Summary - TST 35

TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES


TST 35

Hugo SILVEIRA PEREIRA

Francisco Maria de Sousa Brandão (1818-1892), master of railway routes


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Key Words: Regeneração, scientific persona, saint-simonianism, railways.


[ 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.