Francisco Ruiz Lozano (1607, Oruro, Alto Peru—1677, Mexico City) was a Peruvian soldier, astronomer, mathematician and educator.
Ruiz Lozano was born in Oruro (now in Bolivia). He studied with the Jesuits in Lima at the College of San Martin. It was here that he acquired his love of mathematics. He also studied hydrography, as a mathematical science. In 1651 he moved to Mexico City to continue his studies at the University of Mexico. In Mexico he also learned navigation, not only in theory, but also in practice. Together with his teacher, Fray Diego Rodriguez, he observed the Comet of 1652. They reported on it in Discurso ethereologico del nuevo cometa, visto en aqueste Hemisferio Mexicano; y generalmente en todo el mundo. Este ano de 1652, published that year in Mexico City.
He returned to Lima in 1655 in the party of the new viceroy, Luis Enriquez de Guzman, conde de Alba de Liste. Enriquez de Guzman had been viceroy of New Spain, and was now taking up his new position in Peru. He appointed Ruiz Lozano captain of Spanish infantry. Ruiz Lozano went to Concepcion, where he helped suppress an uprising of the Indigenous.
He served as the first director of the nautical school founded in 1657 in Lima, at the Hospital of Espiritu Santo, a sailors' hospital. The mission of the nautical school was "to form men skillful in the handling of ships for the defense of the viceroyalty." He was also cosmografo mayor of Peru. The duties of cosmografo mayor included publishing almanacs and sailing instructions. He served for several years as the director of the Hospital of Espiritu Santo, improving its building and its financial situation.
In 1658 he married Jacoba de la Cueva, a native of Lima. He was tutor to the sons of Viceroy Enriquez de Guzman and, together with Juan Ramon Koening, a tutor to the son of the viceroy who succeeded Enriquez de Guzman, Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva. He held the first university chair of mathematics in Peru.
In 1660 or 1661 he was in Portobello, Panama, where he acquired various kinds of merchandise and also Negro slaves, for resale in Lima. In 1662 he was in Panama City on similar business. Over his lifetime, he pursued mercantile affairs nearly everywhere in Spanish America — Panama, Cartagena de Indias, Acapulco, Valparaiso, Concepcion and Talcahuano.
Later, probably under the government of Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez, Count of Castellar (1674-1678), Ruiz Lozano was named general of the navy of the Southern Sea.
In 1665 in Lima he published Tratado de Cometas, observacion y juicio del que se vio en esta ciudad de los Reyes, y generalmente en todo el Mundo, por los fines del ano 1664 y principios de 1665 (Treatise on Comets, observation and judgment of what I saw in the City of Kings [Lima], and generally anywhere in the world, from the end of 1664 to the beginning of 1665). This report was the first publication of European astronomical observations in South America. The comet had first been observed on December 11, 1664.
He died in Mexico City, apparently on a commercial venture involving the trading of mercury.
References
- Mendiburu, Manuel de, Diccionario Historico Biografico del Peru. Lima: 1885.
- Ortiz Sotelo, Jorge, "Francisco Ruiz Lozano, general de la Mar del Sur, cosmografo mayor y primer catedratico de matematicas de Lima (1607 1677)" (in Spanish). The article is available on-line as a Microsoft Word document here:
External links
Other pages about Colonial Peru
-Alonzo de Alvarado -Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria -Ana de Castro -Andres Hurtado de Mendoza -Antonio de Mendoza -Antonio de Morga -Balconies of Lima -Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez -Battle of Sangarara -Bernardo de Iturriaza -Blasco Nunez Vela -Cabildo (council) -Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo -Cathedral of Lima -Comentarios Reales de los Incas -Convento de San Francisco -Cristobal Ramirez de Cartagena -Cristobal Vaca de Castro -Diego Ladron de Guevara -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon -Diego Nunez de Avendano -Diego Quispe Tito -Diego de Almagro -Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva -Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesia -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Francisco de Borja y Aragon -Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa -Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete -Government Palace (Peru) -Hans Heinrich Bruning Brookstedt -Hernando de Luque -Historic Centre of Lima -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Antonio de Mendoza -Jose de Armendariz -Juan Jimenez de Montalvo -Juan Pizarro II -Lima City Walls -Luis Jeronimo Fernandez de Cabrera -Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau -Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon -Melchor Bravo de Saravia -Melchor Linan y Cisneros -Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull -Miguel Nunez de Sanabria -Osambela House -Pedro Alvarez de Toledo y Leiva -Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro -Pedro Bohorquez -Pedro de la Gasca -San Telmo (ship) -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Torre Tagle Palace -Tupac Amaru II -Turibius of Mongrovejo -Viceroyalty of Peru
Other pages about Peruvian scientists
-Antonio Raimondi -Barton Zwiebach -Ernesto Bustamante -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Humberto Guerra Allison -Orlando Olcese -Pedro Paulet
Other pages about Peruvian soldiers
-Alfonso Ugarte -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Juan Fanning -Mariano Bustamante
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Francisco_Ruiz_Lozano
