The Role of Scientists in a Republican Regime

Preceded by a long period of gestation, the implantation of the Republic in Portugal took place on 5 October 1910, and was perceived as an opening to a new phase in Portuguese history that established a society built on democratic, socialist-oriented, anti-clerical, nationalistic, and colonialist values. Sir George Young, former secretary of the British Legation in Lisbon and the first recipient of the Camoens Chair established at King's College in 1919, depicted the triumph of the Republican revolution as the victory of a national and democratic government over a regime ruled by an autocratic aristocracy with the support of an external theocracy. According to Young, who was clearly in favor of the Portuguese republican regime, “the Revolution of 1910 was finally triumphant in the long conflict – the conflict of Portuguese nationalism against Papal internationalism, of popular government against personal government, of Jews against Jesuits, of nationalism against religion, and last, if not also least, of republicanism against royalism” (Young Reference Young1917, 27).

In the process of building up a new society, a special role was given to education. From the point of view of republican intellectuals, a deadly blow at the root of the autocratic rule and clericalism was the establishment of a secular republican system of education (Ramos Reference Ramos and Mattoso1994, 420). Accordingly, during the First Republic (1910–1926), the educational system underwent drastic changes ranging from primary to university level, and including the education of women. One of the foremost priorities was the fight against illiteracy, which was estimated to be over 75 per cent at the turn of the century.Footnote ¹ The creation of a Ministry of Public Instruction, the establishment of institutes of pedagogical training for primary school teachers and the expansion of the primary and secondary school system, including the creation of ambulatory schools and night classes scattered throughout the country materialized in what was described as a “national desire for literacy” (Carvalho Reference Carvalho1985). Nevertheless, other educational levels were not ignored. The hegemony of the University of Coimbra ended in 1911 with the creation of the Universities of Lisbon and Porto, which from then on stood on equal par with the old university, and was meant to oppose it on many fronts. Their Faculties of Sciences incorporated the former Polytechnic Schools, created in the first half of the nineteenth century in the context of a liberal monarchy.

Yet, the ecumenical and democratic republican project of reforming society through education went beyond the traditional reforms in educational institutions. New establishments, some of them operating largely on an informal basis, were founded with the aim of educating adults belonging to the urban and working classes. These included universities such as the Free University (Universidade Livre) and the Popular University (Universidade Popular). Addressed to all classes, including first and foremost the working class – that is, people with scant formal education, specific but limited skills, and low incomes – Republican intellectuals promoted conferences, courses, and talks, and became involved in a steady process of popularization of science (Fernandes Reference Fernandes1993). The Free University molded the new men and women by eradicating the former weight of religion in Portuguese society and by showing to the masses, at long last, their “true role in the cosmos” (Boletim Mensal 1912; Bandeira Reference Bandeira, Rosas and Brandão de Brito1996).

Republican intellectuals – many scientists or science-oriented men – played a leading role in this educational movement. As they steadfastly praised the gospel of positivism and endorsed scientism, science education was a key topic in adult educational programs and lectures. Mostly as an initial reaction to a society formerly dominated by religion, science enabled freeing mankind from superstitious beliefs and contributed decisively to the progress of society. This being the case, science was not to be confined to the walls of traditional universities and academies. It was against this ideological scenario that the Academy of Sciences of Portugal was created in 1907, though officialized only in 1912. Associated with the Free University, this academy opposed the old Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, created during the Enlightenment, and pushed forward the ideological agenda of republicanism, for which science was the last stage of the Comtean development of knowledge, and therefore the only efficient antidote to fight the negative influence of ignorance, obscurantism, and the pervasive power of religion and of the Catholic Church in Portuguese society. Its first president was the intellectual Teófilo Braga, who became the second president of the Portuguese Republic in 1915.

In this context, the scientists of the Republican epoch partook of a specific ethos that enabled them to shape the values of the First Republic and to become its main political actors. Melo e Simas was a case in point. Although he did not take an active part in the events that led to the implantation of the Republic on 5 October 1910 – neither did the 2^nd artillery regiment, to which he belonged at the time, participate actively in the Republican uprising, nor was he mentioned in the narratives of the event – Melo e Simas was one of those republican scientists who got actively involved in building the “republican” society.

Born in Faial, one of the mid-Atlantic Azorean islands, in 1870, into the islander elite, he studied at the Secondary School of Horta, Faial, and then moved to mainland Portugal to enroll at the University of Coimbra.Footnote ² There he completed the preparatory course in Artillery, which included naturally several courses in mathematics, and moved to the Military School (Escola do Exército) in Lisbon to complete his formation as an Artillery Officer. He then enrolled in a military career in the Artillery Corps, joined the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps which participated in World War I, and retired in 1930 as a colonel. He died in 1934. In the turbulent days of the First Republic, which witnessed a succession of short-lived governments and the emergence and dissolution of many republican parties, Melo e Simas was elected senator by the Republican Democratic Party in 1915, became a member of the National Republican Federation in 1919, enrolled in the Republican Nationalist Party in 1923, and was appointed Minister of Public Instruction for a month in the meteoric government of Ginestal Machado in 1923. After the Republican Revolution of 5 October 1910, the Portuguese Republican Party, which brought together the different Republican tendencies that emerged under the monarchical regime, gave origin to the Republican Democratic Party, the main “left-wing” party of the Republican political spectrum, which was opposed by a couple of small conservative parties, namely the Evolutionist Republican Party and the Republican Union. These two parties, joining other dissidents from the traditional Portuguese Republican Party, undertook some political coalitions during the First Republic. One of them took place in 1923, when the Republican Nationalist Party was established under the command of Ginestal Machado, a neutral conservative politician (Marques Reference Marques1980, 67–75). In the same year, the Republican Nationalist Party formed a short-lived government headed by Machado, in which Melo e Simas became the Minister of Public Instruction.

