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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Vitorino Teixeira Laranjeira

Vitorino Teixeira Laranjeira 1855-1934 Mathematician, military, engineer and teacher

Vitorino Teixeira Laranjeira, son of João Teixeira Laranjeira and Maria do Sacramento, was born in the parish of S. Gonçalo, in Amarante, on 21 March 1855.

A Bachelor of Mathematics by the University of Coimbra and lieutenant-engineer trained at the Army School of Lisbon, he graduated in Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, in 1927.

He was a professor at the Industrial Institute of Porto (predecessor of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto), at the Polytechnic Academy of Porto, of the Technical Faculty and of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.
On 7 April 1887 he was appointed substitute lecturer of the Department of mathematics of the Polytechnic Academy, following the submission of the dissertation "O Impulso das Terras". He took up office on 29 June. In that same year, he became permanent lecturer of the 14th chair - "Construções e vias de comunicação" -, by decree of 18 August, and royal charter of 22 September.

When the University of Porto was established, he moved to the Technical Faculty and from here to the Faculty of Engineering. He took up office in 1915 as ordinary professor and in the following year he directed the Technical Faculty, by decree of 27 January. In 1925, when he reached the age limit, he was allowed to continue to teach. He taught for 42 years, between 1887 and 1929, and received a commendation from the Portuguese government in 1929 and the title of honorary director of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Throughout his university teaching career, he was vice-rector of the University of Porto and member of the Academic Board.

Vitorino Laranjeira joined a “regret motion” put forward by the University of Porto for the murder of Sidónio Pais in 1918.

He sponsored the doctorate in Engineering of Admiral Gago Coutinho (1869-1959) and of Frigate Captain Sacadura Cabral (1880-1924). These academic acts were held in the grand Hall of the Technical Faculty on 6 December 1922.

On 2 December 1926, he gave a speech at the inauguration ceremony of the monument to Júlio Dinis, erected in the gardens facing Hospital de Santo António. . He also gave a speech at the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Polytechnic Academy of Porto, on 16 March 1927, an event which was marked by the launching of the first stone of the Faculty of Engineering building in Rua dos Bragas.

Vitorino Laranjeira was a member of the High Council of Public Education and of the Geodesic Committee. As City Councillor of Porto, he was responsible for the Department of Construction Works, being responsible for the Avenida dos Aliados project, designed by architect and English urban planner Barry Parker (1867-1947). He directed the study and construction programme of the Pocinho-Barca D’Alva Douro railway section. He also held leading positions in the Docks Company and Peninsular Railway Company, and chaired the Tobacco Cultivation Committee, in Douro.

He authored literary and scientific works, such as "Resumo da História da Arquitectura (1892-1895)", "A propósito do Raio Mínimo de Um Arco de Parábola Compreendido entre duas Tangentes" (1900) and "Duas construções geométricas muito simples para a determinação do menor raio de curvatura da parábola compreendido entre os pontos de tangencia de dois alinhamentos rectos" (1927). He received several awards in recognition of his scientific contributions.

Vitorino Laranjeira died on 13 February 1934, in Casa da Acentuada, nearby Amarante, just before he turned 79 years of age.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2012)