Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel

Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel y Vandewalle (September 6, 1732 – January 15, 1795) was a Spanish Navy officer, navigator and cosmographer.

[1] He studied experimental physics and then joined the army, which he subsequently left.

In 1755 Jorge Juan asked Tofiño to join the faculty of the Academy of Marines at Cádiz (Academia de Guardia Marinas de Cádiz) as a mathematics instructor, while also allowing Tofiño to join the Armada as a second lieutenant (alférez de navío).

He planned the initial construction, and worked at, the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Armada (Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada) of the Company of Marines, publishing observations with great scientific skill, like the transit of Venus by the Sun, taking advantage of an eclipse on 3 June 1796.

Tofino Inlet, from which the town of Tofino got its name, was named in 1792 by the Spanish explorers Galiano and Valdés, in honor of Admiral Tofiño, under whom Galiano had learned cartography.