavroglu, K. (eds) Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 309. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9636-1_14

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