Historian Emilio Soler has no doubt: Jorge Juan He is the most important figure of the Spanish Enlightenment.. However, on the 250th anniversary of his death, very few events are being held in his memory in the province where he was born 310 years ago, other than the events planned by the Ministry. Novelda Town Hall And Mediterranean Foundationtrustees Legacy of the Alicante scientist It is on permanent display at his hometown’s Modernist House Museum, where several events have been developed for the anniversary. They are closing today with a conference Jorge Juan in Quito Written by Emilio Soler, doctor of Geography and History and former professor of Modern Medieval History at UA. He will speak at Alicante Culture Class at 19.00 It is about the American adventure of Jorge Juan (Novelda, 1713-Madrid, 1773) in the mid-18th century andYour participation in the Spanish-French Geodetic Expedition This allowed the Earth’s meridian to be measured and Verify the flattened shape of the planet.
this success full of adventures and challengesSoler, the author of one of the reference biographies of the sailor, will talk about this Travels of Jorge Juan and Santacilia. Science and Politics in 18th Century Spain – will be invited this afternoon by the Mediterranean Foundation, where he will focus on “the eleven years he spent in America to participate in the expedition to measure the emission in the equatorial region of the Earth – another had gone to Lapland – promoted from France.” He needs the permission of the Spanish Crown to pass through the Americas, where the Viceroyalty of Peru was established. King Felipe V, Soler adds: “I suspect French espionage intentions” and brings in Spanish ‘scientists’ – Spain had no scientists so they applied to the elite corps, the Sea Guards Academy – Jorge JuanI was 21 years old at that time and Antonio de Ulloa19″.
The historian explains: Although in the beginning The French took it as a jokeThe truth is that the Spaniards “worked very well in the task of measuring the meridian”, but their stay in Quito, which then belonged to the Viceroyalty of Peru, “was very complicated: on one occasion Jorge Juan had to use the sword to hide in a church; on another, he took the city to the British commander He had to go to Lima upon the call of the governor general of Peru to protect himself from Anson’s attack.
Stating that the measurements were successful, Soler said, “The shape and real size of the Earth are known, and this ensures that ships based on meridians and parallels do not get lost at sea.” They argue among themselves and Spaniards were the first to arrive in Europe and publish data. For this reason, Jorge Juan was elected an honorary member of the association. Academies of science in Berlin, Paris and London.
After his trip he published several books; among them Astronomical and physical observations made in the Kingdoms of Peru And Hidden Newspublished in Spain a hundred years later – approx. condition of colonial americaEmilio Soler, underlining what Jorge Juan discovered through his own research, was abandoned by the Spanish authorities because “only one king visited them in the last 500 years of the Spanish presence in America, and that was Juan Carlos I.” publications “Quito in the mid-18th century, with differences between criollos (Spaniards born there) and chapetones (Spaniards who became rich), some fighting to preserve their lands, while others sought to maintain Spanish hegemony.”
maritime espionage
His status as an academic in London was also used on his return. sent as a spy went to the English capital for two years – was discovered and left the country in a hurry – Knows the keys to British naval power and bringing shipbuilders to Spain Reactivating Spanish shipyards. “Books, especially maritime inspection, has been translated into many languages and “They guided the construction of ships.”All this makes him, Soler says, the Spanish polymath, “the most important character of the Spanish Enlightenment.” But, recognition not completed The historian notes, “because the scientists did not like him because he was a soldier, and the soldiers did not value him because he did not wage war.”
This is no longer enough. “With the exception of Novenda and Monforte, in Alicante they only know it by the name of the institute,” Soler laments. The Maritime Museum of Madrid dedicated an exhibition to him Until March 31.