Exhibitions
I am the Curator, together with Miguel Soromenho.
Nicolau Ferreira, in Público, (1 Mar 2014) wrote a nice piece on the exhibition, "Luís Serrão Pimentel, homem de ciência do século XVII, foi agora resgatado numa exposição".
I have put a considerable amount of time and effort into preparing exhibitions on scientific topics, addressed to a general audience. I feel that part of a scholar's duties is to communicate the results of research to the public. I have worked with different institutions but mostly with the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP) (my collaboration with the BNP started around 2001 and has extended until today).
Luís Serrão Pimentel e a Ciência em Portugal no século XVII.
Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP).
28 February to April 30, 2014.
An exhibition on the cosmographer, engineer, and mathematician Luís Serrão Pimentel (1613-1679), a leading figure of Portuguese science in the 17th century.
360º Ciência Descoberta / 360º Science Discovered.
Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
2 March to 2 June 2013.
A major exhibition on Science during the fifteenth and sixteenth century Portuguese and Spanish maritime voyages. I was the Curator, but I worked with an exceptional team: Francisca Moura, Mariano Piçarra, Luís Moreira, Teresa Carvalho, and many others. The exhibition tried to show the relevance of scientific contributions by the Portuguese to the shaping of a modern scientific approach to the study of nature and hence to the so-called scientific revolution of the 17th century. On YouTube there is a Spot (0:30) of the Exhibition, and a longer film (6:00; with subtitles in English).
The exhibition received the most important professional prizes for exhibitions in Portugal: Two prizes of the "Associação Portuguesa de Museologia" (APOM): the prize "Best Exhibition", and the prize "Best museography", and Mariano Piçarra won prize Prémio Pádua Ramos de design de interiores (Secretaria de Estado da Cultura / Ministério da Economia) for his work on the design of the exhibition.
An exhibition curated by me and Ana Simões on famous diagrams and graphs in the history of science. This exhibition was part of the celebrations of the centennial of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, 1911-2011.
Astronomia em manuscritos da Torre do Tombo
Lisbon, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo,
8 September 2009 to 22 January 2010.
An exhibition (I was curator together with António Gonçalves) on astronomical manuscripts at the Portuguese National Archives (Torre do Tombo).Registos do Céu: Astronomia em manuscritos da Torre do Tombo.Registos do Céu: Astronomia em manuscritos da Torre do Tombo.A notice about the exhibition in Ciência Hoje, and an Interview on TV Ciência (see some images of the exhibition).
Lisbon, Bblioteca Nacional de Portugal
29 April to 31 July 2009.
I was the Curator of this exhibition on old astronomy books. See thesite at BNP.Media coverage was very good. The leading newspapers in Lisbon took some interest in it: Publico had a piece on it (Nicolau Ferreira, «notícia», 1May 2009), Diário de Notícias also (Notícia no DN, por Filomena Naves) and made a beautiful image gallery. There were smaller pieces in other newspapers, for example Jornal de Notícias (por Ana Vitória, «O fascínio pelo celestial», 28 Abril 2009, and also a piece in Ciência Hoje. Radio Antena 1 had a short piece. Some blogs commented on the exhibition: Cachimbo de Magritte (Pedro Picoito, 2 Maio 2009).
Sphaera Mundi: A Ciência na Aula da Esfera. Manuscritos Científicos do Colégio de Santo Antão nas Colecções da BNP :
Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal,
21 February to 30 April 2008.
This was an exhibition on scientific manuscripts of the famous «Aula da Esfera» in Lisbon. I was the Scientific Curator of this exhibition. I think it went very well --- manuscripts have a very peculiar attraction. More informationhere and the catalogue is online here.Media coverage was very good. Newspapers published good pieces about it. In Publico there was a goor article (Ana Machado, «Biblioteca Nacional mostra mansucritos científicos raros do século XVI a XVIII», 22 Fev, 2008), and a superb slideshow. Expresso also carried a piece (Nuno Crato, 1 Mar 2008) and the Revista da Armada escreveu um artigo (A Estácio dos Reis) did the same.Lots of blogs payed attention to this exhibition. Here are some examples: O Holoscópio (Luís Miguel Bernardo, 23 Fev. 2008), Miss Pearls (M. Isabel G., 18 Fev. 2008), Mare Nostrum (André, 17 Fev. 2008), Pimenta Negra (21 Fev. 2008), Reflexões de um cão com pulgas (24 Nov. 2008), Combustões (Miguel Castelo Branco,, 22 Fev 2008),Sorumbático (Nuno Crato).
Conta, peso e medida: a ordem matemática e a descrição física do mundo.
Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal,
2 November 2004 to 5 March 2005.
I was the Scientific Curator of this exhibition on 15th and 16th century scientific books. We had quite a good media coverage. There were pieces about it in Diário de Notícias (João Céu e Silva, 6 Dezembro 2004); Expresso, (18 de Dezembro de 2004, Nuno Crato, «Obras que mudaram o mundo»; Público, (11 Dez. 2004, Ana Machado, «Livros científicos renascentistas») and in some blogs (26 de Fevereiro de 2005). I also gave an interview to RTP.
A catalogue was published. It is partially availabe via Google Books.
Pedro Nunes (1502-1578): nouas terras, nouos mares, e o que mais he: nouo ceo e nouas estrellas.
Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal,
23 May to 7 September 2002.
Besides the usual information on the exhibition, the Biblioteca Nacional created an excellent site about Pedro Nunes. Here are some photos of the inauguration. There was a good media coverage. For example, this (23 May 2002) at TSF radio station. A catalogue was published. It is partially available via Google Books.
In addition to the Exhibitions I was curator, I collaborated in others. For example this one: Portugal and Renaissance Europe (John Carter Brown, Brown University).