Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz

Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz (October 22, 1798 – November 6, 1857) was a prominent Peruvian scientist, geologist, mineralogist, chemist, archaeologist, politician and diplomat. His publications about his discovery of Humboldtine (an iron-oxalate), demonstrating the existence of organic-minerals; about deposits of copper and sodium nitrate (saltpeter) near Tarapacá in the Atacama Desert; about bird-guano and coal in Peru and their possibilities of industrialization as well were forward-looking and made him a pioneer of mining education in South America and the most notable Peruvian scientist of the 19th century.

Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz was born in Arequipa, Peru. His parents were Antonio Salvador de Rivero y Araníbar, captain in the Spanish Royal Army in the viceroyalty of Peru, and Maria Brígida de Ustariz y Zúñiga.

Rivero was born in a liberal Creole family in southern Peru at the end of the colonial period. He was first educated at the Seminary of San Jerónimo in Arequipa. After noticing his aptitudes and qualifications, his family sent him to Europe and, at the age of twelve in 1810, he started his European education in England, a major rival of Spain at the dawn of the wars of independence. He attended a Catholic School directed by Dr. Dowling in London. There, he focused on mathematics, physics, and languages (English, French, and German). Once he completed secondary school and some advanced classes in 1817, he moved to France, where he studied at the École Polytechnique and then the École des Mines (Mines ParisTech), both in Paris. At the École des Mines, he learned from many of the most prominent scientists of that time and specialized in mineralogy and chemistry. Among his professors, there were Joseph Louis Proust, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, Alexandre Brongniart, Pierre Berthier, and René Just Haüy. A major event in Rivero’s life was his encounter with Alexander von Humboldt. The German savant provided him with letters of recommendation that opened to him the doors of several European academic circles. Among them, Rivero completed his mineralogical training at the Freiberg School of Mines, Humboldt’s alma mater, where he conducted his first fieldwork. During this long trip throughout Europe, he also visited mines in France and Spain, where he further improved his knowledge of mining techniques.

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