An analysis of the legislative activity of the Ministry of Public Instruction, published in the Government's Daily (Diário do Governo), demonstrates that during this government no foundational law on education and/or science education was passed. Melo e Simas's decisive contribution towards reforming scientific education took place in the context of his activities as a scientist rather than as a politician. In fact, the astronomer Manuel Peres, who was the director of Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon (OAL) when Melo e Simas passed away, was responsible for delivering the eulogy of Melo e Simas at the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. Peres referred to Melo e Simas's approach to politics in the following terms: while “he was the mathematical politician” who used the methods of algebraic demonstrations in propagandizing his ideas, he was not the “artillery politician who forced his ideas into people's heads with grenades.”Footnote ³ Peres concluded that both methods were equally ineffective, a fact which accounted for Melo e Simas's inability to succeed in politics, contrarily to what happened in astronomy. In what follows we show that his practice as a science communicator was much more resourceful in molding the republican ethos than his practice as a politician.

From Amateur to Professional: The Making of a Professional Astronomer

Although it is not possible to establish an unequivocal link between Melo e Simas's role as a scientist involved in shaping the newly created republican society and his move towards becoming a professional astronomer, it is most likely that both his genuine interest in science and the interventionist role attributed to scientists by positivistic ideology played a role in his desire to enter a professional career in science, and in return strengthened the ways his expository practice impacted on republican contexts, and helped mold the new republican citizen.

As already mentioned, after attending the preparatory studies at the University of Coimbra, in 1889–91, Melo e Simas entered the Army School, graduating as Artillery Officer in 1893.Footnote ⁴ His military career continued, and he attained the post of colonel in 1922. Although he was publicly a republican, his military career did not benefit from this political affiliation, not even after serving as Minister of Public Instruction.Footnote ⁵ Nevertheless, military activity was to be instrumental in his move towards professionalization. First of all, his military training gave him, as to most Portuguese scientists of his time, the necessary mathematical background that proved fundamental to his future astronomical work. In order to enter the Army School, prospective officers had to attend a three-year course of mathematics. Melo e Simas's academic credentials reveal that he distinguished himself in the mathematical disciplines at the University of Coimbra before entering the Army School.Footnote ⁶ Despite the lack of an astronomy discipline in the Coimbra preparatory course for artillery studies, the mathematical expertise that he acquired in Coimbra was indispensable for him to become an amateur, and later a professional, astronomer.

Melo e Simas's interest in astronomy seems to have arisen during his Coimbra days. In Melo e Simas's eulogy, the astronomer Peres mentioned that while conducting preparatory studies at the University of Coimbra, Melo e Simas already possessed a telescope which he used for his first observations of the night sky.Footnote ⁷

As a typical amateur astronomer, Melo e Simas entered the field of astronomy by observing stars and planets. Those observations started systematically in 1895 and lasted for one year.Footnote ⁸ The results of observations were sent to the French Astronomical Society of France (Société Astronomique de France), and their quality gained him recognition as a diligent observer.Footnote ⁹ Melo e Simas's effort to participate in the network of amateur and professional astronomers was, in fact, quite clear from the very beginning. He joined the Société Astronomique de France in 1895,Footnote ¹⁰ and a couple of years later, in 1897, the British Astronomical Association, recommended by an Azorean friend, the amateur astronomer João de Morais Pereira, and Elizabeth Brown.Footnote ¹¹

Years later, Melo e Simas engaged in a more comprehensive international project to study variable stars that was headed by Edward C. Pickering (1846–1919), the director of the Harvard College Observatory. In the 1880s and 1890s, Pickering established a classification of these celestial bodies into five groups (Hogg Reference Hogg and Gingerich1984, 73–7; Herrmann Reference Herrmann and Krisciunas1984, 108). In order to gather observational data to compare with the data obtained in Cambridge, MA, he invited the cooperation of astronomers around the world and provided them photographic maps (Furness Reference Furness1915, 66). Some probably also received his booklet A plan for securing observations of the variable stars, published in 1882, which besides furnishing practical indications, explained Pickering's system of classification (Pickering Reference Pickering1882).

As Pickering recognized, his project depended largely upon the collaboration of amateur astronomers, providing them a research focus not dependent on expensive equipment. “Small as well as large telescopes may be employed and many observations are needed which can best be made with an opera-glass or field-glass, or even with the naked eye” (Pickering Reference Pickering1882, 3). Pickering invited collaborators to send their results to Harvard Observatory for reduction and publication (Furness Reference Furness1915, 291). In fact, the 1902 second issue of Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College published a series of observations of variable stars, stemming from different parts of the world. Among them, were those performed by Melo e Simas in Azores with a 3-inch telescope (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1902a).

While contributing to the variable stars project, Melo e Simas started to exploit one of his most promising skills, his mathematical capacity to use astronomical observations to calculate the ephemerides and trajectories of celestial bodies. Accordingly, while in Azores in November 1901, he deduced the elements of planet 1901 GV, based upon the observations made by Elia Filippo Millosevich in Rome, and published them in the celebrated astronomical journal Astronömische Nachrichten (AN), which was published in Germany (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1901a). Melo e Simas repeated this sort of exercise often during the coming years, submitting his results to AN (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1902b, Reference Melo e Simas1903b, Reference Melo e Simas1905, Reference Melo e Simas1906a, Reference Melo e Simas1907a, Reference Melo e Simas1910, Reference Melo e Simas1912a).Footnote ¹²

As elsewhere in Europe and the United States of America, in Portugal professional institutions and astronomers exerted a centripetal force on amateurs. If professional observatories depended to a certain extent upon the public image of their importance and utility, in turn amateur astronomers took advantage of the professional community as a way of accrediting their work and having access to professional facilities and expertise. This was also the route taken by Melo e Simas to interact with the Portuguese community of professional astronomers, centered on the OAL. Engaged in his computations, Melo e Simas was constantly in need of data from several observations and reference stars. On one of those occasions, while calculating the definitive orbit of comet 1900 II, a celestial body that was discovered independently by A. Borrelly in Marseilles, and by W. Brooks in the city of Geneva, Illinois, on 23 July 1900 near the ecliptic, Melo e Simas wrote from Azores a letter to OAL, dated from 19 March 1902, asking for observational data. Frederico Tomás Oom (1864–1930), then the vice-director of the Observatory, answered some days later, on 5 April 1902.Footnote ¹³ We do not have his reply letter but it is most likely that Oom informed his amateur correspondent that observation of comets was not part of the observational program of OAL. Nevertheless, he provided Melo e Simas with astronomical data regarding reference stars. In fact, Melo e Simas published his “Definitive orbit elements of Comet 1900 II,” under the auspices of H. Kreutz, editor of Astronömische Nachrichten (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1903a). He thanked Oom, and also Kreutz, Edward Walter Maunder of the British Astronomical Association, and his colleague and friend Pereira. In the next years, Oom continued to assist Melo e Simas, constantly sending him observations and other astronomical data, and giving him access to the books of the Astronomical Observatory's library.Footnote ¹⁴ Melo e Simas was also occasionally authorized to use the instruments of the Astronomical Observatory after moving to Lisbon (Caxias), in 1904.Footnote ¹⁵

