This story is told by the municipality of Armamar and is about an armamarense, who was the greatest Portuguese mathematician of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His name was Francisco Gomes Teixeira.

This illustrious man, who would become the first rector of the University of Oporto, only did not become a priest by mere chance. His biography and his notable academic career should be told to the world in order to show that remarkable people can rise from humble places. By this way, the municipality also intends to preserve his memory and spred his name through the generations.

This story is told by the municipality of Armamar and is about an armamarense, who was the greatest Portuguese mathematician of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His name was Francisco Gomes Teixeira.

This illustrious man, who would become the first rector of the University of Oporto, only did not become a priest by mere chance. His biography and his notable academic career should be told to the world in order to show that remarkable people can rise from humble places. By this way, the municipality also intends to preserve his memory and spred his name through the generations.

Francisco was born on the 28th of January 1851 in the village of São Cosmado, today council of Armamar and district of Viseu. He was son of a merchant family. His parents were Manuel Gomes Teixeira and Maria Madalena Machado. He had two brothers Pedro and Sebastião and a sister Vitória Carolina. Sebastião was a very good man and he died very young. People began to pray to him and when they received graces, they attributed them to him. People believed that he was a saint and Francisco asked the bishop of Lamego to start the process of his canonization, but nothing was proved and Sebastião had no altar honors. Pedro was a naval engineer and an inventor.

Francisco completed his primary education in his homevillage and he was distinguished by his intelligence and good grades obtained in all subjects. At that time, it was common for boys with good schooling to be referred to the seminary and it was his parents’ will, too. He moved to the near city of Lamego to attend the Priest Roseira College and there he lived in the house of his cousin Francisco Carvalho, who was a doctor and had attended the same college.

As Francisco's education progressed he was drawn in two different directions. His father was keen that he should study theology or law and wanted him to train in both these areas. The cousin saw that Francisco was a talented scientist and suggested that he should study mathematics and physics at university.

He attended the College of Lamego and when it was time to go to university, his father asked him which of the options theology and mathematics he would prefer and, surprisingly, he said he was happy to follow either the theology or the science option. The family decided that it would be the good fortune to decide his future. After tossing a coin, luck chose the science option, but he was more attracted to physics than to mathematics. However, the College in Lamego did not train their pupils for the examinations which would give university entry and therefore he went, in 1868, to Coimbra where he studied at the Saint Bento College, preparing himself to take the examinations. And so it was.

Francisco enrolled at the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Coimbra in October 1869. However, things did not go well at first for Francisco, mainly because his health was poor. He returned to São Cosmado with the idea that he should change to a different faculty and study a different topic. But, after returning to the university, Francisco was taught by Torres Coelho who strongly influenced him to become a mathematician.

In his first year of study, Francisco took courses on Higher Algebra, Inorganic Chemistry and Technical Drawing. He won a prize for his performance in Algebra. In his second year of study, he took the course on Differential and Integral Calculus, for which he was awarded a prize, and Organic Chemistry, Analytic Chemistry and Physics. In 1871, while still an undergraduate, he wrote Desenvolvimento das funções em fracção contínua.

In 1871-72 he took courses on Rational Mechanics, Descriptive Geometry and Physics.

Daniel Augusto da Silva, one of Francisco's lecturers and a full member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, encouraged him to submit some of his work to the Royal Academy of Sciences and, in 1872, Daniel presented Francisco's paper Aplicação das fracções continuas à determinação das raízes das equações to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. It was published in volume 4 of their journal and he became a corresponding member of the academy.

In 1872-73, he studied Practical Astronomy, Geodesy and Botany. In his final year, he studied Celestial Mechanics, Mathematical Physics and Mineralogy.

In 1874 he completed the course, obtaining the maximum grade of “Very Good by Unanimous Vote”, with 20 values (awarded for the first time). The following year he received his doctorate with the same score. Such a brilliant academic course would, naturally, lead him to a teaching career, and in 1876, at the age of 25, he entered the university`s staff as a substitute teacher.

After graduating with his first degree on the 21st of July 1874, with the highest possible grade, Francisco continued to undertake research at Coimbra and on the 8th of January 1875 he submitted his thesis Importância da observação do trânsito de Venus pelo disco do sol para a determinação da paralaxe solar. Apreciação dos diversos methodos de observação. On the 19th of June, he submitted his thesis Nota sobre o número das funções arbitrárias que entram no integral de uma equação às derivadas parciais.

