Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
The Tale of a Polymath: The American Years of Jose Francisco Correa da Serra
The Tale of a Polymath: The American Years of Jose Francisco Correa da Serra
Page Range: 138 – 142
Jose Correa da Serra, the renowned Portugese botanist, geologist, and natural scientist, was reputed to be the "most intelligent man in the world". Following a tempestuous period in Europe he spent the years from 1812 to 1820 in the United States. He became a close friend of Thomas Jefferson, and was well known to Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. He served as the Portugese Minister to Washington, and is credited as the force behind the passage of the Neutrality Act (the "Monroe Doctrine") that is part of our philosophy and our law today.
Abilio, Fernandas, 1976, Jose Francisco Correa da Serra como Naturalista; Memorias da Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa, Tomo XVIII.
Agan, Joseph Eugene, 1925, Correa da Serra; The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XLIX, No. 1.
Carvalho, Augusto da Silva, 1948, O A bade Correia da Serra; Memorias da Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa, Tomo VI.
Davis, Richard Beale, 1955, The Abbe Correa in America, 1812-1820; The American Philosophical Society, Transactions (New Series) Vol. 45, Part 2.