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MissionesOnLine<\/span>Ilustraci\u00f3n an\u00f3nima de Buenaventura Su\u00e1rezMissionesOnLine<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Su\u00e1rez was of the region’s criollo<\/em> elite, son of the great-granddaughter of Spanish conquistador Juan de Garay (1528\u20131583), founder of Santa Fe, now in Argentina, where he was born. He studied at the city’s Jesuit high school, joined the Society of Jesus at 16, and then enrolled in the University of C\u00f3rdoba, also in Argentina. At the time, as well as devoting himself to philosophy and theology, he took an interest in exact sciences and became a self-taught mathematician and astronomer.<\/p>\n He observed the first lunar eclipse with the naked eye in 1700, in Corrientes, near the Argentina-Paraguay border. Ordained a priest in 1704, Su\u00e1rez traveled to the Jesuit missions among the Guaran\u00ed people. The 30 missions occupied an area that currently corresponds to southern Paraguay, the Argentine province of Misiones, and the western portion of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n The Jesuit astronomer built his home base in San Cosme y Dami\u00e1n, in what is currently Paraguay, and observed lunar and solar events at the missions for nearly five decades. \u201cHis scientific work served the Missions\u2019 interests, for example, by establishing the dates of movable feasts on the calendar, such as Easter,\u201d says science historian Miguel de As\u00faa, of the National University of General San Mart\u00edn, in Argentina. \u201cSu\u00e1rez’s astronomy had a religious purpose and contributed to the process of spreading Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n In San Miguel Arcanjo, currently the municipality of S\u00e3o Miguel das Miss\u00f5es in Rio Grande do Sul, Su\u00e1rez recorded two lunar eclipses, one in 1728 and the other, with a 3-meter refracting telescope (simple technology, with two convex lenses), in 1747. That same year and with the same telescope, at the Santa Maria la Mayor mission, in what is currently Argentina, he observed another lunar eclipse. The 1747 records were published in Philosophical Transactions<\/em>, the scientific journal of the Royal Society, a UK scientific academy, in 1749 and 1750.<\/p>\n Arquivo Geral de Simancas<\/span>Map of the Guaran\u00ed Missions run by the Jesuits in 1768, referencing Su\u00e1rez’s dataArquivo Geral de Simancas<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n More important are his systematic observations of Jupiter’s four largest moons, discovered by the Italian mathematician Galileu Galilei (1564\u20131642) and already widely known by the eighteenth century. With a clock adjusted to the sun’s position, observed using a solar quadrant, a rudimentary astronomical instrument, the Jovial eclipse measurement, obtained using a method developed by Galileu himself, was used to find the difference in longitude between the observation site and a reference site on the globe with a known longitude, which is currently the Greenwich meridian, in London. \u201cSu\u00e1rez used the most precise, yet feasible method available to him at the time,\u201d acknowledges astrophysicist Oscar Matsuura, retired professor at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo and organizer of the book Hist\u00f3ria da astronomia no Brasil<\/em> (History of astronomy in Brazil; CEPE, 2014).<\/p>\n Over the 13 years he lived in San Cosme, the Jesuit observed 147 eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites and used this information to establish the longitude of all 30 missions. Swedish astronomer Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin (1717\u20131783) used data collected by Su\u00e1rez in his 1748 article about the moon lo, the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites<\/p>\n His knowledge of mathematics also helped him prepare lunariums \u2014 ompendia of astronomical predictions such as moon phases and solar and lunar eclipses. \u201cThe lunarium was important for organizing life on the missions,\u201d says Argentine historian Carlos Daniel Paz, of the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), in S\u00e3o Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul. \u201cIt was a way to organize time in the missions and better manage agriculture cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n Openlibrary<\/span>Lunarium tables predicting moon phases and lunar and solar eclipses from January of 1740 to December of 1841Openlibrary<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Predictions related to eclipses, moon phases, and movable feast dates every year for the next 100 years were compiled in the book Lunario de um siglo<\/em> (A century’s lunarium), published in Lisbon in 1740. In the introduction, he laments that the Missions lacked astronomical observation instruments because \u201cthe study of mathematical sciences was not flourishing [in these provinces].\u201d Brazilian historian Maria Cristina Bohn Martins, of UNISINOS, confirms: \u201cContrary to what one might imagine, the Missions were not rich and imported only what was essential. Scientific books and instruments were quite expensive and took months to arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n He built his telescope in the Missions with what he had on hand. \u201cThe Jesuits were excellent craftsmen and usually had specialized workshops,\u201d says German historian Karl Heinz Arenz, of the Federal University of Par\u00e1 (UFPA). According to him, the missionaries tried to produce everything they needed while at the missions, such as agricultural and cooking equipment and musical instruments. \u201cGlass of sufficient quality to produce telescope lenses was hard to come by, because it had to be purchased via Buenos Aires or Asunci\u00f3n,\u201d clarifies historian Artur Henrique Barcelos, of the Federal University of Rio Grande (UFRG), in Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons<\/span>Portuguese physician Jacob Sarmento, who read the Argentine Jesuit’s works at Royal Society conferencesBiblioteca Nacional de Portugal\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n He most likely built the lenses from local materials. Quartz crystals were abundant in the Paraguayan Chaco, and with their knowledge of rocks, the indigenous people could have provided Su\u00e1rez with very transparent crystals that, when carefully polished, could replace glass lenses. Argentine historian Guillermo Furlong (1889\u20131974), who conducted the first official historical research on Su\u00e1rez, found documents describing the instruments used to manufacture lenses in the S\u00e3o Borja mission, in what is currently Rio Grande do Sul, shortly after the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767.