First Practical Pioneer of Aeronautics. Noted for his early work on lighter-than-air airship design, Father Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão was a native of Santos, Brazil. Entering the Society of Jesus at Bahia, he left the Jesuits in 1701, moving to Portugal, where he found a patron at Lisbon in the person of the Marquis of Abrantes. Completing his course of study at the University of Coimbra, devoting his attention principally to philology and mathematics, he is said to have had a remarkable memory and a great command of languages. In 1709, he presented a petition to King John V of Portugal, seeking royal favour for his invention of an airship, in which he expressed the greatest confidence, the king rewarded de Gusmão by appointing him to a professorship at Coimbra and made him a canon. Passing away in Toledo, he was laid to rest there at the church of San Romano. With his remains being ultimately relocated in 1856 after various attempts, they were transferred to São Paulo's cathedral in 2004. With Rio de Janeiro's Santa Cruz Air Force Base originally named after him, the airport presently serving Araraquara carries his name.
First Practical Pioneer of Aeronautics. Noted for his early work on lighter-than-air airship design, Father Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão was a native of Santos, Brazil. Entering the Society of Jesus at Bahia, he left the Jesuits in 1701, moving to Portugal, where he found a patron at Lisbon in the person of the Marquis of Abrantes. Completing his course of study at the University of Coimbra, devoting his attention principally to philology and mathematics, he is said to have had a remarkable memory and a great command of languages. In 1709, he presented a petition to King John V of Portugal, seeking royal favour for his invention of an airship, in which he expressed the greatest confidence, the king rewarded de Gusmão by appointing him to a professorship at Coimbra and made him a canon. Passing away in Toledo, he was laid to rest there at the church of San Romano. With his remains being ultimately relocated in 1856 after various attempts, they were transferred to São Paulo's cathedral in 2004. With Rio de Janeiro's Santa Cruz Air Force Base originally named after him, the airport presently serving Araraquara carries his name.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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