Summary - TST 35
TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES
Hugo SILVEIRA PEREIRA
Francisco Maria de Sousa Brandão (1818-1892), master of railway routes
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SUMMARY TST 35
[ Abstract ]
The second half of the 19th century in Portugal was
characterized by the trajectory of several men of science and
technology, who applied their know-how and the saint-simonianist
ideology they acquired in different European teaching
institutions to the modernization of Portugal. Amongst these
men, we find the name of Francisco Maria de Sousa Brandão, a
Portuguese engineer, who became a specialist in the survey and
construction of railway. In this paper, we aim to follow Sousa
Brandão’s technical career, using the concept of the scientific
persona, a category placed between the individual biography and
the social institution in which it is included.
We will use a diversified array of sources, spread throughout
sundry archives and libraries, to accompany the trajectory of
Sousa Brandão. We aim to illustrate the relevance of his
individual route in the public works programme implemented in
Portugal in the second half of the 19th century, particularly in
the planning and construction of railroads, and to the formation
of the persona of the Portuguese engineer/technocrat specialized
in railways. At the same time, we will analyse how this persona
influenced Sousa Brandão’s own individual path.