Ovidio Rebaudi

Ovidio Rebaudi

Ovidio Rebaudi ( December 31, 1860 in Asunción - October 17, 1931 in Buenos Aires ) was a Paraguayan chemist , writer and occultist . He is the first to describe the sweeteners from stevia , including Rebaudioside A .

Life

Rebaudi came from one of the most famous and wealthy families in Asunción. At the age of eleven he was sent to Italy to study with his two brothers at the Real Collegio Carlo Alberto . From 1876 he studied chemistry at the Università di Pisa . In 1882 he moved to Buenos Aires and studied at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (UBA), where he did not receive his degree until 1905. Ovidio Rebaudi was buried in the La Recoleta cemetery.

Working as a chemist

Rebaudi worked as a chemist in public administration. He held positions at the Círculo Médico Argentino (of whose museum he later became director), at the Hospital de Mujeres (women's clinic) and at the Hospital de Niños (children's clinic). In 1889 he was named an Honorary City Chemist in recognition of his "useful services and honors [without remuneration]." A few months later he was appointed teacher / professor of chemistry (untitled) in the lower grades of the secondary school of the Collegio nacional de Buenos Aires . From 1892 he was appointed head of the department of the first category in the municipal chemical bureau of Buenos Aires. From January 1894 he worked for the newly established national chemical office. In 1895 he was one of the founders of the Balvanera Socialist Center . In 1898 he was appointed professor of medical zoology (also without a title) at the Universidad de La Plata . In 1902 he returned to the city chemistry office as deputy director.

In 1900 he published his most famous work on the chemical analysis of the glucosides from stevia (referred to as stevioside , rebaudioside , dulcoside ). In 1905 the Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of Buenos Aires decided to give him a degree in chemistry. The following year he received his PhD in Chemistry and was appointed Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of La Plata. In 1906 the University of Chicago awarded him a doctorate in chemistry. He became an honorary member of the Argentine Pharmacy Circle and the General Pharmacy Society.

At the end of 1907 he left the chair of chemistry at the University of La Plata and returned to Paraguay, where he was entrusted with the reorganization of the chemical and bacteriological office in Asunción. Due to the unrest in Paraguay in July 1908 and serious health problems, Rebaudi had to leave this position to return to Buenos Aires. He soon returned to Asunción, where he was Rector of the National University for a month on October 10, 1908, until November 9, 1908. He also held the chairs of biology and medicinal chemistry at the university. In 1914 he had to return to Buenos Aires for health reasons. In the same year he was invited to take part in a commission charged with organizing the commemorations of Paraguay's independence. The commission was formed with Interior Minister José P. Montero as President. In 1915, Rebaudi was appointed professor of biology and medicinal chemistry in the medical faculty of the National University of Paraguay.

Well-known writings in addition to the treatise on stevia are La presencia del ácido nitroso en las aguas potables no es siempre sinónimo de contaminación and La goma de la palma negra , El mechoacá y su principio activo , Las aguas del río Paraguay , Las aguas del consumo de la ciudad de Asunción, Depuración biológica de las basuras .

spiritism

In 1894 he founded a spiritualist group, the Sociedad Magnetológica (Magnetological Society), which worked with financial support from the Constancia Society in 2234 Calle Córdoba. In January 1897 he founded the monthly magazine Revista Magnetológica . It was later renamed Revista Metapsíquica Experimental . The Magnetological Society was later renamed Instituto Metapsíquico de Buenos Aires .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} República Argentina: Album nacional, galeria de hombres públicas de actualidad: comprendiendo poder ejecutivo de la nación, parlamento, ejército y armada: basada en documentos oficiales y en hechos históricos de nuestras guerras. Part 14. La Bolsa Chica, 1902 ( limited preview in Google Book Search), p. 220.
2. ↑ Virendra Panpatil, Kalpagam Polasa: Assessment of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) -natural sweetener: A review . In: Journal of Food Science and Technology (Mysore, 2008), Volume 45. pp. 467-473.
3. ↑ O. Rebaudi: Nota sobre el Caá-hee . In: Rev Quimi Farma Buenos Aires (1900), Volume 1, pp. 2-3.
4. ^ Instituto Paraguayo: Revista del Instituto Paraguayo. 1908 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
5. ^ Carlos R. Centurión: Historia de las letras paraguayas: Epoca de transformación. Editorial Ayacucho, 1951 ( limited preview in Google Book search), p. 111.
6. ^ Carlos R. Centurión: Historia de la cultura paraguaya. Ortiz Guerrero, 1961 ( limited preview in Google Book search), p. 305.