Humberto Duarte Fonseca

Humberto Fonseca was born in Mindelo, São Vicente. He was one of the seven sons of Torquato Gomes Fonseca and Leopoldina Duarte Fonseca. Having completed his high school studies, he was invited to teach at the Gil Eanes Lyceum in São Vicente for a number of years, and then entered the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, where he obtained three bachelor's degrees, all with top marks and distinction: Mathematics, Geophysics and Geographical Engineering. Despite his excellent qualifications, the attempt to start an academic career after graduating in 1946 was frustrated, due to the fact that his name was vetoed by political issues, as a result of his activities as leader of the student organization "Casa dos Estudantes do Império".

He was married to Maria Adélia de Barros Fonseca, with whom he had three children, Ana Maria de Barros Duarte Fonseca, José Pedro de Barros Duarte Fonseca and João Filipe de Barros Duarte Fonseca.

In 1948 he joined the National Meteorological Service and was placed, two years later, in his hometown, Mindelo, where he directed the local Meteorological Observatory. Other deployments took him to Angola, the Island of Sal in Cape Verde and Lisbon. He was a scholarship holder for the Overseas Research Board and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He was Head of the Meteorological Service of Cape Verde, Sub-Director of the Meteorological Service of Angola, Director of the Service of Geophysics of the National Institute of Meteorology and Portuguese Geophysics.

He held, among others, the following functions: President of the Academic Association of the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon and the "House of Students of the Empire", Head of the scientific expedition to Iona, in Angola, and member of the scientific expedition to the eruption of the Volcano of Fire, in Cape Verde, Delegate of Portugal in International Meteorological Commissions, President of the Portuguese Association of Creativity, Director of Revista Inventiva, Member of the International Jury of the International Exhibition of Inventions and New Techniques in Geneva, Switzerland, Guest Member of the International Jury of the International Exhibition of Inventions in Brussels and President of the International Jury of the World Exhibition of Inventions and Industrial Research in Brussels.

In addition to his professional career, Humberto Fonseca developed considerable activity in innovation, inventive activity, research and creativity in Angola and Portugal, having registered more than a dozen patents that earned him several and outstanding international awards. In 1970 he founded the Portuguese Creativity Association, which promoted the participation of inventors in international competitions. He was elected a member of the Jury of the Geneva International Inventors Fair, President of the International Jury of the World Exhibition of Inventions and Industrial Research in Brussels, and was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Brussels for his achievements and support to inventors. He was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of the city of Lisbon. On the tenth anniversary of his death, a Seminar was held in Cape Verde dedicated to his life and work and was honoured by the Mindelo City Hall, having been given his name to a street and a school in his hometown. From his research, he devoted special attention to the environmental problems of the Cape Verde Islands, raising scientific issues far ahead of his time, in the field of wind and wave energy.

In 2006 the Atmospheric Observatory of Cape Verde was created in Cape Verde: Humberto Duarte Fonseca in a bilateral initiative of Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2011, the Order of Engineers of Cape Verde made a posthumous tribute with the exhibition of a film about his life and work. He died in Lisbon in 1983.