El ilustrado Pellizer: ¿Un científico irracional, un lingüista célebre?

Originally from Jatiel, a village in the Spanish province of Teruel, José Manuel Pellicer García joined the Hispanic-Anglosphere through migration in the 1780s-1800s, a period of great of academic activity. A clergyman who stood out for his abilities to access political and academic power (ex. Benjamin Franklin, the Count of Aranda, Joseph Lalande, the Count of Mirabeau), he made use of practical knowledge to publish numerous scientific proposals —all of them rejected by academic institutions. In Paris and London, he was part of the circle of the Spanish embassy, giving him access to the first secretaries of state, from Floridablanca to Mariano Luis de Urquijo. This article reconstructs a part of his life, focusing on his scientific controversies and his contributions to the field of humanities. The biography reflects the great transformations that took place during those decades in Europe, as well as changes in the balance of power, particularly in relation to the Church that Pellizer defended at a time that it was losing part of its influence in the court, in science and in education.