Mello, Francisco de

1. Dates

Born: Lisbon, 1490

Died: Evora, 27 April 1536

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 46

2. Father

Occupation: A Noble

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Portuguese

Career: Portuguese

Death: Portuguese

4. Education

Schooling: Paris, M.A., D.D.

The son of as Portuguese noble, Mello was a protegé of King Manuel I who sent him to Paris, financing it, to study. He was a student of Lax. Studied in Paris from 1512 to 1521. B.A. along the way. He earned both an M.A. and a licentiate in theology.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

Mello wrote extensively on mathematics, including Euclid's optics and Archimede's hydrostatics.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Patronage

8. Patronage

Type: Court

Upon his return to Portugal, Mello was the tutor to the King's children.

He was also on the royal council, and he was prominent on the Junta of Budajoa that attempted to establish the line down the Atlantic dividing (after the Papal decision) the Portuguese and Spanish overseas possessions.

There is one assertion that he was rector of the University of Lisbon for four years.

Shortly before his death, he was appointed Bishop of Goa; he never went there of course.

9. Technological Involvement

Type: Cartography

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. Grande enciclopedia portuguese e brasileira.
2. Innocencio Francisco da Silva, Diccionario bibliografico portugues, 3, (Lisbon, 1859), 8-10.
3. M. Bataillon, "Erasme et la cour de Portugal," in Bataillon, Etudes sure le Portugal au temps de h'humanisme, (Coimbra, 1952), pp. 49-100. Though it had little about Mello, I did see a book in Portuguese, shelved almost next to Bataillon, on the cultural situation in Portugal at the time of Manuel I and Joao III.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Anonio Ribeiro dos Santos, "Memoria da vida e escritos de Don Francisco de Mello," Memorias de literatura portuguesa publicadas pela Academia Real das sciencias de Lisboa, 7 (Lisbon, 1806), 237-49.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.