This temporary exhibition, which will be on display from 28 September, 2018 to 3 March 2019, focuses on the life and work of Captain António Luciano Estácio dos Reis.
His incessant quest for knowledge, as he permanently questioned reality, resulted in the production of a solid cultural and scientific body of work. Commander Estácio dos Reis kept hoping that, unexpectedly, he might find the answers he was looking for in some 'lost ark'. He believed in serendipity, that is, in happy chance. However, the 'chances' in his work were the result of his perseverance, incessant questioning, and sensitivity.
While it is true that Commander Estácio dos Reis' military career was brilliant, earning him several commendations and decorations, it is no less true that his activity as a researcher and academic was dominated by an intense intellectual production of recognised scientific scope. Mathematical instruments, particularly nautical instruments, were at the centre of his studies. However, scales, time-measuring devices, such as clocks or chronometers, were other instruments that aroused the interest of this Commander, who dreamed that one day it would be possible to find the old ark where Pedro Nunes would have kept many of his remarkable mathematical works and scientific instruments.
Commander Estácio dos Reis was responsible for identifying the nonius kept at the Science Museum in Florence, Italy. It is the only nonius built according to the method developed by Pedro Nunes in the 16th century, adapted to a nautical quadrant. It is also worth mentioning his role in the arrival of two globes by William Jansz Bleau, from around 1645 and 1700, which have enriched the Maritime Museum's collections. We should also highlight his inventory and surveys of navigation instruments, his studies on instrument construction workshops in the 18th and 19th centuries, and his analysis of 15th- to 18th-century nautics.
His significant contribution to important discoveries related to the Portuguese scientific heritage makes his legacy one of the most important for naval culture and, in general, for the Portuguese Navy and for Portugal.