Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia

This article presents Alfredo Magalhães Ramalho’s scientific correspondence between 1919 and 1949, both nationally and internationally. It consists of 181 unpublished letters, exchanged with 30 relevant figures belonging to 11 countries, including France, the UK, Croatia, Japan, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Morocco, Belgium and Spain. This correspondence shows a network among different research institutions devoted to the marine sciences. This includes biological stations, such as the Istituto Italo-Germanico di Biologia Marina, laboratories and museums, e. g. the British Museum of Natural History. At the national level, the correspondence between Ramalho and Augusto Nobre represents a historical axis between Lisbon and Porto, involving two of the most relevant scientists in the fields of oceanography and marine biology. At the international level, Ramalho corresponded with personalities such as Henry Gascoyne Maurice and other members of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, including for example the oceanographer Vagn Walfrid Ekman. This correspondence represents an archival discovery of the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere in Lisbon, marking a decisive historical scientific moment for both Portuguese and international contexts in the field of marine sciences. This article aims to reconstruct Portugal’s internal and external networks.

This article explores the early biogeographical debates that shaped the beginning of limnology, focusing on the differences of opinion concerning the origins of pelagic fauna between two pioneering scientists: Pietro Pavesi and François-Alphonse Forel. The study examines how Pavesi’s hypothesis of a marine origin for pelagic fauna contrasts with Forel’s theory of passive distribution, situating their arguments within a broader Darwinian framework. The first part of the paper provides a historical overview of Italian limnology, highlighting Pavesi’s contributions and interpreting Forel’s writings to underscore the significance of discovering pelagic fauna in conceptualizing lakes as microcosms. The second part compares Pavesi’s and Forel’s hypotheses, emphasizing their impact on the scientific understanding of freshwater ecosystems. The importance of this discovery, in both historical and scientific contexts, lies in recognizing the presence of plankton in lakes as a crucial element for the mature formulation of ecological concepts, such as the ecosystem.

The aim of this work is to ascertain the relevance of the miasmatic theory for the construction and spatial organization of the Hospital Geral de Santo António in Porto, Portugal, in the 19th century, from then recent graduate physicians’ viewpoint. The methodology consists of analyzing the inaugural dissertations presented to the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica do Porto in order to assess the physicians’ perceptions of the Santo António Hospital building, with emphasis on the relationship between health, medicine and environment. This work intends to contribute to better understand the relationship between the theoretical referential approach to disease and medical practice, at the interface of health, medicine, and environment by analyzing interspecies encounters.

The songs of birds are complex signals that may have several functions and vary widely among species. Different ecological, behavioural and morphological factors, as well as phylogeny, have been associated as predictors of the evolution of song structure. However, the importance of differences in development, despite their relevance, has seldom been considered. Here, we analysed the evolution of song in two families of songbirds that differ in song development, manakins (suboscines) and cardinals (oscines), with their phylogeny, morphology, and ecology. Our results show that song characteristics had higher phylogenetic signal in cardinals than in manakins, suggesting higher evolutionary lability in the suboscines. Body mass was the main predictor of song parameters in manakins, and together with habitat type, had a major effect on cardinals’ song structure. Precipitation and altitude were also associated with some song characteristics in cardinals. Our results bring unexpected insights into birdsong evolution, in which non-learners (manakins) revealed greater evolutionary lability than song learners (cardinals). Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-024-02298-z.

The present study evaluated an integrated biomonitoring approach based on three different bioindicators: tree rings, lichens, and beetles in a complex environment (urban-industrial-forest). In Central Italy, four sampling sites were selected to assess the anthropogenic impact of cement plants taking into account (1) long-term exposure (1988–2020) through the analysis of trace elements in tree rings of Quercus pubescens; (2) medium-term exposure (2020–2021) through the analysis of trace elements in thalli (outermost portions) of the lichen Xanthoria parietina; (3) short-term exposure in spring 2021 through the bioaccumulation and evaluation of sample vitality in transplants of the lichen Evernia prunastri and a periodic survey of entomological biodiversity carried out during spring and summer 2021. Trace elements of industrial origin were found in tree rings, with different levels of accumulation between 1988 and 2020 and a maximum in 2012. Native thalli of the lichen X. parietina showed an overall low bioaccumulation of trace elements except for Cr, probably reflecting the influence of national lockdown measures. The transplants of E. prunastri showed a weak stress response in the industrial and urban sites, but not in the forest, and identified Tl and V as the main elements contributing to atmospheric contamination, with peaks at the industrial sites. Concerning the beetles, a significantly lower number of species was found at the Semonte industrial site.