More importantly, the relationship established with Oom and with other professional astronomers of OAL paved the way for Melo e Simas to become a professional astronomer. In Great Britain and, to a certain extent, in the United States, in the nineteenth century, a less interventionist state in science policy matters, associated with economic wealth and a more open-ended society, created the conditions for the development of private enterprises with alternative scientific agendas, which later came to be the central areas in astronomical science such as astrophysics (Chapman Reference Chapman1998; Lankford Reference Lankford1981a, Reference Lankford1981b; Rothenberg Reference Rothenberg1981). Contrary to the aforementioned countries, in a country such as Portugal, with a clearly centralized policy, scientific endeavors were basically a matter of public policy. They followed primarily state strategies to develop the country rather than private entrepreneurship (Carolino Reference Carolino2012). In this context, scientific professions tended to emerge in the public sphere that were dependent on practical applications of science. Moreover, such a political environment also shaped the nature and profile of amateur scientists, as they appeared to be more responsive to the agenda of the professional community.

Melo e Simas's move towards professionalization corroborates the above characterization. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the meager community of Portuguese professional astronomers assembled in OAL, a national well-equipped observatory established in Lisbon to promote astronomical research in astrometry (Raposo Reference Raposo2010). Two academic observatories – at the University of Coimbra and the Lisbon Polytechnic School –, poorly professionalized, also performed astronomical work, albeit of a more mathematical nature.Footnote ¹⁶ In this context, Melo e Simas's contributions to the mathematical branches of astronomy were very much in tune with the sort of astronomy promoted by the professional and academic community. No wonder Oom did not fail to understand the potential of a professional career for someone who even as an amateur astronomer was already publishing his mathematical calculations of orbits of celestial bodies in mainstream journals. In Great Britain, the amateur astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer distinguished himself at the cutting edge of astrophysics to the point of becoming a government-funded professional, who became the director of Britain's first professional astrophysical observatory in the 1870s (Solar Physics Observatory at South Kensington) (Chapman Reference Chapman1998, 122–3). Contrary to Britain, in Portugal prior recognition of Melo e Simas as an amateur astronomer expert on astrometry was behind his becoming a scientific civil servant.

As we already stated, when Melo e Simas made contact with the astronomers of OAL, Frederico Tomás Oom was the vice director of the observatory. Son of the first director of the OAL, Frederico Augusto Oom (1830–1890), Oom studied astronomy at the Lisbon Polytechnic School and graduated in military engineering from the Army School, before joining the staff of astronomers of OAL, in 1891. He published regularly in major academic journals such as The Observatory, Astronömische Nachrichten, and Revue Scientifique, one of the most celebrated French scientific journals established in 1863. As vice-director, he worked in close relation with the chief astronomer and director of OAL, César Augusto de Campos Rodrigues, the winner of the prestigious Valz prize for 1904. They published jointly Observations méridiennes de la planète Mars (Lisbon 1895). They chose French, the foreign language used by Portuguese elite, in order to reach a broader audience of scholars and to secure international recognition for the work performed in OAL. Oom assisted with the daily administrative activities of the institution, and probably for that reason Oom was responsible for answering Melo Simas's first letters sent to the Observatory. In Oom's eulogy, delivered by Melo e Simas at the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Melo e Simas depicted Oom as a model scientist who embodied what he considered to be the republican ethos of science. He described Oom as a very collaborative colleague (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1931c, 4–5); methodical, rigorous, and consistent in his research, fully aware that even the slightest discovery resulted from a long-drawn-out and persistent activity (ibid., 10–1); never satisfied with his rigorous contributions to astronomical science (ibid., 18); a scientist deeply honest and conscious of the limits of human knowledge (ibid., 6).

Oom was instrumental in the move of Melo e Simas from amateur to professional astronomy. He advised the amateur astronomer to submit an application to join the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, which was presented in June 1905.Footnote ¹⁷ Most likely, it was Oom who recommended Melo e Simas to enter the Lisbon Polytechnic School to attend the astronomy course delivered by the mathematician Pedro José da Cunha.Footnote ¹⁸

During the nineteenth century, a graduate degree in astronomy was not a prerequisite for embarking on a professional career in astronomy, but it is most likely that, as the twentieth century progressed, such a degree became progressively more important for those seeking professionalization. For example, the historian John Lankford argues that in the United States, while in the nineteenth century baccalaureate degrees were usually reserved to astronomers working in classical branches of astronomy, in the twentieth century, astrophysicists tended to obtain doctorates, thereby surpassing the academic education of their colleagues (Lankford Reference Lankford1997, 75–124).

Despite the huge differences between the American and Portuguese scientific communities and institutions, an academic credential was also probably decisive in Portugal for becoming a professional astronomer. In a country in which scientific professions scarcely existed, astronomy credentials were usually obtained by graduating in military engineering. That was exactly the educational profile of the elite of Portuguese astronomy, epitomized by the three first OAL directors.

