Andrés del Río, Antonio del Castillo and José G. Aguilera and the development of Mexican Science in the XIXth century

Abstract

This article analyzes the intrinsic relation between education and science in the process of institutionalization of mineralogy and geology in nineteenth-century Mexico. It focuses on the intellectual leadership of three men of sciences in the modernization and professionalization of geology’s curricula. These were: Andrés Manuel del Río, Antonio del Castillo y José G. Aguilera. The work of these men represents the human foundation of the process of institutionalization and professionalization of Earth Sciences in Mexico: from the Royal Mining Seminar, to the Mining School and the National School of Engineering, to the National Institute of Geology, the latter the immediate antecedent of the modern Institute of Geology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).