Alfonso Luis Herrera (1868 – 1942) was a Mexican biologist, author, educator and founder of several institutions in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He conducted research into the origin of life in an attempt to develop a new, experimental science which he called plasmogeny.

Biography

Herrera was born in Mexico City, the son of a well-known naturalist. He studied

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

at the National School of Medicine, graduating in 1889 by which time he had already published several papers in Zoology and Ornithology. He became a teacher at the

National Preparatory School The Escuela Nacional Preparatoria ( en, National Preparatory High School) (ENP), the oldest senior High School system in Mexico, belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), opened its doors on February 1, 1868. It was founde ...

(''Escuela Nacional Preparatoria''), the

Military School A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

and the "

Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

for Teachers" (''Escuela Normal para Maestros'') in Mexico. He also helped to found the Botanical Garden of

Chapultepec Park Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

(1922), Mexico City Zoo (1923 - now called

Chapultepec Zoo Chapultepec Zoo (Spanish: ''Zoológico de Chapultepec'') is a zoo located in Chapultepec Park; it is one of four zoos near Mexico City, and the best known Mexican zoo. It was founded July 6, 1923 by Mexican biologist Alfonso Luis Herrera using do ...

), and the Biological Institute of the

University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. Herrera died in Mexico City in 1943.

Ideas

He developed an experimental science called plasmogeny, concerned with the origin of

protoplasm Protoplasm (; ) is the living part of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane. It is a mixture of small molecules such as ions, monosaccharides, amino acid, and macromolecules such as proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, etc. In some defini ...

, the living material of which all animals and plants are made. He reasoned that since life was the result of purely physico-chemical phenomena, it should be possible to create a structure with similar properties to natural protoplasm out of relatively simple organic and inorganic compounds in the laboratory. To this end he conducted experiments to create artificial cells ("protocells") using substances such as

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

sodium hydroxide Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

, and

thiocyanate Thiocyanate (also known as rhodanide) is the anion . It is the conjugate base of thiocyanic acid. Common derivatives include the colourless salts potassium thiocyanate and sodium thiocyanate. Mercury(II) thiocyanate was formerly used in pyrot ...

Books

He published his ideas in books such as ''Recueil des lois de la biologie générale'' ("Collection of the General Laws of Biology") in 1897 and ''Nociones de biología'' in 1904 which was reprinted in 1924 as ''Biología y plasmogenia'' ("Biology and Plasmogeny"). His ideas on plasmogeny were further elaborated in ''Una nueva ciencia – la plasmogenia'' ("A New Science – Plasmogeny", 1924) and a shorter version followed in 1932, ''La plasmogenia – nueva ciencia del origen de la vida'' ("Plasmogeny – The New Science of the Origin of Life"). His experiments were published in two scientific journals which he founded: ''Gaceta de Plasmogenia'' (in Spanish) and ''Bulletin du Laboratoire de Plasmogenie'' (in French). He also wrote a number of other scientific texts. Several of his books have now appeared in English translation.

Eponyms

Three reptiles are named in his honor: '' Kinosternon herrerai'' (Herrera's mud turtle), '' Barisia herrerae'' (Herrera's alligator lizard), and '' Lampropeltis zonata herrerae'' (Todos Santos Island kingsnake).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Herrera", p. 122).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Alfonso L Mexican biologists Scientists from Mexico City 1942 deaths 1868 births 20th-century Mexican scientists