Fernando B Figueiredo holds a PhD (2011) in Applied Mathematics from Coimbra University. His research interests are the history of astronomy and mathematics, history of instruments and science in the Enlightenment and Empire. More recently his interests have turned to the nineteenth-century observatory and physical-mathematical sciences (astronomy, geodesy, meteorology, geomagnetism and seismology). He was PI of the research HISTIGUC project financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): 150 years of the scientific activity of the Geophysical Institute of the University of Coimbra: history and heritage of the earth and environment sciences in Portugal