sentences:  Dias was one of five children born to Manuel Francisco Dias and Escolastica Fernandes e Dias in St Estevam an island in Goa, India.The humble circumstances of his childhood are often mentioned in later accounts of his achievements.His brother João Vicente Santana Dias, a Major in the Portuguese Army, is credited with helping him enrol at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon where he graduated with distinction in 1882.