On the 30th of June 1875 he defended his inaugural thesis Integração das equações à derivadas parciais de segunda ordem and his second thesis Theses de Mathematicas puras e aplicadas. The first thesis also won him the recognition of Edouard Gousat, the great mathematical writer of treaties of the time. Just over two weeks later, on the 18th of July, he graduated as a "Doctor of Mathematics" with the highest possible grade.

His work became better known internationally when he published Sobre o emprego dos eixos coordenados obliquos na Mecanica analytica (1876). Among the papers he published in the following few years we mention several in French, namely Sur la décomposition des fractions rationnels (1877), Sur le nombre des fonctions arbitraires des intégrales des équations aux dérivées partielles (1878), Sur les dérivées d'ordre quelconque (1880) and Sur les principes du calcul infinitésimal (1880).

In 1877, he founded the Jornal de Ciências Matemáticas e Astronómicas, which was published over a period of 28 years, until it was integrated in the Anais Scientificos da Academia Politécnica do Porto.

In 1878, he was nominated third astronomer of the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon, but he only held this position for approximately four months, returning to the University of Coimbra.

In 1879, Francisco was involved in politics and was elected deputy by the Regenerating Party, having participated in Parliamentary sessions in that year and again in 1883 and 1884. The Regenerator Party was a conservative, right wing party which had been formed in 1851 and was one of the two major political parties that held power in Portugal during the second half of the 19th century.

In 1880 he was appointed professor and one year later Francisco married Ana Arminda Cardoso, who was 17 years old. Ana, the only daughter of a trader, had been born in Oporto. He and Ana Teixeira had a son who was stillborn, and three daughters.

In 1884 he moved to the Polytechnic of Oporto, where he was admitted as a full professor in the Descriptive Geometry chair. In 1887, at the Academia Politécnica do Porto, he published the Curso de análise infinitesimal, Cálculo Diferencial (one volume), where he updated the teaching of mathematics in Portugal.

In 1889, he published the first volume of the Curso de Análise infinitesimal, Cálculo integral, and the second volume in 1892. In this work he sumed up the progress made by the analysis and introduced a new level of rigour in the presentation of mathematics.

In 1895, he submitted his work Sobre o desenvolvimento das funções em série to an open competition, promoted by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Madrid. The Academy awarded him a prize, albeit outside the competition, for having presented the text in Portuguese. In 1897, he competed once again for the prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Madrid with the work Tratado de las curvas especiales notables, tanto planas como alabeadas (Tratado das curvas especiais notáveis, tanto planas como torsas), having won the prize ex-aequo with Gino Loria (1862-1954). It is considered a classical work of great scientific and historic quality of international impact, having been re-edited in New York in 1971 and in Paris in 1995.

When Francisco moved to Oporto, the city had no university. The Polytechnic Academy, which had been founded in 1837, was one of a number of institutions which trained students. Up to 1910, Portugal was a constitutional monarchy but, following the 5th of October 1910 revolution, the Portuguese Republic was established. Soon after that, on the 22nd of March 1911, the University of Oporto was founded and incorporated some of the earlier educational institutions. Until 1911 Francisco was director of the Polytechnic, the year in which it became the Faculty of Sciences. That same year he was nominated rector (the first) of the recently created University of Oporto. He served in that role from 1911 to 1917. After his term as rector ended, he was made honorary rector. During these years as rector and honorary rector, he continued to teach mathematics in the Chair of Differential and Integral Calculus.

He was on good terms with some mathematicians of world renown at the time and published works in the scientific periodicals of several countries. He travelled frequently to other countries where he contacted other mathematicians and participated in congresses. He was a member of several national and international scientific societies and science academies.
Francisco had an amazing publication record, nearly 300 publications, as well as numerous papers.

After he retired from teaching at the University of Porto, Francisco embarked on his last major work, namely a history of mathematics in Portugal. This work, História das matemáticas em Portugal, only appeared in 1934, the year after he died.

