Team
Henrique Leitão
Principal investigator
An historian of science, with a doctorate in Physics. Presently the head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the Faculty of Sciences, Universidade de Lisboa. In recent years, his research focused on the History of Early-modern Science, especially Mathematics, Astronomy, Nautical Science and Cartography.
António Sánchez
Senior Researcher
Antonio Sánchez is Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is interested in early modern Iberian science, especially in the production of artisanal knowledge related to cosmography and maritime culture. He has several publications on these matters that can be consulted here:
https://uam.academia.edu/AntonioS%C3%A1nchez
CV | ORCID
Silvana Munzi
Project Manager
Biologist and PhD in Environmental Science, she held several postdoctoral fellowships at the Universidade de Lisboa, among which a Marie Curie fellowship. During her career as a researcher, she gained experience in project development and management being proponent, principal investigator, participant and supervisor of several national and international projects.
Luana Giurgevich
Post-doc researcher
In 2008, she was awarded a PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Trieste, for a thesis on Travel Literature in the Adriatic area. Since 2010, she is a researcher at CIUHCT, Universidade de Lisboa. Her interests include Travel Literature, Book History and History of Libraries, with a focus on the libraries of the Portuguese religious congregations and scientific book collections. The book Clavis bibliothecarum. Catálogos e inventários de livrarias de instituições religiosas em Portugal até 1834, co-authored with Henrique Leitão and main result of her archival work, received an honorable mention of the Portuguese Academy of History (2016).
Juan Acevedo
Post-doc researcher
With a BA in Classics from the Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela), Juan developed a career as a translator, publisher, and multilingual typesetter in Comparative Religion and Islamic Studies in the UK. In 2018 he got his PhD from the Warburg Institute, with a thesis on alphanumeric cosmology, drawing from sources in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew. With the Rutter project, he is tracking and examining early Arabic sources relating to Oceanic navigation, while keeping an eye on the cosmological and epistemological aspects of 16th century maritime developments.
Nuno Vila-Santa
Post-doc researcher
In 2014, he was awarded a PhD in the History of the Discoveries and the Portuguese Empire at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, with a thesis on D. Luís de Ataíde, 3º earl of Atouguia and vice-roy of Portuguese India. His book on Ataíde was awarded a Portuguese History Academy Prize (2015). His research is focused on political, military, social and cultural history of the Portuguese Empire in Asia during the second half of the sixteenth century, but also in the history of the portuguese nobility. His more recent studies concern the chronicler Diogo do Couto and also a book on Francisco Barreto, governor of Portuguese India and Mutapa in the sixteenth century.
David Salomoni
Researcher
He holds a BA Degree in Early Modern History and a MA Degree in Late Medieval History, both from the University of Parma. He was awarded a PhD in Education at the University of Rome III and a PhD in History at the University of Avignon. He was also awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship in History of Education at the University of Rome III and an Andrew Mellon Fellowship in History of Science at the University of Oklahoma. His research is dedicated to Medieval and Early Modern Education, with a particular focus on the teaching of science in early modern religious congregations and the global circulation of educational models.
Luís Campos Ribeiro
Researcher
Luís Campos Ribeiro is an historian of science and of art. He was awarded a PhD on the History and Philosophy of Sciences by the University of Lisbon in 2021 with a thesis on the teaching and practice of astrology by the Jesuits. His research focuses the history of astrology, astronomy and medicine (Medieval and Early Modern) as well as illuminated scientific manuscripts and scientific illustration. He also heads the international Astra Project: Historical research on astrological techniques and practices.
José Madruga Carvalho
Researcher
Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at UCP / Braga, Philosophical-Humanistic Course (1971). After being a teacher in secondary education, in the last few years his main interest has been centered on the history of calendar reforms and in particular on the history of the Easter calculation and the Gregorian Reformation of the 1582 Calendar in Portugal, under Henrique Leitão’s guidance.