This professional constraint explains why Melo e Simas entered the Lisbon Polytechnic School and studied under Cunha, who was a first-rank mathematician working on the theory of series, and later on the history of mathematics, but with no direct interest in astronomy. Cunha confessed to Oom that only a contingent event turned him into a professor of astronomy at the Polytechnic (and later at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon).Footnote ¹⁹ His course focused especially on spherical astronomy and its applications to geodesy, providing a cursory introduction to the use of photography and spectroscopy in astronomy.Footnote ²⁰ In spite of being already recognized as an expert astronomer, Melo e Simas decided to complete his formal apprenticeship at the Polytechnic School. As Peres later mentioned in Melo e Simas's eulogy, Melo e Simas had perceived that the Polytechnic course was an important way to obtain an academic credential.Footnote ²¹

There were good reasons for Melo e Simas to be concerned with this problem. On 12 June 1905, he submitted an application to become a correspondent member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.Footnote ²² A very favorable report, stressing the high quality and singularity of Melo e Simas's work on the mathematical calculation of orbits, was submitted by the academy's referees, who included OAL's director Campos Rodrigues.Footnote ²³ This report was read at the Academy's session of 1 March 1906, and yet he apparently failed to be accepted. One year later, in the session of 2 May 1907, it was read again, and Melo e Simas was finally accepted as correspondent member on 20 June 1907.Footnote ²⁴ Between the first and second attempts, Melo e Simas had obtained a credential in astronomy from the influential Polytechnic School of Lisbon.Footnote ²⁵ Thus, an academic certification appeared to play a role in the Republic of scientists and, as a consequence, in the access to a career as professional astronomer in Portugal. In effect, after joining the staff of OAL, reports mentioning the academic credentials of its astronomers consistently point out that Melo e Simas, in addition to the preparatory mathematical course of the University of Coimbra and the Army School course of Artillery, had successfully completed the study of astronomy and geodesy at the Lisbon Polytechnic School.Footnote ²⁶

Recognized as an expert astronomer, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, and provided with an astronomy degree ex cathedra from the Polytechnic School, Melo e Simas was hired as a supernumerary first class astronomer in OAL, in 1911 (Decree of 18 March 1911).Footnote ²⁷ He had finally become a professional astronomer. By professional astronomer we mean an astronomer who joined the list of scientific personnel of a recognized observatory, whose work was entirely allocated to the fulfillment of institutional programs, and furthermore, who was paid accordingly. No doubt upon being appointed astronomer at OAL, Melo e Simas quit his military activities at the artillery regiment, joined OAL's staff and became involved in the institution's observational programs. He only resumed episodically his Army activities when the First World War erupted and he enrolled in the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps. Still, having reached a high position (and corresponding salary) in the Army hierarchy, when entering OAL, Melo e Simas kept the former dignity and salary of an army officer. For that reason, he was hired as a supernumerary astronomer and received a higher salary than his OAL's peers. For example, in June 1932, in his capacity of vice-director of OAL, Melo e Simas was generously paid 2600 escudos in comparison to Peres, OAL's director, who earned just 2000 escudos.Footnote ²⁸ Melo e Simas's payroll explicitly justified his higher salary due to his being an Army officer.Footnote ²⁹

The hiring of Melo e Simas as a professional supernumerary first-class astronomer doubtlessly recognized his contributions to mathematical astronomy and to the observation of variable stars. His expertise was certainly worthwhile for an observatory committed to astrometry. But Melo e Simas also fitted very well with another project undertaken by this astronomical institution. In late nineteenth century, it became quite clear to Oom that it would be useful for the Observatory's recognition and visibility to promote activities addressed to the public awareness of science. A special occasion was provided by the 1900 total solar eclipse, and Oom appropriated it to shape the Observatory both as a center of scientific research and as a place for the dissemination of scientific culture. He not only organized the logistics attendant to the expeditions of foreign astronomers coming to Portugal and prepared a national plan for the observation of the eclipse, but also mobilized public attention and participation in this event. Making use of his status as a professional astronomer, he published popularization texts on eclipses which were intended for a broad audience, communicated them through national newspapers, and created a network of nationwide active correspondents (Carolino and Simões Reference Carolino and Simões2012). Some years later, when the Observatory launched the publication of his annual ephemerides in 1916 on Oom's initiative, texts of popularization of astronomy were regularly included. Oom was the main contributor, publishing several texts in Dados astronómicos para os Almanaques (Oom Reference Oom1916, Reference Oom1917a, Reference Oom1917b, Reference Oom1918, Reference Oom1921a, Reference Oom1921b, Reference Oom1925, Reference Oom1926, Reference Oom1927, Reference Oom1928).

The Practice of a Professional Astronomer: From Trajectories of Cannon-balls to Trajectories of Planets and Comets

As an amateur astronomer, Melo e Simas moved from observations to the calculation of trajectories of celestial objects. As an artillery officer, he had studied aspects of the motion of projectiles in firearms, and specifically in cannons. This happened in 1907, the year when Melo e Simas was promoted to captain and became correspondent member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon and founding member of the Academy of Sciences of Portugal. Melo e Simas confided to Oom, his long-time correspondent, that he was now becoming in addition a “military writer.”Footnote ³⁰

Since 1904, he was part of the garrison groups of artillery located in the Lisbon surroundings. They were stationed in the various fortresses that composed the Campo Entrincheirado de Lisboa (Entrenched Field of Lisbon), recently created to defend Lisbon from terrestrial and maritime attacks. His experience as an artillery officer in the Entrenched Field, and his inclination toward mathematical calculations justified his interest in attacking questions associated with the determination of some characteristics of the trajectory of cannon-balls by using approximations tested in the literature, applying them to the practical situations he wanted to solve, and then comparing his results with extant practical information published in several foreign artillery journals. In a succession of papers published in the recently created Revista de Artilharia (Journal of Artillery), Simas hypothesized a maritime attack and discussed how the Entrenched Field should be equipped to defend Lisbon and its port successfully. Taking into consideration modern battleships, armaments and their respective composition, he discussed the ideal caliber of tight-shot cannon-balls, and the distances and relative positions of cannons and ships in order for enemy battleships to be damaged when hit (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1906a, Reference Melo e Simas1907b, Reference Melo e Simas1907c, Reference Melo e Simas1907d).

Continuity of interests stand out as the element able to integrate harmoniously the various, apparently disparate, activities of Melo e Simas as a military man, an astronomer (amateur and professional), and a popularizer. Melo e Simas's passion for approximate calculations, including errors involved in them, and their applications in the military realm extended to an interest in computing trajectories and their associated errors in the astronomical realm. The rigor he put into solving all his problems is behind the analogy used by Peres in his eulogy: “If calculations are like firearms, numbers play the role of projectiles – efficient but truly dangerous in inexperienced hands. The interpretation of numbers should be as severely regulated as the use of firearms; if so, many disasters could have been certainly avoided.”Footnote ³¹

The first task assigned to Melo e Simas as a newcomer was the observation of the planet Mars with the Grand Equatorial. Despite the fact that both the type of observations and the huge instrument were new to him, he managed to achieve outstanding results (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1912b). From then on, he was to use systematically the Grand Equatorial. During the years 1913 and 1914, he was assigned to the service of time, and contrary to common practice, used the meridian circle. Melo e Simas took advantage of these observations with the meridian circle to enroll in a project of re-determination of right ascensions of stars, but their time-consuming reduction and preparation for publication was completed decades later, and some were published only posthumously (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1914c, Reference Melo e Simas1932, Reference Melo e Simas1933a, Reference Melo e Simas1935, Reference Melo e Simas1936a, Reference Melo e Simas1936b, Reference Melo e Simas1937a, Reference Melo e Simas1937b).

