Sara Cabral Ferreira, the Winepunk Science Illustrator

Sara Cabral Ferreira was hired on January 15, 1919 by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (future Royal University of Porto) as a artist allocated to “the biological sciences section”.  When the Civil War broke out between the Northern Monarchy and the Portuguese Republic with its capital in Lisbon, Sara Cabral Ferreira was drafted to the team at the Real Universidade do Porto that carried out the botanical and agricultural survey of the changes introduced in the vines to increase bioethanol production. One of the works that survived from that time, the “Iconography of Durian Vineyards in Time of War”, is profusely illustrated and testifies to Sara Cabral Ferreira’s talent for visually communicating nature and science. Currently, this copy is located in a reserved section of the Mafra Library, and can only be accessed in person and with authorization. However, there is no record of anyone having been authorized since 1946. This fact has been the subject of many theories, mainly conspiracy theories.