Comets, Colonies, and Bequests: The Instrumentalism of Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora

Marcelo Aranda

This paper studies Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora’s use and bequest of mathematical and optical instruments in New Spain from c.1680 until his death in 1700.  Sigüenza, a professor of mathematics and Royal Cosmographer, used these instruments to establish his authority and credibility as a natural philosopher in two distinct disputes, and towards the end of his life he bequeathed them to the Jesuit College in Mexico City. By analyzing his work on comets (the Libra Astronomica), his response to Admiral Andres de Arriola’s attack on his survey of Pensacola Bay and his last will and testament, this paper will show the strategies used by Sigüenza to establish matters of fact.  Beyond the particularity of his status as a creole scientist born and trained in a colony, Sigüenza was also significant due to his participation in the international Catholic scientific community and his interest in the new scientific empiricism developing in Italy, France and England. As a result, Sigüenza is a useful example of how a late seventeenth-century natural philosopher could integrate different scientific methodologies in his own work.

[WP #0901]