Characteristic of his style, Melo e Simas returned to the problems that he had addressed previously, despite the fact that they were not part of the Observatory's tradition. He published his results in the Astronömische Nachrichten and in the Memórias da Academia de Ciências de Lisboa (Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon), eager to consolidate his scientific status both at home and abroad. He discussed multiple solutions of orbits of comets, and put forward elements for the characterization of the orbit of comet 1910a (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1910). He used new techniques to reduce observations provided by various European observatories, and new methods for the analysis of errors (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1912c, Reference Melo e Simas1912d, Reference Melo e Simas1914b). In another publication he presented the results of calculations of proper movements of 40 circumpolar stars visible in the south hemisphere, still relatively unknown to astronomers. He discussed methods employed, criteria used to evaluate elements selected, and results obtained (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1914a). He was to return to the observations of comets and planets, and to the calculation of their orbits during the final period of his life at the Observatory (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1924b, Reference Melo e Simas1925a, Reference Melo e Simas1925b, Reference Melo e Simas1925c, Reference Melo e Simas1925d, Reference Melo e Simas1926a, Reference Melo e Simas1926b, Reference Melo e Simas1927a, Reference Melo e Simas1927b, Reference Melo e Simas1927c, Reference Melo e Simas1927d, Reference Melo e Simas1929, 1930, 1930b, Reference Melo e Simas1931a, Reference Melo e Simas1931b), after the end of World War I, in which Melo e Simas participated, from 21 February 1917 to 23 July 1919.

Melo e Simas was, therefore, absent during the period when the Observatory guaranteed the logistical support to the expedition, headed by Arthur Stanley Eddington, to observe the 1919 total solar eclipse and test Albert Einstein's light-bending prediction of general relativity, which took place in the African tropical island of Principe, then a Portuguese colony.Footnote ³² As discussed in a paper by Mota, Crawford, and Simões (Reference Mota, Crawford and Simões2009), the impact of the expedition in the life of OAL's astronomers proved to be dependent on their astronomical practice. Extending Peter Galison's revisionist thesis (Reference Galison2003), according to which practical, not theoretical, questions fostered by technological innovation were fundamental to understanding the context of emergence of Einstein's theory of special relativity, they argued that practical questions involved in the synchronization of clocks by means of electromagnetic signals and the determination and dissemination of time fostered the interest of OAL's astronomers in the physical consequences of relativity, and their involvement in the popularization of special relativity.

However, contrary to his colleagues whose involvement with relativity was circumscribed to popularization activities, Melo e Simas went beyond them, and tried as well to incorporate relativity in his own scientific practice. While he was not directly engaged in the determination of time, with the exception of a few years (1913–14) during which he was in charge of the Time Service, his practice depended mainly on positional astronomy, and he became interested in the results of expeditions to test light-bending.

Probably spurred by the organization of the expedition to observe the 1922 solar eclipse, the next eclipse after 1919, and also by a request from the Astronömische Nachrichten, Melo e Simas articulated an astronomical procedure, which did not depend on such rare events as total solar eclipses. On the night of 7 May 1923, he used the Grand Equatorial to observe the occultation of star Washington 5478 by Jupiter in the Observatory of Lisbon. In 1924, in his capacity as member of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, he delivered a communication explaining the usefulness of an occultation, which occurs when a celestial body is hidden by another one, and simultaneously elucidated how this observation could be used to test general relativity. Recognizing that the deflection of light by Jupiter should change the position of the star by about 0.02’’ according to general relativity, a negligible value to be measured by any rigorous method, Melo e Simas turned his attention to the relativistic time delay of the occultation's duration, instead of measuring the light deflection directly. But he considered that although the results revealed a “certain tendency pointing towards relativity theory” (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1924a, 115), no conclusion could be drawn due to the occurrence of other effects, such as the refraction of light in the planet's atmosphere, which produced deviations in the same direction.

Certainly, Melo e Simas was not the first to develop alternative methods to test the light-bending hypothesis, but it remains to be clarified why he decided to use the opportunity provided by the journal's request to turn Jupiter's observational project into an extra test for general relativity. In this paper, more than the singular relativity test performed in the Portuguese context, we want to highlight how they revealed Melo e Simas's broad interests and ability to explore topics at the frontiers of various sciences, a recurrent topic in his career which he voiced at times in the context of the republican Academy of Sciences of Portugal: the challenge of a difficult observation, the ingenuity of a new observational proposal, the evaluation of all putative factors involved in the effect under scrutiny, and the thorough discussion of results. They all point to a meticulous astronomer who dared to tackle difficult problems.

But Melo e Simas often turned astronomical research practice into challenging subjects of popularization of science, and his involvement with both the practice and the popularization of relativity shows how much the context of production and the context of popularization were intertwined in Melo e Simas's practice and vision of the role of the republican scientist. Roughly one year before the observation mentioned above, in July 1922, Melo e Simas published a paper in the Almanaque – a journal published since 1916 by OAL which comprised not only astronomical ephemeris data but also popularization texts – in which he considered the relationship of astronomy and physics, having in mind the 1922 eclipse expedition: “it is certain that Astronomy is one of the sciences which can profit the most from the theory of Relativity, giving back, in exchange, the best of confirmations” (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1922, 44).

