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Portuguese jesuits and science: continuities and ruptures (16th-18th centuries)

Authors: Fiolhais, Carlos; Eduardo Franco, Jose

Ref.: IHS antiguos jesuitas en Iberoamerica 5, 163-178 (2017)

Abstract: We present here in synthesis of the action of the Jesuits in Portugal in science since its entry in Portugal in 1540 until their expulsion by the Marquis of Pombal in 1759. The rapid expansion of its network of schools in the country and around the world, including Brazil, India, China and Japan, was extraordinary. The College of Arts in Coimbra produced between 1592 and 1606 a set of commentaries on Aristotle that spread in the Jesuit colleges. On the other hand, in the College of Santo Antao in Lisbon, there was, from 1590 to 1759, a school of mathematics, called the Aula da Esfera, served by a some foreign teachers, for example the Italian Christophoro Borri. Those teachers who have brought not only to Portugal but also to places, even the the most remot, of the empire the astronomical observation techniques introduced by Galileo, extending the Scientific Revolution to a global scale. The Astronomical Observatory and the "Mathematical Court" in the Chinese imperial court was the exponent of this action. In the middle of the 18th century, pressured by the crown supported anti-jesuitism, his action was strongly countered. Despite accusations of being scientific outdated, it is certain that some Jesuits like Father Inacio Monteiro, should be considered modern. The extinction of the Order left a void in the Portuguese education system that the Pombaline Reform of the University of Coimbra only partially filled.