José Hipólito Unanue y Pavón (August 13, 1755–July 15, 1833) was a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, naturalist,

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

cosmographer The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-scal ...

, the first

Minister of Finance of Peru The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Peru is the government ministry responsible for the planning and execution of economic policies of the Peruvian Government with the goal of optimizing the economic and financial activities of the state, est ...

, Minister of Foreign affairs, Protomédico (equivalent to Minister of health combines with head of "Escuela de Medicina del Peru"), university

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

, founder of the San Fernando Medical School (now the Medicine faculty of

San Marcos University The National University of San Marcos ( es, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, link=no, UNMSM) is a public research university located in Lima, the capital of Peru. It is considered the most important, recognized and representative educ ...

), representative of Arequipa in the

Cortes of Cádiz The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional ''Cortes Generales, cortes'' (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous o ...

, President of the Junta de Gobierno (highest executive power in the Peruvian government at that time), Protector of the province of Arequipa (during the Spanish Empire), independence precursor and a

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian politician, active in politics in the early years after independence. He served as the President of the Congress from 1822 to 1823.

Early life

Hipólito Unanue was born in

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a Communes of Chile, commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The ...

on August 13, 1755 as the son of Antonio Unánue de Montalivert and Manuela Pavón y Salgado, both from creole families. He studied philosophy and law in a seminary in

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...

. In 1777, Unanue moved to

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

to study natural sciences. He studied in Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos where he received his bachelor's degree in 1783, graduated in 1786 and became a professor at the same university, establishing his name as an eminent

. He was one of the founders of Sociedad Académica de Amantes del País in 1790. Unanue was

on three times: 1821-1823, 1823-1824 and 1824-1825. His contributions to Peruvian science were "largely forgotten," during the turbulent period of Peruvian independence.Mark A. Burkholder, "Hipólito Unanue" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin America History and Culture'' vol. 5, p. 292. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unanue Hipolito 1755 births 1833 deaths Presidents of Peru Presidents of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Peruvian people of Spanish descent Peruvian Ministers of Economy and Finance 19th-century Peruvian physicians National University of San Marcos alumni People from Arica 18th-century Peruvian physicians Freemasons

Early life

See also

References