| Authorised form of name | Mendoza y Rios; Joseph (? 1762 - 1816); astronomer and mathematician |
| Dates | ? 1762 - 1816 |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Place of birth | Parish of St Vincent, Seville, Spain |
| Date of birth | 15 September 1762, 1763 or 1764 |
| Place of death | Brighton, Sussex, England |
| Date of death | 2 or 4 March 1816 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial: Church of St Nicholas, Brighton, England. |
| Occupation | astronomer and mathematician |
| Research field | Astronomy |
| Navigation |
| Mathematics |
| Nautical astronomy |
| Activity | Education: Royal College of Nobles, Madrid, Spain.
Career:
Entered the Royal Navy as Frigate Ensign (1776), promoted until rank of Commodore (1794); served on the warship 'Oriente'; sailed on the 'Santa Ines' when it was captured by English privateers (1779); imprisoned for a year in Cork, Ireland; returned to Cadiz (1780); commanded merchant ship 'Rosario' (1782); aide-de-Camp to the Douke of Crillon; assistant harbour master, Cadiz; sent on a mission abroad to collect maps and other works to form a library for the Navy (1789); on his return was cashiered without pay, rank or uniform (1800); settled in England; invented astronomical and nautical instruments; persecution by the Spanish government, and domestic troubles, led him to hang himself. |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 11/04/1793 |
| Proposer | Henry Cavendish; Nevil Maskelyne; Alexander Dalrymple; Alexander Aubert; William Wales; William Marsden; James Watt; Henry Charles Englefield; Jesse Ramsden; Charles Rainsford; James Rennell |
| RSActivity | Commissioned the portrait of Joseph Banks (FRS 1766) by Thomas Phillips in 1807, in which a copy of Mendoza Rios's paper is depicted. |
| Relationships | Parents: Don Joseph de Mendoza, a noble of Seville and Doña Maria Romana de Morillo.
Spouse: Anna Maria Parker (8 November 1798).
Children: Francisca and Anna Fermina (1800–1857). |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 21999
RCN 55209
RCN 55211 |
| OtherInfo | Known for his tables which facilitated the calculations of nautical astronomy.
Published on the science and technique of navigation.
Improved the reflecting circle, a nautical instrument.
Mendoza Cove, Antarctica is named in his honour. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Hampshire Chronicle, Monday 11 August 1817; Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, Tuesday 12 August 1817; Morning Chronicle, Monday 11 March 1816, London, England, Issue 14619
Notes:
BR gives birth date as 1763; DNB gives 15 September 1762 or 15 September 1764. Index to BR gives 1816 as an alternative death date. DNB gives 4 March as death date. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/49428361 |
| Code | NA7288 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1793/01 | Mendoza y Rios, Joseph: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MM/8/46 | Letter from Mortlock, Surrey Place, to Joseph de Mendoza RIos | 11 March 1803 |
| MM/8/75 | Letter from Jose de Mendoza Rios, Foley Street, to Sir Joseph Banks | 3 March 1814 |
| MM/8/31 | Letter from Joseph de Mandoza Rios, Paddington, to Sir Joseph Banks | 2 June 1801 |
| MM/8/80 | Letter from Jose de Mendoza Rios, Buckingham Place, to John Pond | 18 December 1815 |
| MM/8/76 | 'Comparitive Analysis of Jose de Mendoza Rios's method for reducing the lunar distances...' | c.1814 |
| CB/1/5/17 | Letter from J Mendoza y Rios, Brighton to Charles Blagden, Paris | 5 January 1815 |
| IM/003066 | Mendoza y Rios, Joseph | |
| L&P/11/163 | Paper, 'On an improved reflecting circle' by Joseph de Mendoza y Rios | 1801 |
| L&P/11/15 | Paper, 'Reserches sur les principaux problems de l'astronomie nautique [Research on the main problems of nautical astronomy]' by Joseph Mendoza y Rios | 27 November 1796 |
| L&P/12/126 | Paper, 'A new practise of the multiplying circle' by Joseph de Mendoza Rios | 7 February 1806 |
| MM/8/74 | Letter from Jose de Mendoza Rios, Foley Street, to Sir Joseph Banks | 26 February 1814 |
| MM/8/72 | Letter from Jose de Mendoza Rios, Brighton, to Sir Joseph Banks | 24 November 1813 |
| MM/8/71 | Letter from Jose de Mendoza Rios, Foley Street, to Sir Joseph Banks | 16 October 1813 |
| MM/8/39 | Report of a committee of the Board of Longitude, into assisting Mendoza Rios publish tables facilitating the practice of astronomy at sea | c.1803 |
| MM/8/40 | Copies and extracts of letters from Joseph de Mendoza Rios to Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal, on the topic of the publication of Mendoza Rios's tables to aid navigation at sea | 1802-1803 |
| MM/8/73 | Note by Joseph Banks about Mendoza Rios and his method of calculations | c.1813 |
| MC/1/57 | Letter from T. Phillips, 8 George Street, to William Thomas Brande, Secretary of the Royal Society | 3 June 1818 |
| PT/6/16 | Paper, English translation of 'Observations on the measurement of three degrees of the meridian conducted in England by Major William Mudge' by Don Joseph Rodriguez | [1812] |
| MC/1 | Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1800-1831 |
| PT/6/17 | Paper, 'Memoire sur la mesure de trois degres du meridien terrestre; execute en Angleterre par le Major William Mudge' by Don Joseph Rodriguez | March 1812 |