From 1817 he worked in Paris as a translator and private instructor. Between 1822 and 1826, he worked for the military of the recently independent republic of Gran Colombia as a cartographer, founder of schools, founder of a museum, and director of an observatory. Back in Paris, he lectured at a school of geography and collaborated with watchmaker Breguet. He died in 1839 in Paris. References Lanz, José Maria de, presented in German by "Digitale Mechanismen- und Getriebebibliothek" "José María Lanz y Zaldívar (1764-1839)", chapter by Carlos S. López Cajún in Distinguished Figures in Mechanism and Machine Science, (2010), pages 111-121; this is volume 7 of the series "History of mechanism and machine science", Springer Verlag, information from the publisher, External links The German "Digitale Mechanismen- und Getriebebibliothek" has digitized: Essai sur la composition des machines (2nd ed. 1819) metadata, fulltext viewer Versuch über die Zusammensetzung der Maschinen (1829) metadata, fulltext viewer Spanish engineers Mexican engineers 1764 births 1839 deaths People from Campeche City