João Jacinto de Magalhães (Portuguese:João Jacinto de Magalhães) (1722–1790) was aPortuguesenatural philosopher.
He was born inAveiro, Portugal, on 4 November 1722.[1] He seems to have been brought up at Lisbon, where he became a monk of the order of St. Augustine, and was pursuing his studies in the Portuguese capital when the city was destroyed by theearthquake of 1755.[2]
At age 40 Magellan abandoned the monastic life. About 1764 he appears to have reached England and was in communication with Da Costa of theRoyal Society in 1766. For some time he acted as tutor on continental tours, and made the acquaintance of leading scholars of the day, especially in theNetherlands. Magellan was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1774, and was a corresponding member of the academies of science in Paris, Madrid, and St. Petersburg.[2]
In June 1778 Magellan was atErmenonville, the seat of the Marquis de Gerardin, and there, with M. du Presle, he visitedJean-Jacques Rousseau a few days before his death on 2 July. He added a postscript describing his visit to Du Presle'sRelation des derniers Jours de J. J. Rousseau, London, 1778. Magellan settled in London soon afterwards. He was for some time engaged in superintending the construction of a set of astronomical and meteorological instruments for the court of Madrid, which he described in 1779. He devoted his last years to the construction of instruments including thermometers and barometers. He made a clock for the blindLouis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg, which indicated by bells the hours and other readings.[2]
Among Magellan's friends was the Hungarian countMaurice Benyovszky. About 1784 the count borrowed a large sum from Magellan, and was soon afterwards shot as a pirate by the French inMadagascar. Magellan never recovered the money. He died on 7 February 1790, after more than a year's illness and was buried in Islington churchyard. Although there are claims that, due to his laxity and unorthodoxy, he renounced his faith, his correspondence and other sources confirm he never gave up Catholicism.[3]
Magellan's major works were:[2]
Magellan also wrote articles in theJournal de Physique, 1778–83. On the title-page of his translation ofAxel Fredrik Cronstedt'sSystem of Mineralogy, 1788, he assumed the appellation "Talabrico-Lusitanus".[2]
Magellan gave Count Benyovszky's memoirs toWilliam Nicholson, who published them in English in 1790. Magellan's French version of the memoirs appeared after his death, and letters of Magellan to Benyowsky were published inMór Jókai's edition of the count's memoirs.[2]
In 1784, Magellan was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.[4] TheMagellanic Premium, a prize given for advances in navigation, was established at theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1786 by a grant given by him.[5]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Magellan, Jean Hyacinthe de".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London:Smith, Elder & Co.
