Honourable President of the Lisbon Academy of Science,
Honourable President of the Portuguese Academy of History,
Honourable President of the Naval Academy,
Honourable President of the Geographical Society,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In this my first visit to the Lisbon Academy of Science I wish to greet all its members, with special regard to its current officers.

I equally greet the Geographical Society, the Portuguese Academy of History and the Naval Academy all of which, jointly with the Academy of Science, organized the conference which is now commencing, commemorating the second centenary of the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil.

This Academy is one of oldest national institutions and has great prestige in the fields of science and culture.

Its members, throughout its existence of more than two centuries, included noted individualities in the various branches of knowledge.

Alexandre Herculano, Almeida Garrett, Avelar Brotero, Paulo Merêa, Egas Moniz, Vitorino Nemésio, Lindley Cintra, Celestino da Costa, and so many others of its members are names which History records with admiration and respect.

All of them increased the greatness of the common heritage, honoured the Academy and dignified our Country. We owe them our deepest recognition.

The role of the Academy of Science is not just, however, to be the deposit of past glories. As justified as our pride may be in the heritage left by scientists and men of letters, that heritage must also be a challenge and an incentive for our present actions and for the building of a better future.

The responsibility of this Academy in the issues of scientific and historical research, or even of study and dissemination of the language, culture and thought in its multiple expressions, continues existing today as it did on the day it was created.

On the one hand, the Portuguese language is now shared by seven independent States which have adopted it as their official language, thus creating a community of peoples who can avail themselves of a powerful instrument of approximation and of joint international projection.

The departure of the Royal Family to Brazil, which we are celebrating today and which was notably recalled in the lecture of Professor Oliveira Ramos, interprets well the bonds that, both in the past as in the present, bring together all those that consider the sharing of this language as the basis of a community of the future, whose cultural, political and even economic potential we must be aware how to better bring to our advantage.

On the other hand, the pioneering instinct of the founders of the Academy, following which the progress of nations lies in knowledge and in the free discussion of ideas, is patent in what these days is known as the “society of knowledge”, that includes challenges on which we must not dare turn our backs.

In the global world in which we live, where scientific production transcends territorial borders, we must recall and imitate the cosmopolitanism of Abbee Correia da Serra, that man of science and of action, who so many services rendered to Portugal when in foreign parts, and who was the true genus of this Academy.

Due to his vocation, his history and the prominence for which he is recognized, the Academy of Science has still an important role to accomplish in the promotion and strengthening of the national scientific community.

As an Institution where experts in differing areas come together, and where a class of Science and a class of Literature coexist, the Academy can also contribute towards the dialogue between the various types of knowledge and nurture an intellectual environment of truly universal humanism.

In addition, the Academy, through the privileged relations it holds with its fellow institutions, can strengthen the internationalization of the national research centres, aiding their insertion in the networks where knowledge is produced and circulated in the contemporary world.

I am certain that the Academy of Science will continue to fully achieve the tasks of its calling and which are of great public interest.

I am certain that the dedication and the clairvoyance of its current members will continue to honour the historic role of this House and to provide the Country with its invaluable contribution.

Thank you.