This HISTIGUC Project aims the study the scientific, historical, and patrimonial heritage of the former Geophysical Institute of the University of Coimbra (IGUC).

Created in 1864 as the Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory (OMMUC), it was one of the first university institutions in the country to establish a continuous program of geophysical observations. Its founding and flourishing is a good example of the efforts of the Portuguese institutions (and in particular of the UC) to accompany the accelerated development of European scientific research in the second half of the 19th century, in particular through the establishment of a network of strategic collaborations with leading scientists and observatories.

The newly created Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the UC (OGAUC), which in 2013 added the secular institutions of the Astronomical Observatory (OAUC) and the IGUC, inherited a unique and scientifically valuable collection (in Portugal and in the world) of long series of solar, meteorological, geomagnetic and seismological data, which has an indispensable value in the current geophysical and climatic studies. As a result of 150 years of observations and research, the collections of geophysics scientific instruments of the IGUC are among the most complete and significant in Portugal, being recognized their relevance at an international level.

These collections of data and tools are complemented by a vast technical-scientific production (reports, research memoranda, articles, books) that are large to be inventoried and studied. The HISTIGUC project will be developed according to four main axes, that interconnect and complement each other:

• (1) a study of IGUC's history and scientific production, analyzing the IGUC's activity in the national context (including the ex-colonies) and is correlation with the international scientific panorama;

• (2) study of the very rich collection of technical and scientific production, as well as of the instrumental collection;

• (3) preservation, homogenization, and availability of the various historical data series;

• (4) study of the IGUC building in the context of the history of the architecture of scientific observatories in the 19th century.

The HISTIGUC Project intends to contribute to an in-depth and multifaceted view of national scientific production and technical-scientific relations of Portuguese institutions within the broader context of international institutional networks, but also, on a different scale, to understand the historical impact of IGUC's activities in the evolution of the UC itself (in particular the updating of curricular plans and definition of lines of research) and in the various development plans of the city.

This knowledge will help to structure and strengthen the idea of, in the near future, integrating the building and the scientific assets of the former IGUC into a national and international roadmap of scientific, cultural, and architectural heritage.