Manuel Bento de Sousa OSE (5 December 1835 – 29 April 1899) was a Portuguese physician, anatomist, and noted polemicist writer.

A most prestigious clinician and surgeon in his day, his most important scientific works were conducted in the field of anatomophysiology: notably, in 1870, a purely intellectual inquiry led him to correctly postulate (though without scientific confirmation) the taste sensory component of the intermediate nerve of Wrisberg.

[1] This hypothesis was later confirmed by the findings of Carlos Tavares in 1883, leading to the description of the gustatory nerve of Sousa.

[2] In 1875–1876, Bento de Sousa served as President of the Lisbon Society of Medical Sciences.

[1] As a writer, he penned A Parvónia in 1868 (under the pseudonym "Marcos Pinto"), a satirical account of the vices of Lisbon society, and O Doutor Minerva in 1894, mocking the current teaching of the History of Portugal.