Le marquis de Pombal et la politique scientifique du Portugal

The educational reforms carried out by the Marquess of Pombal (1699–1782) in the middle of the eighteenth century are generally considered as one of the critical moments in the genesis of Portugal’s modern science policy. Following the expulsion of the Society of Jesus (1759), the structure of secondary and pre-university education was radically transformed. With the reform of the university (1772), the definition of higher education and the role of the university were profoundly changed. Pombal’s reform programme was explicitly modernizing (the introduction to experimental sciences, the creation of a mathematics faculty, relinquishing of Latin, etc.) and it was conducted with the determination of the famous marquess’s extreme personality. But in spite of the undeniable modernity of this ambitious project, Pombal’s actions were also influenced by political constraints and a particular vision of science’s role in society. The final result, according to many historians, was exceedingly complex and even paradoxical