Fabiano Bracht
Researcher
He obtained a PhD in History at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto . His research interests include History of Medicine, Pharmacy and Natural Sciences within the construction and circulation of scientific knowledge. Currently, he is a Researcher and Science Communication Manager at REMA – Faculty of Arts, University of Porto.
Nuno Castel-Branco
Researcher
Nuno Castel-Branco is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany. He completed his PhD in the History of Science at Johns Hopkins University in May 2021. He also received an M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Lisbon (Técnico). His current research focuses on the emergence of the new sciences in seventeenth-century Europe through the career of Nicolaus Steno, an anatomist who adapted methods from mathematics, mechanics and chemistry in his research. Nuno also studies the development of jesuit science in early modern Iberia. He has won several awards in Europe and the United States, such a Fulbright Fellowship and a Huntington Exchange Fellowship.
Thomas Horst
Researcher
Thomas Horst works as a map librarian at the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Between 2013 and 2023 he was integrated member of CIUHCT (Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia) and Post-doctoral researcher at Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, where he studied cosmographic knowledge visualized on maps, globes and texts as well as transcultural relations in the early modern period. He is co-editor of the review section of the international journal Imago Mundi, contributing editor for »History of Cosmography: Maps, Atlases, Globes, Instruments and Texts« to the Isis Current Bibliography, extended Board Member of the International Coronelli-Society for the Study of Globes (Vienna) and co-initiator of PORT-AL-HIST, the international academic network to the German-Portuguese history.
Juliane Müller
Researcher
Juliane Müller is a Research Associate at the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies of the University of Tübingen. She holds a PhD in Arabic Studies from Freie Universität Berlin (2016) and a MA in Brazilian Studies from Universidade de Lisboa (2022). Her research focuses on Arabic manuscripts and the history of science in the Arabo-Islamic world. In the past years, she has worked especially on Arabic medicine and alchemy.
CV | ORCID
Joaquim Alves Gaspar
Researcher
Retired officer of the Portuguese Navy, specialist in Navigation, master’s in Physical Oceanography and doctor in Geographical Information Systems. Has been dedicated to the history of nautical cartography since 2005. His research mostly focuses on the geometric analysis and numerical modelling of medieval and early modern nautical charts. Until May 2023 he was the principal Investigator of the European Research Council project Medea-Chart.
Joana Lima
PhD Student
Graduated in Classical Studies from the University of Lisbon, she holds a MA Degree in Portuguese Literature, a MA Degree in Teaching Portuguese and Classical Languages, and an Advanced Studies Diploma in Portuguese Literature from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Her research is dedicated to the relationship between science and literature in the context of the Portuguese Maritime Expansion.
José Maria Moreno Madrid
PhD Student
Graduated in History and master in History and Anthropology of América by the Complutense University of Madrid. His main lines of research are History of the Modern Age Cartography and History of the Portuguese Empire expansion (16th-17th centuries). Relating that interests, within the framework of the project, he will try to find out how rutters and nautical charts interacted with each other.
Inês Bénard da Costa
PhD Student
Graduated in Liberal Arts and holds a master’s degree in History and Philosophy of Science by the Universidade de Lisboa. Her interests focus on History of medieval Arabic Science and knowledge circulation among different scientific traditions.
Carmo La Cerda
PhD Student
Graduated in Liberal Arts by the University of Lisbon, she recently concluded a MA Degree in History and Philosophy of Sciences at the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidade de Lisboa. Her interests are related to the History of Science, medieval science, science and religion and science and literature.
Maurizio Cataldo
IT Specialist
1 January 2023 – 31 August 2023
Multimedia technician and web developer, with a much diversified professional background which includes team management and data analytics. He is proficient in programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, Python, among others. His contribution to the RUTTER Project mostly focuses on developing digital tools to increase the accessibility of nautical sources for researchers and a wider audience.
Brian Nickel
Master student
15 March 2023 – 31 December 2023
Brian Nickel is a second-year master’s student at the University of Strasbourg specializing in European history. His research focuses on the early-modern Hispanic monarchy through the lens of the history of science and technology.