<\/p>\n Building the tube \u2014 or body \u2014 of the telescope was less complicated, since, according to Barcelos, the indigenous people were remarkably skilled in woodworking and carpentry. Even the largest telescopes may have been made from wood or metal. In some missions, Su\u00e1rez and the indigenous people melted down bells and made musical instruments, such as organ pipes. \u201cMany Jesuit chronicles highlight the Guaran\u00ed people’s ability to make clocks and astrolabes like the Europeans,\u201d reports As\u00faa. Spurred on by Su\u00e1rez’s pursuits in astronomy, the Missions produced sundials, mechanical clocks, terrestrial and celestial globes, all lost after the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish land in 1767.<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez and the Guaran\u00ed people built eight telescopes, ranging in length from 2.3 m to 9 m. A flat base and a prominent position, such as a tower, were needed to operate the instruments. He made observations from the Asunci\u00f3n church tower, but there are no documents describing how he secured and operated the instruments. \u201cThe actual mechanical assembly of a telescope is no trivial matter,\u201d says Matsuura.<\/p>\n Global network of astronomers Yguamoringa<\/span>Sundial built by Su\u00e1rez in San Cosme y Dami\u00e1n, in Paraguay, alongside a close-upYguamoringa<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The Jesuit produced a Spanish translation of the book Theorica verdadeira das mar\u00e9s<\/em> (True tidal theory), published in London in 1737. The author is Jacob de Castro Sarmento (1692\u20131762), a Portuguese physician of Jewish descent and one of the first to introduce Newtonian physics in Lisbon, before fleeing anti-Semitism and becoming a member of the Royal Society in London. It was Sarmento who read Su\u00e1rez’s observations at scientific conferences and paved the way for the Jesuit to publish his work in various issues of Philosophical Transactions<\/em>. Sarmento was sent the data from Rio de Janeiro physician Mateus Saraiva (?\u2013?), also a member of the Royal Society with an interest in astronomy, with whom the Jesuit corresponded.<\/p>\n The translation also indicates that Su\u00e1rez went beyond the pragmatic aspect of astronomy, such as making calendars for religious activities. It is also quite intriguing, because the Society of Jesus was not very open to theoretical novelties \u2014 Newtonian mechanics was not yet accepted or taught.<\/p>\n \u201cJesuit education for the indigenous peoples was scholastic, focusing on old and established content, but among the clerics, curiosity was permitted in order to learn about novelties and to debate them,\u201d says Matsuura. \u201cIt was normal that some would embrace the novelties and even defend them publicly, while others would not.\u201d For example, he cites the Portuguese mathematician and astronomer Jos\u00e9 Monteiro da Rocha (1734\u20131819), educated by the Jesuits in Bahia, who used Newtonian theory in his text Sistema f\u00edsico-matem\u00e1tico dos cometas<\/em> (Mathematical-physical system of comets), from 1759.<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez was neither the first astronomer nor the first Jesuit to pursue astronomy in South America. Since the seventeenth century, astronomers, mainly Jesuits, have been recording observations for cartographic purposes throughout the continent, especially in the Amazon. But he was the first individual born in the Americas who produced astronomical knowledge relevant to the nascent modern science, using his own methods and building his own instruments. \u201cHis story is important for understanding that South America was not a mere accessory in the production of knowledge in the eighteenth century,\u201d Paz concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With telescopes made alongside the Guaran\u00ed people of southern Brazil, Jesuit Buenaventura Su\u00e1rez closely observed lunar and solar eclipses and Jupiter’s moons in the eighteenth century","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":483185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[205,241],"coauthors":[1647],"class_list":["post-483180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retrospect","tag-astronomy","tag-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/630"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483180"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486460,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483180\/revisions\/486460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483180"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=483180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/RPF-memoria-jesuita-mapa-Cardiel-2023-05-site-800.jpg\")
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\n<\/strong>To build the telescopes, Su\u00e1rez relied on information circulated through letters exchanged among Jesuits and astronomers around the world. \u201cThe clergyman corresponded with astronomers from the Americas and Europe,\u201d says As\u00faa. According to the researcher, the Jesuit exchanged letters, for example, with Peruvian mathematician Pedro Peralta y Barnuevo (1663\u20131743) in Lima, Peru, and German Jesuit Nicasius Grammatici (1684\u20131736) in Bavaria and later China. Wargentin obtained Su\u00e1rez’s data about Jupiter’s moons from fellow Swede Anders Celsius (1701\u20131744), who, in turn, received the results of Su\u00e1rez’s observations made in the Missions from Grammatici. Celsius became best known for having created the centigrade scale for temperatures, which bears his name. Su\u00e1rez, on the other hand, received from Grammatici both longitude data and the results of his astronomical observations, which were important for establishing, by comparison, the longitude of the Guaran\u00ed missions.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/RPF-memoria-relogio-2023-05-site-1140.jpg\")