Andrés Barbero (1877 in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

– 1951 in

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) was a

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches 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, philosophers engag ...

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Childhood and studies

Juan Barbero and Carolina Crosa, immigrants from

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, reached

when the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

had just finished. They married in

in 1871 and had five children, the third of which was Andrés José Camilo. Juan Barbero, severe and peninsular diligent, dedicated to the construction and recovery of the destroyed houses during the war. He gained an important fortune, becoming a solid landowner of urban and rural ranches. In 1910, he acquired a valuable house in España Avenue and extended as far as the railroad, present day Gondra Street. Andrés Barbero was born in Asunción on July 28, 1877. He finished his pharmacy studies in 1898 and, in 1903, his medicine studies, being among the first people who received their medical diploma in Paraguay. His wealthy position allowed him to dedicate himself completely to teaching, beginning with the National School and later in the same Medicine University, in the subjects of physical medicine, physiology and histology.

Investigation and philanthropic work

He conducted extensive research alongside other scientists, such as Emilio Hassler, Guillermo Tell Bertoni, and the Paraguayan Teodoro Rojas. Together, they founded the Paraguayan Scientific Society. His passion for botany led him to work at the Natural History Museum, and he later became the editor of Paraguay’s Scientific Magazine. He personally funded several of the organizations he helped establish, including the Red Cross, the Cancer Institute, the Scientific Society, a children’s hospital, and an ophthalmology center. He also financed the construction of a three-story building at the corner of España Avenue and Mompox, which housed many of his scientific institutions, with support from the Barbero Foundation. The Natural Science Museum was also installed there, which is now known as the Andrés Barbero Museum and Library. From the 1940s onwards, other institutions were founded, including Paraguay’s Ethnographic Society, Paraguay’s Indian Society, the Paraguayan Institute of Historical Investigation, and later, the Paraguayan Academy of History and the Guaraní Culture Society. In 1941, he was awarded the National Order of Merit, with the rank of Grand Officer.

Public life

* Principal of the Municipal Chemistry Department. * He worked in the Bacteriology National Institute with the Doctor Miguel Elmassian. * He was temporary Dean of the Medicine University (1905) * Principal of the Public Attendance * Agricultural Bank Adviser (1912). * He created the Anti-Tuberculosis Paraguayan League (1919) * Asuncion's mayor until 1921 * President of the First Panamerican Conference of the la Cruz Roja (1923) * Founded the Cruz Roja which worked outstandingly during the Chaco War. Its hospital was inaugurated in 1937 * Created the gynecologist school in the Cruz Roja * Temporary Ministry of treasure during Félix Paiva's government (1938) Andrés Barbero inherited from his father the inclination to work and the virtue of jealous goods administrator.

Death and legacy

Barbero, single and with no offspring, died on February 14, 1951. The Paraguayan Government decreed a national mourning the day of his death. The Barbero sisters donated all his goods to the La Piedad Foundation, created in honor to him. This respectable institution allows keeping in force the different associations that gather men that search the improvement of the social and cultural conditions of the citizenship, in time of paying homage to the humanitarian and solidarity of its creator. In Asunción, there is a modest monument that evokes Dr. Barbero's figure in Artigas Avenue and Brasil Street.

Abbreviation

References

*“Cien vidas paraguayas”. Carlos Zubizarreta *“100 paraguayos del siglo XX”. Colección de artículos publicados en Última Hora *“Vida, personalidad y obras del Doctor Andrés Barbero”. Ángel D. Sosa

External links

*
Museo de Andrés Barbero

Sociedad Científica del Paraguay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbero, Andres 1877 births 1951 deaths Paraguayan botanists Paraguayan scientists People from Asunción