The new foundation for the propensity interpretation of fitness (PIF), developed by Pence and Ramsey (Br J Philos Sci 64:851–881, 2013), describes fitness as a probability distribution that encompasses all possible daughter populations to which the organism may give rise, including daughter populations in which traits might change and the possible environments that members of the daughter populations might encounter. This long-term definition of fitness is general enough to avoid counterexamples faced by previous mathematical conceptions of PIF. However, there seem to be downsides to its generality: the ecological role of fitness involves describing the degree of adaptedness between an organism and the specific environment it inhabits. When all possible changes in traits and all possible environments that a daughter population may encounter are included in the concept, it becomes difficult to see how fitness can fulfill this role. In this paper, we argue that this is a feature of Pence and Ramsey’s view rather than a bug: long-term fitness accommodates evolvability considerations, which concern the role that variation plays in evolutionary processes. Building on the foundations, we show that Pence and Ramsey’s fitness—F—can be partitioned into fourths: adaptedness, robustness of adaptedness, and two facets of evolvability. Conceptualizing these last three components forces us to consider the role played by grains of description of both organisms and the environment when thinking about long-term fitness. They track the possibility that there could be a change in type in a daughter population as a way of responding to environmental challenges, or that the type persists in the face of novel environments. We argue that these components are just as salient as adaptedness for long-term fitness. Together, this decomposition of F provides a more accurate picture of the factors involved in long-term evolutionary success.

This paper applies philosophical tools from the causalists/statisticalists debate to the evo-devo idea of variational tendencies as propensities biasing phenotypic change. It contends that variational properties are present in a statistical sense in some population dynamics models, particularly quantitative genetics ones, providing ultimate variational explanations. It further argues that these properties, contrary to some recent views, cannot be subsumed under natural selection. Finally, it advocates for a causalist interpretation of these explanations, where variational statistical properties indirectly refer to evo-devo’s variational propensities.

This research aims to contribute to improving water and carbon efficiency in irrigated grapevine production in the dry Mediterranean climate of southern Europe. In regions with water scarcity, irrigation has become a relevant input in viticulture, essential to increase productivity and achieve profits. The joint estimation of the water footprint (WF) and the carbon footprint (CF) can help to comprehensively assess the environmental implications and sustainability associated with water-intensive grapevine cultivation. In this study, the WF and CF, of the farming stage of grapes production, were calculated for three years, in three vineyards located in southern Portugal. Data used for the calculation included meteorological data, irrigation requirements, energy use, fertilizers, and pesticide inputs. The total WF mean value for the study period was 223 m³ ton⁻¹, lower than values found for similar conditions, but the blue component, related to irrigation, was predominant, with a higher proportion (75%) occurring during the driest year. The mean total CF was 98 kg CO2e ton⁻¹; the major contributors were fuel use, fertilizer greenhouse gas emissions, and energy for irrigation. The factor analysis revealed relationships between footprint components, yielding latent variables participated by irrigation water and energy use, pollution loads and agrichemicals use. The examination of trade-offs and/or advantageous relations between footprints and yields showed that seasonal climate conditions play an important role via their effect on the farming practices and the inputs most influential on these indicators, namely: crop water requirement; irrigation volumes; energy for irrigation; fuel consumption; nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization rates.

Against the backdrop of the circulation of development ideas and practices in Africa in the post-Second World War period, the article focuses on the experimental establishment of Casas do Povo (Houses for the People) in Angola in the mid-1960s, an attempt to reconfigure a corporative institution of the metropole. This case reveals a power dispute between two higher public administration bodies created as part of the political response to the beginning of the anti-colonial struggle and different views about the means to achieve social promotion of Angolan populations. Such controversy, however, does not compromise convergence on the purpose of social development: national defence and integration.

The developmental properties of organisms play important roles in the generation of variation necessary for evolutionary change. But how can individual development steer the course of evolution? To answer this question, we introduce developmental channeling as a disposition of individual organisms that shapes their possible developmental trajectories and evolutionary dappling as an evolutionary outcome in which the space of possible organismic forms is dappled-it is only partially filled. We then trace out the implications of the channeling-dappling framework for contemporary debates in the philosophy of evolution, including evolvability, reciprocal causation, and the extended evolutionary synthesis.

In sixteenth-century Lisbon, Aires Vaz and Manuel Rodrigues were summoned to the Inquisition on account of their astrological practices. Records of the trial of Vaz and Rodrigues provide valuable information regarding the training and practice of an astrologer in sixteenth-century Portugal. Prior to this study, however, our knowledge on these matters was scarce and mostly indirect. In this article, we argue that the study of these trial records is crucial to understanding both the practice and the regulation of astrology. Studies on the censorship of astrology usually emphasize the importance of the Roman Index, the Tridentine Rules, and the papal bulls against astrology. By looking at these two trials, this article sheds new light on the application of the Roman rules and allows us to trace the general profile of an astrologer in early modern Portugal.

Data management solutions became highly expensive and ineffective mainly due to the lack of transparent processes and procedures to measure and provide clear guidance on the steps needed to implement them. The organizations and specialists agree that the only manner solve the data management issues requires the implementation of data governance. Many of those attempts had failed previously because they were based only on IT, with rigid processes and activities frequently split by systems or the areas supported by systems and their data. It shows that Data governance has been acquiring significant relevance. However, a consensus or even a holist approach was not achieved so far. This paper that is part of an ongoing thesis research that aims to identify the main gaps and opportunities by summarizing and study the literature consistently and as result at the end of the research it will propose a standard framework for data governance measuring its impact on the Data Governance maturity level before and after its implementation and thus as contribute to the community by trying to mitigate the problems found.

