GUSMAO, Bartholomeu Lourenco de (1685-1724) Brazilian mathematician, priest, aviation
pioneer, naturalist and aeronaut. Born in Santos, province of Sao Paulo, Brazil
in December of 1685, he began his novitiate in the Society of Jesus at Bahia at
the age of fifteen. However, he left the Order in 17O1. He went to Portugal to
study at the University of Coimbra, where he devoted
himself principally to the study of philology and mathematics. He received the
title of Doctor of Canon Law. He petitioned King
John V Portugal for the privilege of demonstrating an airship which he had
invented. His machine, which in the main represented the principle of the kite,
was similar to an earlier design of Leonardo
da Vinci. King John V named him to a professorship at the University of Coimbra
and made him a canon. Bartholomeu Lourenco de Gusmao was one of fifty members
who were selected for the Academica Real da Historia (Royal Academy of History)
in 1720. He spent the last years of his life experimenting with balloons and other
aeronautical devices. He had trouble with the Inquisition and he was imprisoned
for sorcery, but he escaped and fled to Spain. He died in Toledo, Spain on November
19, 1724
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