Miguel Couto

He was the son of Francisco de Oliveira Couto and Maria Rosa do Espírito Santo.

He was trained in medicine, and went on to teach the subject, gaining a reputation as one of the most noted clinicians in contemporary Brazil.

Even before the October 1930 Revolution, he had given a speech at the Brazilian Education Association on 2 July 1927, in which he presented a project on education, which was widely distributed in all normal schools and professional institutes of the then Federal Capital.

Subsequently, in November 1930, a decree by the Head of the Provisional Government of the Republic created a Ministry of Education and Public Health.

He succeeded Afonso Arinos in this chair and received into the Academy by Mário de Alencar on 2 June 1919.