Josef de Mendoza y Ríos

Josef de Mendoza y Ríos, also written José or Joseph, was a Spanish astronomer and mathematician of the eighteenth century, born in 1761 and dead in 1816, famous for his work on navigation. His first work, in 1787, was a two-volume treatise on the science and technique of navigation, and he published tables that made nautical astronomy easier, including tables using the haversine method of his own invention, for finding a ship's latitude from two altitudes of the sun and its longitude from lunar distances. He improved the reflecting circle of Borda, proposed the maritime library at Cádiz that became the Depósito Hidrográfico of the navy, and was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1816.