Wenceslao Díaz Gallegos (1834–1895) was a Chilean

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

and medical

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

, widely considered as one of the fathers of

sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...

in the country, trainer of generations of medical professionals and first-time introducer of medical devices such as the

thermometer A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a merc ...

and the

hypodermic syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside o ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Biography

He was born in Hacienda Limache, near

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, on February 21, 1834. Studied at Colegio Taforó in Santiago and later finishing high school education at the Instituto Nacional. Díaz was graduated as a medical surgeon in 1859, at the

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

School of Medicine, when it was located on the building in the intersection of San Francisco and Las Delicias, the current Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins Avenue. Two years later, he graduated as a Bachelor in Physical Sciences and Mathematics at the same university. He studied many diverse disciplines such as medicine, archeology, geology, seismology, climatology, ethnography and philosophy, and specialized in

health geography Health geography is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care. Medical geography, a sub-discipline of or sister field of health geography, Oxford Bibliographies entry of ...

, considered a prerequisite to specialization in parasitology and tropical diseases. His specialization allowed him to lead the sanitary commission to help the victims of the

1861 Mendoza earthquake The 1861 Mendoza earthquake occurred in the province of Mendoza, Argentina on 20 March at 11:30 PM. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 on the scale and an intensity of IX–X on the Mercalli scale. Its hypocenter was located at an estimated d ...

. In 1873 he was appointed head of the chair of internal medicine at the Universidad de Chile School of Medicine. From that position he pushed the introduction of modern medical instruments like the

and the

, which was used to administer morphine, atropine and cocaine in the treatment of patients. Both had never been used before in the country. Between 1877 and 1880 he was dean of the Faculty of Medicine, where he worked on the design of a new building for the faculty, but he had to leave the project after the outbreak of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

(1879-1883). During the conflict he took over as Director of the Army Health Service, where he also innovated in hospital systems. After the war, he was one of the leaders in controlling the Asian Cholera epidemic that affected Chile in 1887. He described the main characteristics and consequences of the disease in the medical report “Memory of the Cholera Health Service Directive Commission 1887-1888”. He was a founding member of the Medical Society of Santiago (1869) and one of the editors of the first issue of its journal, the '' Revista Médica de Chile'' (1872). He was also a member of the Society of Pharmacy of Chile, the Surgical Medical Society, the Society of Archeology of Santiago and physician of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Santiago. Díaz also stood out as a great connoisseur of the Greek, Latin and Spanish classics. Also a philologist and linguist, he possessed notions of Greek, Latin and other languages. He also studied the native Latin American languages, especially the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

and Aymará.

References

1834 births 1895 deaths University of Chile alumni People from Santiago Chilean scientists Chilean philosophers Chilean surgeons {{Chile-philosopher-stub