José Correia da Serra
Encyclopedia
José Francisco Correia da Serra (1750–1823) was a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 Abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

, polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...

 - philosopher, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and scientist. In some circumstances, he was also known as Abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....

 Correa.

Biography

Correia da Serra was born at Serpa
Serpa
Serpa is a municipality in Portugal, in Alentejo Region, with a total area of 1104.0 km² and a total population of 16,178 inhabitants. The Guadiana River flows close to the town of Serpa....

, in Alentejo, in 1750, and was educated at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, where he took holy orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

. In 1777 he returned to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, where he was one of the founders of the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa in 1779 (then called Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa; Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon).

His published writings brought him into conflict with reactionary members of the religious and political hierarchy in Portugal.

In 1786, he fled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and remained there till the death of Portuguese King-consort Pedro III
Peter III of Portugal
Peter III became King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves by the accession of his wife and niece Queen Maria I in 1777, and co-reigned alongside her until his death.-Biography:...

, when he again returned to his homeland, but political difficulties forced him to leave the country again. He went to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where he found a protector in Sir Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...

, who was President
President of the Royal Society
The president of the Royal Society is the elected director of the Royal Society of London. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was founded officially on 15 July 1662 for the encouragement of ‘philosophical studies’, by a royal charter which nominated William Brouncker as...

 of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

. With Banks' support, he was easily elected a fellow of the society. In 1797, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

.

In 1797, he was appointed secretary to the Portuguese embassy in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, but a quarrel with the ambassador drove him once more to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 (1802). He would stay in Paris for the next eleven years.

In 1813, he left Europe for the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

, arriving first in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. His travels took him several times to Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...

, the home of former President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 where his political views found a fulsome reception.

In 1816, he was made Portuguese minister-plenipotentiary at Washington D.C., but resided in Philadelphia.

In 1820 he was recalled home to Portugal, where he was appointed a member of the financial council, and elected to a seat in the "General Extraordinary and Constituent Cortes of the Portuguese Nation", but he died only three years later.

Works

  • Colecção de livros inéditos da história Portuguesa, 4 vols., 1790-1816.


Articles:
  • "On the fructification of the submersed Algae," Philosophical Transactions, 1799, pp. 494–505.
  • "On a submarine forest on the coast of England," Philosophical Transactions, 1799, pp. 145–155.
  • "On two genera of plants belonging to the natural family of the Aurantia," Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. 5, pp. 218–226.
  • "On the Doryantha, a new genius of plants from New Holland next akin to the Agave," Transactions of the Linnean Society, 6, pp. 211–213.
  • "Observations sur la famille des oranges et sur les limites qui la circonscrivent," Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, 6, pp. 376–386.
  • "Mémoire sur la germination du nelumbo," Annales du Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, 13, 174.
  • "Vues Carpologiques/Observations Carpologiques," Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, 8, 9, 10.
  • "Mémoire sur la valeur du périsperme, considerée comme caractère d’affinité des plantes", Bulletin de la Société Philomatique, 11, 350.
  • "De l’état des Sciences, et des lettres en Portugal, à la fin du dixhuitième siècle," Archives litteraires de l’Europe, Vol. I, 1804.
  • "Sur l’agriculture des arabes en Espagne", Archives Littéraires de l’Europe, 2, pp. 239–404.
  • "Observations and conjectures on the formation and nature of the soil of Kentucky," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1811.
  • "Considerations générales sur l’etat passé et futur de l’Europe," The American Review, 1812.

See also

  • Royal Society
    Royal Society
    The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

     -- Correia da Serra was elected to membership in the Society in 1795; and his nomination letter has been posted with other membership records at the Royal Society web site -- here. Those signing his Certificate of Election and Candidature were: James Edward Smith
    James Edward Smith
    Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...

    , Aylmer Bourke Lambert
    Aylmer Bourke Lambert
    Aylmer Bourke Lambert was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society.He is best known for his work A description of the genus Pinus, issued in several parts 1803-1824, a sumptuously illustrated folio volume detailing all of the conifers then known...

    , Edward Whitaker Gray
    Edward Whitaker Gray
    Edward Whitaker Gray , English botanist and secretary to the Royal Society, was uncle of Samuel Frederick Gray, author of The Practical Chemist.-Educational and professional roles:...

    , Maxwell Garthshore
    Maxwell Garthshore
    Maxwell Garthshore was a fellow of the Royal Society.He was elected to membership in the society on March 23, 1775.-Further reading:* Dictionary of National Biography...

    , Samuel Solly, James Rennell
    James Rennell
    Major James Rennell, FRS was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.-Early life:Rennell was born near Chudleigh in Devon...

     and William Marsden
    William Marsden
    William Marsden DCL FRS was an English orientalist, linguist, numismatist and pioneer in the scientific study of Indonesia...

    .

External links
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