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Biography
Manuel António Gomes (Santiago de Cendufe, Arcos de Valdevez, December 9th, 1868 – Viana do Castelo, December 21st, 1933) was a Portuguese Catholic priest, inventor and physicist. He was a very tall man, and was nicknamed "Father Himalaya" (in Portuguese: Padre Himalaya"), a name he proudly used frequently.
Father Himalaya was a pioneer in Portugal of the solar energy and other renewable energies use. He was also a vegetarian and was interested in naturopathy, particularly fitotherapy and hydrotherapy.
He studied in Paris with Marcellin Berthelot and developed mathematical and astronomical theories to build an innovative artefict to concentrate the solar radiation. Gomes is the creator of Pyreliophorus.
He also lived in the United States and Argentina between 1927 and 1932. In Argentina he wrote a book about cosmology, his inventions and his innovative views on several areas of science.