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 historian of science, culture, and religion in early modern Europe and its global expansion. He is a Research Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford. Nuno completed his PhD in the history of science at Johns Hopkins University in 2021 after doing an MSc in Physics in the University of Lisbon. Previously, Nuno worked at Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti, in Florence, and at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. His first book, The Traveling Anatomist, on Nicolaus Steno, is forthcoming with the University of Chicago Press. His articles have been accepted for publication at Isis, Annals of Science, and Renaissance Quarterly, among other places. He also writes for broader audiences and you can find his essays in places like the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American.
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.
Šima Krtalić
Researcher
Šima Krtalić is а doctoral candidate in the History of Sciences at the University of Lisbon and former member of the Medea-Chart Project, funded by the European Research Council. She holds a BA in the Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and completed her MA in Archaeological Materials Science at the University of Évora in 2019, with a thesis on the materials, methods, and iconography of a seventeenth-century book of fortress plans from Portuguese India. Her current research focuses on the artistic techniques and workshop practices employed in the creation of manuscript nautical charts in the late medieval and early modern periods.
CV | ORCID
Romeu Gaspar
Researcher
Romeu Gaspar holds a master in Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon. After a career in management consulting he took an interest in the history of early-modern science, particularly where recent techniques (such as numerical and statistical modelling, DNA sequencing, Artificial Intelligence) are helping to uncover new developments. He is currently focused on the Magellan-Elcano expedition, where he hopes to bring to the general public some of the exciting recent findings and perhaps add a few of his own.
CV | ORCID
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 March 2024
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.
