You are standing before a monument dedicated to Jorge Juan y Santacilia, a figure known in his time as the Spanish savant. While he was a high-ranking naval officer, his most lasting contributions were scientific. As a young man, he played a critical role in an eighteenth-century expedition that measured the Earth and proved that the planet is flattened at the poles. His skills as a mathematician were so advanced that his peers at the naval academy nicknamed him Euclid. Beyond his calculations, he operated as a secret agent for the Spanish crown. He once traveled to London under the alias Mister Josues to study British naval shipbuilding techniques, even gaining election to the Royal Society before being forced to flee when his espionage was discovered. The monument here serves as a reminder of his double life as both a dedicated scholar and a clandestine operative for the state.
Monumento a Jorge Juan y Santacilia
historic
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