Jorge Juan y Santacilia

Jorge Juan y Santacilia (1713–1773) was a Spanish naval officer, mathematician and astronomer, nicknamed the Spanish savant. He joined the French Geodesic Mission to the Equator in 1735, travelling Peru with Antonio de Ulloa; their measurements confirmed that the Earth flattens at the poles.

Back in Spain from 1746, he studied English shipbuilding in London and went on to reform Spanish naval construction and education. He later served as ambassador to Morocco and director of the Seminary of Nobles in Madrid, where he died in 1773.