Dr. Andres Barbero (July 28, 1877 – February 14, 1951) was born in 1877 in Asunción, Paraguay. He became one of the first Paraguayan citizens to earn a medical degree and dedicated himself to many philanthropic ventures across Paraguay. Born into a very wealthy family, he completed Pharmacy in 1898 and Medicine in 1903 at Paraguay’s National University of Asuncion (UNA), becoming one of Paraguay’s first awarded MDs.
After graduating, he dedicated himself to teaching and established the Anti-Tuberculosis League. He then became Mayor of Asunción in 1921 and utilized his family’s fortune to establish numerous public scientific and medical services across Paraguay. After developing a love for botany, he and other fellow naturalists began by establishing the Paraguayan Scientific Society (1921), and went on to fund and direct the Natural History Museum and later Paraguay’s Scientific Magazine, which he edited. He then established the Paraguay Red Cross, the National Cancer Institute, and the School for Rural Obstetrics. Alongside scientific ventures, he funded Paraguay’s study of History and Social Sciences by establishing the Academy of History, the Institute of Historical Investigations, the Ethnographic Society, and several cultural societies.
He was awarded Paraguay’s National Order of Merit and continued his work until his death in 1951.
REFERENCES:
- https://portalguarani.com/963_andres_barbero__.html
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/barbero-andres-1877-1949#:~:text=Andr%C3%A9s%20Barbero%20(b.,of%20his%20country%27s%20scientific%20establishment.
- https://www.museobarbero.org.py/bio-andres-barbero.php