In this paper, Melo e Simas pointed to the changing contours of disciplines such as physics and astronomy due to the emergence of relativity, and paid particular attention to its implications for the science of astronomy, in the same way that he had pointed to the relationship of different disciplines in many other instances (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1911) and its implications for the unity of the sciences, central to the positivist credo he embraced.Footnote ³³ He aimed at reaching an audience eager to learn more about astronomy, at the same time making public the scientific work of OAL's members. His credentials as a professional astronomer, and staff member of OAL, the observatory of Portugal's capital city, probably impacted in various ways on his expository practice. By proceeding with his unfaltering contributions to popularization of science which had attracted him since the beginning of his career, he was now in the position, predominantly deployed in a republican scenario, to become an active shaper of the republican ideology.

A Republican Astronomer: Shaping the Republican Ethos through a Many-layered Practice as Scientific Communicator

Melo e Simas was deeply engaged in communicating science to wider audiences. Embracing the republican ideal according to which education was the touchstone to bring about a society free from traditional forms of autocracy, Melo e Simas got involved in the popularization of science, and particularly of astronomical science, often in the context of republican institutions, in a move to enlighten the new republican citizen. Furthermore, he used newspapers as privileged outlets in order to reach out to the masses, probably realizing that in countries with high illiteracy rates such as Portugal, the daily press is a cheaper, more efficient and generalized means of communication than periodicals, notably through reading aloud, and multiple readings in taverns, coffee shops, and plazas.

His political commitment alongside his scientific expertise provided fertile ground for embracing the popularization of science, to such an extent that the three realms cannot be set apart. The fact that his communication skills were often deployed in forums sympathetic to republicanism or in newly created republican institutions illustrates not only his status but also his ability and willingness to help mold the new republican ethos and train the new republican citizen. Among those republican institutional scenarios in which Melo e Simas acted, one should highlight the Free University and the Academy of Sciences of Portugal.

The foundational document of the Free University was crystal clear: “By means of lessons, conferences, talks, and reading sessions, the Free University will reach out everywhere, from factories to workshops and to villages.” Its mission was:

Thus, just a few months after the paper written for the Almanaque, Melo e Simas delivered a set of thirteen lessons at the Free University on “Relativity – notions and fundamentals,” spanning the period from 19 November 1922 to 27 May 1923.Footnote ³⁵ In a country in which people, mostly women, attended mass on Sunday mornings, these lessons, aimed at adults including working class people, took place on Sundays and were heavily attended, as announced in a daily newspaper (Cunha Reference Cunha1931). In the spirit of Thomas Henry Huxley's lay sermons, the Gospel of science was meant to reach out to uneducated people. This is all the more revealing as the lessons’ topics were far from elementary albeit clear and well-articulated, at least from what one can gather from their detailed summaries.

Students were introduced sequentially starting from the mathematical background of physics to elementary notions of classical physics, physical agents, and components of matter, and the different space and time scales applicable in different realms of the universe. These topics were followed by a discussion of the role of ether, the Michelson-Morley experiment, and the hypotheses of Lorentz and Fitzgerald put forward to accommodate its results. This was presented as the prelude to relativity, from the “predictions of Poincaré” to the “intuition of Einstein.” A presentation of the theory of relativity, highlighting its novel concepts of space, time, simultaneity, mass and energy, and space-time as well as their mathematical underpinning followed and led to a brief discussion of general relativity, its three predictions and the role of solar eclipses in proving the light-bending hypothesis. The emphasis on physical notions was complemented by philosophical considerations on the role and importance of science, scientific characteristics such as objectivity, and abstraction from the real world, role of observations and experiments, scientific time patterns from evolution to revolution, and relations of science and art. A reference to the public impact of relativity was pointed out as a motivation behind main attempts at popularization.

Almost ten years earlier, starting in 1913, Melo e Simas delivered lessons on astronomy at the newly founded Free University. One was titled “Usefulness of astronomy: Greatness and magnificence of the universe. General idea on the distribution of worlds” (Melo e Simas, Reference Melo e Simas1913a), and the other “Eclipses of the sun and moon.”Footnote ³⁶ It is quite revealing that this first set of lessons was dedicated explicitly to analyzing the “utility” of physics, mathematics, chemistry, as well as discussing the “functions” of science.

In the first conference delivered at the Free University, Melo e Simas considered astronomy as the queen of scientific disciplines (ibid., 11), and the existence of universal laws ruling astronomical phenomena as important not only in themselves or on account of their applications, but also because they allowed considering societies as entities also ruled by complex, albeit unknown, laws (ibid., 16–7). Melo e Simas had already approached this topic few years earlier at the Academy of Sciences of Portugal in two conferences entitled “On the Scientific progress and the close relationship between various sciences” (on 17 December 1907) and “The accuracy of scientific methods” (on 18 February 1908).Footnote ³⁷

For Melo e Simas, astronomy was endowed with what he dubbed “moral importance.” Its study contributed to frame humankind in the universe and, consequently, to reassess the place and status of humankind itself. By studying celestial objects and the structure and immensity of the universe, astronomy demonstrated that humankind was nothing but an incommensurable small fraction of the infinite universe. The study of astronomy was, thus, important from the moral point of view (ibid., 20–3). It laid the foundations for the “independence of spirit and freedom of character” of the new republican men and women (ibid., 23).

Much earlier, while still in Azores at the turn of the century, Melo e Simas regularly contributed popularization of science articles to cultural and literary journals. Specifically, he wrote for the weekly “literary and informative” journal of his hometown, O Faialense, from 1899 and 1902, and, from 1902 to 1904, collaborated with A Folha (The Leaf), a weekly “literary, commercial and informative” journal from another Azorean island, published on Sundays, and directed by a dynamic woman named Alice Moderno, who embraced republicanism around 1906 and corresponded with many intellectuals (men and women) belonging to the republican intelligentsia (Vilhena Reference Vilhena2001).

In both, framing his discourse in the context of republicanism, he often preached the progressive gospel of positivism, calling attention to the importance of observations and experiments, addressed aspects of the relation of astronomy and society, often discussing topics in which he counteracted the frequently erroneous opinions and prejudices of common people with those of “positive science.” Such was the case when evaluating the impact on weather of the phases of the Moon (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1899a). Topics such as falling stars, sunspots, solar and lunar eclipses, recent discoveries of small planets in the solar system, or flying machines, were selected in order to introduce his readers to recent scientific findings or events which they could witness. He called attention to the new astronomical techniques – spectroscopy and photography – used in the realm of astrophysics. Meteorology, seismology, and volcanology, as well as wireless telegraphy were privileged scientific and technological topics chosen certainly for their special relevance to islanders. Often explanations were smoothed by recourse to analogies with daily life events in a rather engaging tone (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1899a, Reference Melo e Simas1899b, Reference Melo e Simas1899c, Reference Melo e Simas1900, Reference Melo e Simas1901b, Reference Melo e Simas1902c, Reference Melo e Simas1902d, Reference Melo e Simas1903c, Reference Melo e Simas1903d, Reference Melo e Simas1903e, Reference Melo e Simas1903f, Reference Melo e Simas1903g, Reference Melo e Simas1903i, Reference Melo e Simas1904a, Reference Melo e Simas1904b).

