February 28, 2024
Ramon Areces Foundation
Registration is FREE and you must register in advance online.
6:30 p.m.
Attendee registration
7:00 p.m.
Welcome and introduction of the speakers
Emilio Bouza
President of the Scientific Council of the Ramón Areces Foundation
Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento
Royal Academy of History
First Conference
Casimiro Gomez Ortega
Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento
Royal Academy of History
Casimiro Gómez Ortega was a renowned poet and popularizer of various scientific branches in Spain, as well as the teacher of many of His Majesty's botanists, directors of the scientific expeditions to Peru and Chile, the Philippine Islands, and the director of the Royal Botanical Garden of Mexico. Graduated in Medicine in Italy and approved in Pharmacy upon his return to Spain, after the death of his uncle José Ortega, he was the owner of the pharmacy office on Montera Street, where the activity of the Royal Academy of Medicine began. Medicine. Elected first professor at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, he traveled to several European countries, where he met some of the most prominent botanists of his time. Appointed Director of the Overseas Botanical Expeditions, he was a fundamental piece in this very core aspect of Spanish enlightened scientific activity. A member of various European scientific institutions, he was a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine and the Royal Academy of History, where, in his capacity as treasurer, he had to deal with Francisco de Goya.
Second Conference
Celestino Mutis
Antonio González Bueno
Royal National Academy of Pharmacy
Celestino Mutis, from Cádiz, trained at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Seville and in contact with the innovative College of Surgery of Cádiz, he also trained in Madrid, at the Royal Botanical Garden and at the General Hospital.
Emigrant to the Viceroyalty of New Granada and consecrated priest within a few years, he became the fundamental reference for Viceregal Science there, in such a way that he is currently considered the initial character of Colombian scientific activity.
In addition to medicine, he was interested in astronomy, mathematics, mining, and botany. He promoted a scientific expedition that started from Granada's own soil and carried out accounts on the peninsula with many difficulties. The drawings of it are today one of the treasures preserved in the RJBM. Praised by figures such as Linnaeus or Humboldt, the majority of his disciples were a leading part of the supporters of the independence of the viceroyalty.