Francisco received many honours. He was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Madrid and the University of Toulouse. He received the Binoux Prize for the History of Mathematics from the Academy of Sciences of Paris in 1917. There are streets and squares named for him in a number of towns: the Gomes Teixeira Square in Oporto; the Rua Professor Doutor Francisco Gomes Teixeira, Oporto; Rua Professor Doutor Francisco Gomes Teixeira in Carnaxide, Oeiras, Lisbon; and the Rua Francisco Gomes Teixeira in Setúbal. Some schools received also his name.

It is remarkable that Francisco developed scientific activity continuously and regularly from the years of his first youth to the end of his long life. He was a strenuous worker and an indefatigable hiker. His passion for writing never faded away, even when he got older. He also wrote books in Portuguese, Spanish and French. He was also passionate about literature and wrote: Panegíricos e Conferências (1925), Santuários de Montanha. Impressões de Viagem (1926), Apoteose de S. Francisco de Assis-sua vida e obra (1928), Uma Santa e uma Sábia (1930) and Santo António de Lisboa, história, tradição e lenda (1931).

He died in Oporto on the 8th of February 1933. Following his dead, Francisco was buried in a granite mausoleum inside the mother church of São Cosmado, his birthplace.

Who visit St. Cosmado easily notice a bronze bust which is in the square near the Mother Church. It is a replica of the bust that is in the University of Coimbra.

Rehabilitation of the house where Francisco Gomes Teixeira was born – a projet intended by the municipalty of Armamar

The sustainable development of inland regions is an essential condition to counter the demographic trends of depopulation and population aging. The desired fixation of the population with better living conditions can only be achieved with the identification and valorization of the potential of the territory and its resources, and with the definition of an integrated intervention plan, generating local dynamics, which value them in a sustainable way and that integrate and mobilize knowledge and scientific capital in the communities. Regarding the progressive, more interconnected and competitive world in which we live, in which research and technological knowledge are constantly expanding, it is urgent to develop cooperative strategies to link scientific and technological knowledge with different local agents, in order to promote and design educational opportunities and encourage scientific literacy in communities, regardless of their geographic location or socio-economic context.

With the objective of bringing science, technology and innovation closer to the daily life of the territory of Armamar, this pilot project of Francisco Gomes Teixeira’s Knowledge House intends to give life to the house where the prominent scientist was born and lived, in São Cosmado - council of Armamar. It was bought by the Municipality recently. This equipment will assume a particular importance in the territory, as the first aggregator and multiplier of knowledge open to society and with a strong active social role. It also intends to be a space for dialogue and democratization of knowledge, empowerment and curricular enrichment, which will promote access to innovative scientific and technological practices, but also which will promote scientific and technological education and culture, for the exercise of a full citizenship. This equipment will also support its work in close proximity to the various local and regional actors - municipality, school(s), civil society, companies, but also with universities and other national knowledge centers.

In order to achieve this purpose, a technical team will be created to design the project – define the valences and the way in which the space works; gather the author's documentary collection, promote initiatives for the community in general and for specific audiences with a view to the knowledge of mathematicians and science in a broad sense and in a previously defined schedule. It is also intended to develop a technological resource that can be used as a tool for exploring the knowledge of the life and work of Francisco Gomes Teixeira.

To finish, the municipality wants to create a temporary scientific residency for those who want to investigate more about the mathematician, get to know his work in the ambience of Francisco’s homevillage.  

Bibliography:

https://www.heyporto.com/en/gomes-teixeira-o-matematico-que-podia-ter-sido-padre/

http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/ciencia_eng/p27.html

GUIMARÃES, Rodolfo, Biografia de Francisco Gomes Teixeira, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional, 1914.

VILHENA, Henrique de, O Professor Doutor Francisco Gomes Teixeira (Elogio, Notas, Notas de Biografia, Bibliografia, Documentos), Lisboa, 1935.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Gomes_Teixeira

https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Teixeira/

Francisco Gomes Teixeira was a brilliant man at the time, a member or distinguished member of several national and foreign scientific associations, an icon that shoul be recognized again wordwide. 

This is the best way to value, preserve and publicize this unavoidable figure of the Portuguese intangible heritage. A 

Nowadays, people don't remember him as he deserves. And, therefore, the municipality took advantage of these opportunity to create value around this type of stories beyond borders. 

Through this initiative we hope all Europe start talking about Armamar and Fracisco Gomes Teixeira.