If astronomy had been the province of men, as often discussed in the articles, it should count increasingly on the participation of women. So, Melo e Simas addressed their role in astronomy, and exhorted Portuguese women to follow the lead of their foreign fellows. His fresh views are quite evident in the sentence with which he chose to end this article, revealing his faith in a drastic change of mentalities in Portuguese society:

Historical digressions were a privileged narrative resource which together with the narrative of the life and works of the so-called great men of science served to highlight resistance against new ideas, the weight of tradition and religion in opposing novelties, and the moral values of honesty, seriousness, and integrity shared by men of science (see, for example, Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1903c).

For Melo e Simas, the practice of science tended to be guided by a set of values and norms, and celebrated scientists provided an exemplary role in his narrative. He abundantly stressed the “progress” of science, and scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton emerged as the emancipating characters of humankind. Galileo, for example, when advocating the motion of Earth, and defending freedom of thinking (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1903d, Reference Melo e Simas1903f, Reference Melo e Simas1903g) faced “a crowd of fanatics based on the infallibility of a pope who surrounded himself with ignorant men so that his weak intelligence could dominate” (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1903c). Although never addressing directly the opposition between science and religion, as typical of republican narratives, Melo e Simas did not avoid criticizing the political and social weight of ecclesiastic institutions over society, as illustrated by the quotation above in which the status of the pope within the highest of Catholic institutions was condemned.

Melo e Simas's popularization of science activities spanned his whole life, from his Azorean to his Lisbon days. They addressed topics often treated in scientific papers, and explored a variety of communication channels, from lectures and conferences to articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals, in this way reaching out to as many people as possible. In the context of the republican Academy of Sciences of Portugal, newspapers were used exemplarily in the case of the return of Halley's Comet in 1910.

A few months before the overthrow of the monarchy and the implantation of the Republic, the return of Halley's Comet was used by the Portuguese press, and especially by those of republican leanings, to engage in popularization of science activities. When written by members of the scientific community, articles played a dual function. Besides a means to reach common people and educate them in the ways of science and technology, they pushed forward their various scientific agendas, dependent on the specificities of each scientific group. A remarkable example is provided by the case of Afonso Chaves, an Azorean amateur scientist and friend of Melo e Simas (Tavares Reference Tavares2009 and Reference Tavares2010). He delivered a talk on the comet at the Athenaeum of the city of Ponta Delgada, in one Azorean island, which was extensively reported in the newspaper Diário dos Açores (Azores Daily).Footnote ³⁸ The comet's return was addressed due to the association of astronomical events to a problem of greater relevance to the islands, and especially to its scientific elite, that is, weather and earthquake prediction. Chaves appropriated Halley's return to assert the crucial difference between the predictability of astronomical events, such as eclipses or comet's trajectories, and the unpredictability of events such as weather or earthquakes, a topic also addressed by Melo e Simas (Reference Melo e Simas1901b). He wanted to win the local elites for the agenda of local scientists, whose aim was to turn Azores into an active node in an international network of meteorological and seismological observatories (Simões, Carneiro, and Diogo Reference Simões, Carneiro and Paula Diogo2012). But the newspaper also announced the lecture organized by the Academy of Sciences of Portugal delivered by Melo e Simas (Simões, Zilhão, Diogo, and Carneiro Reference Simões, Zilhão, Paula Diogo and Carneiro2013).Footnote ³⁹

In fact, the Academy of Sciences of Portugal decided to issue a leaflet to be published by the government journal (Diário do Governo),Footnote ⁴⁰ of which around 25,000 copies were printed and distributed by primary schools, parishes, newspapers’ boards, and city councils instructing the population on the Halley affair. Written in a down-to-earth style, it was published by the capital newspaper Diário de Notícias (News Diary) on 3 May on the front page.Footnote ⁴¹ It announced that “Science never lies. It can be mistaken, yes, but it can never lie!” and denounced all those who took advantage of the illiterate, and proceeded to explain, in simple terms and using everyday analogies, why people should not fear the passage of the comet, and how the probability of a collision was highly improbable. At the same time, the Academy promoted a set of meetings and conferences to educate the public. It was no accident that Melo e Simas was chosen as the Academy's spokesperson: his choice reveals his high status within the republican institution and his ability to shape the republican agenda through his communication practice.

Melo e Simas delivered a conference at the Lisbon Geographical Society (Sociedade de Geografia) on 3 May, the same day the Academy's leaflet was published in the capital newspaper. The next day, the capital newspaper reported extensively on it.Footnote ⁴² Heavily attended by members of the Academy, including its president, Teófilo Braga, member of the Directory of the Portuguese Republican Party, and the political, intellectual and economic elite, the conference's room was so full that many people had to stand and hundreds were left outside; several women were also reported to be present. The conference covered the same topics, but with more detail, as the public announcement, certainly inspired by Melo e Simas's text, and again aimed at reassuring the audience that no harm was to happen following Halley's passage. It addressed the probability of the collision of the comet with Earth and the putative presence of cyanogen in its tail by deconstructing both as misleading and inconsequential. In order to convey in a simple and catchy way the sense of risk involved, some analogies taken from everyday life were used. The nucleus of the comet was compared to a mosquito swarm while its passage through the atmosphere was analogous to the fading smoke coming out of a chimney. Additionally, the probability of the comet's collision with Earth was compared to the probability of a North American train to collide with a Portuguese one.