The addition of biostimulants to nutrient solutions of hydroponically grown crops to speed up plant growth and improve plant yield and quality has been attracting more and more attention. This study investigated the effects of wood distillate (WD) addition to hydroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants. Two concentrations of WD, 0.2% and 0.5%, were added to the nutrient solution, and biometric (i.e., leaf fresh weight, root fresh weight, root length and root surface area), photosynthetic (i.e., chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid content) and biochemical (i.e., electrolyte leakage, total polyphenols, total flavonoids, and total antioxidant power content) parameters were evaluated. The effects of WD were hormetic, as the 0.2% concentration stimulated biometric and biochemical parameters, while the 0.5% concentration inhibited plant growth. Based on these results, it can be suggested that the addition of 0.2% WD to the nutrient solution has a stimulating effect on the growth of lettuce plants, and could be a successful strategy to boost the yield of crops grown hydroponically.

This paper delves into the innovative integration of arts in science education, as exemplified by the book Einstein, Eddington, and the Eclipse: Travel Impressions. The book uniquely combines a history of science essay and a graphic novel, collaboratively created by Ana Simões, a historian of science, and Ana Matilde Sousa, an artist. Diverging from conventional science communication comics, the graphic novel section adopts an “art comics” style, with experimental aesthetics and complex storytelling, challenging the notion that comics oversimplify scientific concepts and events. This paper primarily focuses on the creative processes, themes, and decisions involved in the making of the graphic novel, showcasing how it synergizes with the essay to present a rich tapestry of the global context, societal impact, and diverse individuals involved in the 1919 British astronomical expeditions which proved Einstein’s light bending prediction. Additionally, this paper also serves as a practical resource/tool for educators, offering a “skeleton key” that engages students, particularly science undergraduates, in critical thinking about scientific and historical content. It underscores the significant role of visual arts in enriching science education and highlights the book’s contribution to the evolving landscape of STEAM education.

In the 1720s two Jesuit astronomers working at the court of King João V of Portugal, in Lisbon, received several instruments produced by the best makers in London, Paris and Rome. With the crucial help of the Portuguese diplomatic network contacts with academies, savants and instrument makers were established, seeking technical advice and the best astronomical instruments available at the time. It was in this context that in April 1726 a set of Latin instructions accompanying pendulum clocks made by George Graham were dispatched from London to Lisbon. These unpublished instructions are now preserved in the papers of Giovanni Battista Carbone, one of these Jesuit astronomers, offering a significant window into the procedures and technical details involved in the setting, operation and transport of Graham's astronomical clocks. In this paper, I will not only discuss this important document in the framework of Graham's contributions to astronomy and horology, but also in the perspective of the search for accuracy.

The demystification of how 19th-century novel, designed materials became significant elements of modern technological, economic, and cultural life requires a complete understanding of the material dimensions of historical artifacts. The objects frequently described as the earliest manufactured plastic products – the billiard balls made by John Wesley Hyatt and his associates from the late 1860s—are examined closely for the first time and found to be more complex and functionally more successful than had been described. Modern analytical techniques, namely optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) – energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), micro-Fourier transformed infrared (microFTIR) and handheld/micro-Raman spectroscopies, were used to reveal the complex composition of the Smithsonian Institution’s “original” 1868 celluloid billiard ball. Comparisons with billiard and pool balls commercialized from the 1880s to the 1960s showed an unexpected consistency in material formulations. All specimens were made of an unprecedented composite material made with a mixture of cellulose nitrate, camphor, and ground bone; the source of the bone was identified as cattle by peptide mass fingerprint (ZooMS). Patent specifications and contemporary journal descriptions explained how and when these formulations emerged. Combining technical analyses of compositions with careful reading of the historical record and contemporary descriptions reveals the key elements of the first successful efforts to substitute materials to assist the survival of endangered animals.

In mid-nineteenth century Portugal, the practice of irrigation was deemed to be completely backwards in comparison with the prevailing European standards. Distant were the times of Al-Andalus, when a so-called green revolution occurred on the Iberian Peninsula. Within this context, Agricultural Hydraulics gained momentum as a scientific field. Although water governance had a long run, the ‘politicisation’ of water issues clearly intensified in the Regeneration political regime. From 1851 onwards, the stability required for national material progress was ensured. The country had been struggling to build roads, railways, telegraphs, ports and, therefore, the Ministry of Public Works was established in 1852 to undertake these architectural and engineering projects. This paper argues that not only due to rivers’ manipulation for agriculture, but also to the rising status of engineers, Agricultural Hydraulics was under the Ministry of Public Works and, consequently, on the sphere of engineers rather than agronomists. Focusing on the making of a military engineer as an expert on Agricultural Hydraulics by sending him abroad and fostering his literary education, this paper reveals how this knowledge was appropriated and transformed into new projects for the Tagus River. Moreover, contrary to recent review that Hydraulic Services were launched in Portugal by 1884, based on the “Plan for Organization of Hydrographic Services on the mainland of Portugal”, this paper highlights the crucial role played by the Portuguese engineer Bento Fortunato Almeida d’Eça through his work as Superintendent of the Tagus River and its Tributaries, twenty years earlier.