Luis Cruls
| Luíz Cruls | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Luis Cruls
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| Born |
21 January 1848 Diest, Belgium |
| Died | 21 June 1908 (aged 60) Paris, France |
| Residence | Brazil; Belgium |
| Nationality | Brazilian (naturalized) |
| Fields | Astronomy, Geography |
| Institutions | National Observatory (Brazil) |
| Alma mater | University of Ghent |
| Notable awards | Valz Prize |
Luíz Cruls or Luís Cruls or Louis Ferdinand Cruls (21 January 1848 – 21 June 1908) was a Belgian-born Brazilian astronomer and geodesist. He was Director of the Brazilian National Observatory from 1881 to 1908, led the commission charged with the survey and selection of a future site for the capital of Brazil in the Central Plateau, and was co-discoverer of the Great Comet of 1882. Cruls was also an active proponent of efforts to accurately measure solar parallax and towards that end led a Brazilian team in their observations of 1882 Transit of Venus in Punta Arenas, Chile.
Cruls was born in 1848 in Diest, Belgium, the son of Philippe Augustin Guillaume Cruls (a civil engineer) and Anne Elizabeth Jordens. From 1863 to 1868, Cruls studied civil engineering at the University of Ghent. In 1869 he undertook training as a military engineer and officer, graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant. Cruls served in the Belgian army, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant, until 1873 or 1874 (sources disagree).
Likely inspired by Brazilian friends at University (including Caetano de Almeida Furquim, a fellow engineer), Cruls resigned his commission and set out for Brazil on 5 September 1874. During the trans-Atlantic crossing on the steamer Orénoque, Cruls met and became friends with Joaquim Nabuco, a journalist and abolitionist, and also the son of Jose Thomas Nabuco, an influential Brazilian politician. Nabuco's connections were to provide Cruls with access to the highest levels of Brazilian society.
Within weeks after Cruls' arrival in Brazil, Joaquim Nabuco and his father arranged for him to be presented to Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, and more importantly, to meet Buarque de Macedo, the Director General of the Ministry of Public Works. This latter meeting led to Cruls being hired as an engineer by the Commission of the Empire General Charter (Comissão da Carta Geral do Império) in the Geodesy section.
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