Rodríguez González “o Matemático de Bermés” e o Bureau des Longitudes de París

• Autores: María Carmen Villanueva Pérez, J. A. Docobo Durántez
• Localización: Descubrindo: Anuario de estudios e investigación de Deza, ISSN 1139-7527, Nº. 17, 2024, págs. 289-319
• Idioma: gallego
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• Resumen
  • galego

    Sendo xa catedrático de Matemáticas, na Universidade de Santiago, José Rodríguez González trasladouse a París onde estudou matemáticas no Colexio de Francia e astronomía no Observatorio de París, dependente do Bureau des Longitudes, organismo que se ocupaba de mellorar a navegación, a xeodesia e a observación astronómica.

    Os amplos coñecementos adquiridos fixeron que o Goberno español o comisionara para participar na expedición francesa na que se completou ata Baleares a medida do arco do meridiano Dunkerque-París-Barcelona.

    Estes traballos, cuxa finalidade era calcular coa maior exactitude posible a lonxitude do metro, e mesmo a forma da Terra, foron asumidos polo Bureau.

    Dende outubro de 1806 ata maio de 1808, cando os traballos se interromperon pola Guerra da Independencia, Rodríguez estivo na costa mediterránea española e nas illas Baleares cos seus compañeiros de expedición.

    Dirixiu as operacións Jean-Baptiste Biot, quen con 32 anos era xa un astrónomo e físico de prestixio, e o seu segundo, François Arago, de apenas vinte, daba inicio a unha brillante carreira científica.

    Unha carta localizada nos Arquivos Nacionais de Francia que lle remitiu ao matemático Alexis Bouvard o 19 de outubro de 1806, ao pouco de chegar a Valencia para dar comezo aos traballos, revelounos algún aspecto destes e o seu estreito vínculo co que fora o seu mestre en Francia.

    Sete alusións a Rodríguez localizadas nos arquivos dixitais do Bureau des Longitudes comprendidas entre 1810 y 1822, mostráronnos tamén que estivo vinculado coa institución e algún dos seus membros ata, polo menos, dous anos antes do seu falecemento.

    O Bureau foi primordial na formación científica e nas actividades posteriores que José Rodríguez levou a cabo. Ademais, varios dos seus membros non so foron profesores ou colegas seus, senón tamén amigos cos que todo fai pensar que mantivo unha estreita relación.

  • English

    When he was already a professor of Mathematics at the University of Santiago, José Rodríguez González moved to Paris where he studied mathematics at the College of France and astronomy at the Paris Observatory, which depended on the Bureau des Longitudes, an organisation that was responsible for improving navigation, geodesy and astronomical observation.

    The wide knowledge acquired, made that the Spanish Government commissioned him to participate in the French expedition in which the measurement of the Dunkerque- Paris- Barcelona meridian arc was extended to the Balearic Islands. The work, carried out to determine as accurately as possible the length of the meter, as well as the shape of the Earth, was entrusted to the Bureau.

    From October 1806 to May 1808, when they were suspended due to the beginning of the War of Independence, Rodriguez remained on the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands with his expedition companions. Jean-Baptiste Biot, who at the age of 32 was a prestigious astronomer and physicist, directed the operations; his second François Arago, barely twenty years old, was beginning a brilliant scientific career.

    A letter, located in the National Archives of France, which he wrote to the mathematician Alexis Bouvard on October 19, 1806, having just arrived in Valencia to begin his work, has revealed some aspects of his work and his close relationship with his teacher.

    Seven references to Rodriguez located in the digital archives of the Bureau de Longitudes between 1810 and 1822, have also shown us that he was linked to that institution and some of its members until at least two years before his death.

    The Bureau was absolutely determinant in the scientific formation and later activities that José Rodríguez carried out. In addition, several of its members were not only professors or colleagues of his, but also friends with whom everything leads us to believe that he maintained a close relationship.