The history of the impact of successive appearances of Halley's Comet were presented as illustrative of the Comtean evolution of knowledge from the theological to the metaphysical and, finally, the positive phase. By doing so, Melo e Simas transformed Halley into a “positivist and republican” comet, in the sense that the explanation of its trajectory and impact obeyed the rationale of the last Comtean phase of the evolution of knowledge, and this account became vital to the comet's appropriation by the republican agenda. In turn, Melo e Simas carved his place as a dedicated and outspoken republican astronomer for whom astronomical research and the popularization of astronomy went hand in hand. Some days later, the Academy of Sciences of Portugal praised publicly his diligence and dubbed him an Apostle of Truth and Justice.Footnote ⁴³ He had become a dedicated and outspoken republican astronomer. Five years later, Melo e Simas published in the journal of the Academy of Sciences of Portugal a text asserting that Halley's visit provided “a lesson in cometary astronomy, whose conclusions were always timely, always grandiose and always admirable” (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1915a, 399).

In the new social order issued from the implantation of the Republic, the role of emancipating humankind was reserved for the republican citizen, and particularly for the republican scientist. Right after becoming a member of the National Republican Federation, in 1919, Melo e Simas published a work in which he offered his considerations on “The middle class and the economic question.” Therefore, his aim at influencing the republican agenda went beyond his practice as a successful and brilliant science popularizer. For him, the republican regime brought about a society organized into three distinct classes: the bourgeoisie, the middle class, and the working class. “Today, with the disappearance of the prerogatives of clergy and nobility, the bourgeoisie has become aristocratic, in the restricted and ironic meaning of the word, keeping the other existing classes – the middle and the working classes – dependent upon its money” (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1920, 5). The middle class was differentiated from the working class by its capacity to reflect on society and its needs and, accordingly, by its ability to assume governing roles in society (ibid., 6–7). Therefore, for Melo e Simas the republican citizen should emerge to a large extent out of the middle class. Educated, conscious of the importance of proceeding rationally and methodically, and aware of the values and norms which constituted the ethos of science, the middle class was essential to the establishment of a fair and equitable society, that is to say, a Republican society in which science and scientists played a key role.

Melo e Simas embodied the republican scientist. Identifying himself as a middle-class intellectual (ibid.), he not only went into raptures about scientism but he also practiced the gospel of positivism. He got particularly involved in making the public at large aware of science and its role in the making of a more egalitarian society. Accordingly, as already mentioned, he not only delivered addresses at the new republican institutions of learning such as the Free University and the Academy of Sciences of Portugal, but he also published extensively in newspapers and journals articles aimed at educating a broad audience. His concern to reach out even to illiterate people is clear from the consistent use of newspapers which through practices of reading aloud reached a larger fraction of the population. His clear style and accessible language turned his articles into instances of popularization of science. In some of these articles, he devoted a great deal of attention to the history of science. Scientists constituted a potentially world-shattering and world-transforming group. Thus the narratives of their lives were endowed with an exemplary function.

Melo e Simas ascribed a new role to scientists in a republican society, considering the dissemination of scientific culture crucial not only to the well-being of individual citizens, but especially to the progress of society as a whole. For Melo e Simas, the scientist emerged as a pivotal actor of progress. In his various articles published in newspapers, addresses delivered at the Free University and the Academy of Sciences of Portugal, and in the eulogies written when celebrated scientists such as Henri Poincaré, Lord Kelvin, and Frederico Tomás Oom, passed away, he willingly recognized that scientists were decisive in forging the First Republic (Melo e Simas Reference Melo e Simas1908c, Reference Melo e Simas1915b, Reference Melo e Simas1931c). The preeminence of scientists in society resulted from their effort to understand nature and its underlying laws. By carrying out such a quest, they assumed a position where they might act positively in human societies. He not only preached the agenda of republicanism but became an active player in its articulation.

Concluding Remarks

Astronomy offers a good case study to understand the multiple relations of science and the Republic in Portugal. It challenged the role of religion in understanding the magnificence of the universe, it provided a way to educate young students enrolling in the Faculty of Sciences, and also the masses who profited from the adult education movement and various popularization outlets, it reinforced the status and authority of scientists in the new society, and it contributed to shaping the ideology of republicanism.

For an astronomer deeply committed to the republican ideology such as Melo e Simas and eager to mold it, popularization of astronomy was a multi-layered activity reliant on various types of communication outlets – newspapers, journals, conferences, lessons – and several institutional frameworks often republican – the Astronomical Observatory, Free University, Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, and Academy of Sciences of Portugal. At the same time, it was inextricably intertwined with his astronomical research, first as amateur and then as professional astronomer, to such an extent that the same topics were discussed at different communication levels in order to cater simultaneously to peers and lay audiences. Melo e Simas's case clearly underlines the multi-layered character of circulation of knowledge, in which popularization cannot be isolated from professional research and educational involvement. It further underlines how the transition from amateur to professional was perceived as a means to legitimate his status and authority among his Portuguese peers, and alternatively how his communication skills were appropriated by them in order to enhance the public visibility of their institutional settings.

As an artillery officer, mathematics provided not only the mathematical background to his work in astronomy, as was usually the case with Portuguese men of science, but also the tools to solve artillery problems. Similar problems were explored in the realm of astronomy. For someone who experienced such disciplinary moves, the often overlooked connections between different areas of knowledge, proved to be crucial to the development of science and the defense of its unity, to such an extent that this characteristic became a recurrent topic for communicating science to the public at large.

While we still know very little about amateur astronomers in Portugal, the importance of Melo e Simas as an amateur astronomer whose work was acknowledged by the international scientific community, and especially his unusual move, both in international and national terms, from amateur to professional astronomy, provides evidence that in a peripheral context such as Portugal, such a transition was not necessarily associated with the consolidation of emerging areas such as astrophysics as was common in the British and American contexts, but, on the contrary, helped to reinforce a specialty already fading away in the international landscape, but still central to the practice of the Portuguese national observatory, and helped to give it accrued public visibility.

Finally, Melo e Simas's conceptions of the meaning of being a scientist and of the scientist's role in society were certainly the driving force behind his public and professional life. The pivotal role he ascribed to scientists explains his concern to move from amateur to professional, his deep engagement in popularizing science as a way to build the new republican citizen, and, most likely, his ephemeral transit through a Republican government as Minister of Public Instruction. In the end, molding the ethos of the new society through the multi-layered practice of a republican astronomer proved much more successful than through the failed practice of a politician in the strict sense of the word.