Ciência-IUL
Publicações
Descrição Detalhada da Publicação
Measuring the heavens to rule the territory: Filipe Folque, the teaching of astronomy at the Lisbon Polytechnic School and the modernization of the State apparatus in nineteenth century Portugal
Título Revista
Science and Education
Ano (publicação definitiva)
2012
Língua
Inglês
País
Países Baixos (Holanda)
Mais Informação
Web of Science®
Scopus
Google Scholar
Esta publicação não está indexada no Google Scholar
Abstract/Resumo
This paper focuses on the astronomy teaching at the Lisbon Polytechnic School and its role in building a modern technoscientific state in Portugal during the nineteenth century. It examines particularly the case of Filipe Folque, who taught astronomy and geodesy at the Lisbon Polytechnic from 1837 to 1856, and played a pivotal role in the geodetic survey carried out in the second half of the nineteenth century. As director of the Portuguese Geodetic and Topographical Office, Folque delineated in detail the plan to proceed with the geodetic survey, a plan which involved a significant number of his former students at the Lisbon Polytechnic. Yet, Folque's influence went beyond the geodetic achievement. Folque contributed decisively for shaping the character of astronomy and of the astronomical community in Portugal. In a period in which spherical astronomy raised to the status of an autonomous discipline, Folque became one of the most outstanding proponents of this discipline in Portugal. He conceived a course on spherical astronomy at the Lisbon Polytechnic and published an influential textbook to be adopted as a didactic tool in astronomical classes. By doing so, Folque took active part in a nineteenth century culture of textbooks production, and positively influenced the consolidation and shaping of astronomy as a discipline
Agradecimentos/Acknowledgements
--
Palavras-chave
Filipe Folque; Geodetic survey; Lisbon Polytechnic School; Portugal; Spherical astronomy; Technical teaching
Classificação Fields of Science and Technology
- Ciências da Educação - Ciências Sociais