António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches (7 March 1699, – 14 October 1783) was an 18th-century Portuguese physician, philosopher and encyclopédiste. He was a '' cristão novo'' of Jewish descent, probably a practising Jew. He studied at the universities of

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

. He fled Portugal after being targeted by the Inquisition. Sanches moved to London. He then went to Leyden University where he completed his formation under the direction of Herman Boerhaave. He subsequently worked as a physician in various European countries. He was among the three physicians that empress

Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

asked the latter to recommend to her in 1731. Appointed doctor of the Russian army, he distinguished himself before becoming a court physician. After more than 15 years of stay in Russia, he left the country in 1748 after empress Elizabeth Petrowna had denounced two of his doctor colleagues as Jews. Having had the chance, amid the daily proscriptions which he witnessed to be allowed to leave the country, he took the way to Paris in 1748 where he ended his life. After she ascended to the throne,

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

rewarded him for his services with a pension of 1000 rubles, which was punctually paid until his death. His extensive library was by the empress. He gave the article "" ("smallpox") to the ''

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' by

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

and

D'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopé ...

. He was the first to acquaint western physicians with the effects of Russian steam baths. was considered an "''

Estrangeirado ''Estrangeirados'' () were, in the history of Portugal, Portuguese intellectuals who, in the late 17th century and particularly in the 18th century, strove to introduce the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, as well as other ...

''", a Portuguese that has been influenced greatly by foreign ideas. He was a critic of the nobility, clerical privileges and slavery.

Works

* 1726: ''Discurso Sobre as Águas de Penha Garcia.'' * 1751: ''A Dissertation on the Venereal Disease.'' * 1752: ''Dissertation sur le origine de la maladie vénérienne'', Paris * 1756: ''Tratado da Conservação da Saúde dos Povos.'' * 1760: ''Cartas sobre a Educação da Mocidade.'' * 1763: ''Método para Aprender e Estudar a Medicina.'' * 1771: ''Les bains des vapeurs russe'' * 1774: ''Examen historique sur l´apparition de la maladie vénérienne'' (Paris) * 1779: ''Mémoire sur les Bains de Vapeur en Russie.''.

Bibliography

* Georges Dulac, ''Science et politique : les réseaux du Dr António Ribeiro Sanches'', ''Cahiers du Monde russe'' (ISSN 1252-6576), 2002, 43/2-3, (p. 251–274)
Read online
. * Hugh James Rose, ''A New General Biographical Dictionary'', t. 11, Londres, B. Fellowes, 1857, (p. 443). * José Luis Doria
''Antonio Ribeiro Sanches. A Portuguese doctor in 18th century Europe.''
(PDF; 320 kB) Antonio Ribeiro Sanches, Vesalius, VII, 1, 27 - 35, 2001. * Erwin Ackerknecht: Boerhaave Schüler als Medizinalpolitiker, in Erna Lesky, Adam Wandruszka (Hrsg.) Gerard van Swieten und seine Zeit, Böhlau 1973, (p. 122).

External links

New Christians and Old Christians in Portugal, written by Ribeiro Sanches in 1748

João Nabais: Ribeiro Sanches - Tal como Amato um Mèdico do Mundo
pdf, 60-73 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanches, Antonio Nunes Ribeiro 1699 births 1783 deaths Portuguese Jews People from Penamacor 18th-century Portuguese physicians Portuguese medical writers University of Salamanca alumni Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) Members of the French Academy of Sciences Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Immigrants to the Russian Empire Jewish scientists from the Russian Empire