Anastasio Alfaro
Anastasio Alfaro (born February 16, 1865 in Alajuela , Costa Rica , † January 20, 1951 ibid) was a Costa Rican museum director, archaeologist, geologist, ethnologist and zoologist.
Live and act
Alfaro comes from a family of wealthy landowners. At a young age he lost his mother. Both in elementary school and in the Instituto de Alajuela, Alfaro was considered an excellent student. Since childhood he has collected birds, insects, minerals and plants. One of his professors, Léon Fernández, motivated him to turn to natural history and historical research. He first studied at the Instituto Nacional in San José and in 1883 obtained his Bachelor of Arts at the Universidad de Santo Tomás. He then graduated as a doctor of law . Although he did an internship, he later never worked as a lawyer.
In 1885 he sent a petition to the Costa Rican President Bernardo Soto Alfaro , asking them to found a national museum. He later traveled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC to discuss the best way to flesh out his idea. Under the influence of Henri Pittier and with the support of Alfaro's mentor José Zeledón (1846–1923), the National Museum of Costa Rica was founded in May 1887 and Alfaro was appointed its first director. He held this position until 1930, with the exception of 1917 and 1918, when he was a secretary in the Ministry of Education.
Although Alfaro had studied science, he was primarily self-taught. In 1888 he translated excerpts from William Botting Hemsley 's Biologia Centrali-Americana into Spanish, thus compiling the first extensive inventory of Costa Rican flora, which in 2018 included species of seed plants and ferns . In June 1898 he went on an expedition to the Galapagos Islands with Pittier . At the end of the 19th century he discovered the Guayabo National Monument , an important cultural monument in Costa Rica.
Dedication names
After Alfaro the species of fish are Cribroheros Alfari (formerly "Cichlasoma" Alfari ), the ant Cephalotes alfaroi that mammals handleyomys alfaroi , Microsciurus Alfari and Sigmodontomys Alfari , the salamander Oedipina alfaroi , the hummingbird Saucerottia [= Amazilia] alfaroana (currently used as a synonym of Blaukappenamazilie ( Amazilia cyanifrons ) as well as the subspecies Habia rubica alfaroana of the carmine ant tangar . The anolis species Anolis alforoi , on the other hand, is named after the Cuban herpetologist Emilio Alfaro.
Fonts (selection)
- Lista de las plantasounteras hasta ahora en Costa Rica (1888)
- Entología centro-americana (1892)
- Catálogo de las antigüedades de Costa Rica exhibidas (1892)
- Antigüedades de Costa Rica (1896)
- Arqueología Criminal Americana (1906)
- Buenas construcciones (1911)
- Investigaciones Científicas (1935)
- El Delfín de Corubicí (1923)
- Petaquilla (1917)
literature
- Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2009, ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9 , p. 7
- BE Hammel, MH Grayum, C. Herrera, N. Zamora: Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica, Volume I. (= Monographes in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden Vol. 97), 2004. ISSN 0161-1542 . Pp. 7-9
Web links
- Short biography at the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish)
- Biographical entry at Editorial Costa Rica (Spanish)
- Biographical entry at Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICIT) (Spanish)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alfaro, Anastasio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Costa Rican museum director, archaeologist, geologist, ethnologist, zoologist and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Alajuela , Costa Rica |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 20, 1951 |
| Place of death | Alajuela , Costa Rica |