ALGUÉ, JOSÉ. - Spanish Jesuit and scientist, b. at Manresa on 18 Dec. 1856, d. at Roquetas (Spain) on 27 May 1930. Having completed his ecclesiastical studies and received the priesthood (1888), he was assigned to the Observatory of Manila, then in full development, after its recognition by the Spanish government as the central meteorological office of the Philippines. Having secured a solid technical preparation in Europe and America, A. landed at Manila in 1894; three years later, on the death of Fr. Faura, he became director of the observatory and remained so until 1924, representing it at several international congresses, exhibitions and expeditions. After the American conquest of 1898, he was able to have the merits of the institution recognized by the new authorities, especially for the signaling of cyclones, and it became the center of the official network of the "Weather Bureau."
Fr. A. directed the publication, at the expense of the government of the United States, of the powerful collection of scientific data on the Philippines, compiled by the Jesuits of the Observatory: El Archipiélago Filipino, Colección de datos geográficos..., 2 vols., Washington 1900, as well as an Atlas de Filipinos. Among his other writings, the principal one is Bagulos y ciclones Filipinos, Manila 1897, later reworked in English as The cyclones of the Far East, 1904, and translated into various languages (Die Orkane des Fernen Ostens, by Bergholz, Bremen 1900, is a plagiarism of it). Fr. A. invented a zenithal reflection lunette for calculating variations in latitude, but better known was his "barocyclonometer," an aneroid barometer completed with graduated circles for calculating the distance and direction of cyclones; the instrument was universally used by the sailors of those seas, but is now replaced by radiotelegraphic reports.
Bibliography3 works
Edmondo Lamalle