José Mariano Mociño facts for kids

José Mariano Mociño (born September 24, 1757 – died June 12, 1820) was a famous naturalist from New Spain (which is now Mexico). A naturalist is someone who studies nature, including plants, animals, and rocks. Mociño studied many things like plants (botany), rocks and earth (geology), and human cultures (anthropology) in his home country and other parts of North America.

Early Life and Education

José Mariano Mociño was born in 1757 in a place called Temascaltepec, which is now part of Mexico State. His family was not rich, so he worked hard at many jobs to pay for his studies. He went to the Seminario Tridentino de México. There, he loved learning about physics, math, plants (botany), and chemistry. He finished his philosophy studies in 1778.

Scientific Expeditions

In 1791, Mociño was asked to join a big science trip called the Royal Botanical Expedition. This trip had started in 1787 and was led by Martín de Sessé. They traveled all over New Spain, going to even the hardest-to-reach places in the Spanish Empire. His trips to the Pacific Northwest were especially important.

Even though he didn't get paid much, Mociño helped create one of the most important collections of natural history items of his time. This collection included many plants, animals, and other natural things they found.

Exploring Mexico

Starting in 1795, King Charles IV of Spain asked Mociño to travel more to study Mexico's natural products. He traveled over 3,000 leagues, which is a very long distance! During these trips, he collected many valuable things. He gathered a large collection of dried plants, called a herbarium. He also made many sketches of plants and animals.

In 1803, he took all these collections to Spain. While in Spain, Mociño became a very important member of the Royal Medicine Academy of Madrid. He was the secretary twice and the president four times.

Challenges and Discoveries

Mociño supported Joseph Bonaparte, who was the king of Spain for a short time. When the French left Spain after a war, Mociño was arrested. He was accused of being a supporter of the French. Luckily, he managed to escape to France.

In 1816, in a city called Montpellier, he met another naturalist named Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Mociño showed Candolle the collections he had managed to save. He also trusted Candolle with his handwritten books for a project called Flora Mexicana. This project was about all the plants of Mexico.

Candolle then invited Mociño to Geneva, where Mociño became a professor at the University of Geneva. In 1818, Mociño returned to Spain. He asked Candolle to return his handwritten books. Candolle did, but first, he had a talented artist named Jean-Christophe Heyland make copies of all the plant drawings. The original drawings and books for Flora de Guatemala are now kept at the botanical garden in Madrid.

Legacy and Contributions

José Mariano Mociño died in Barcelona in 1820. He was poor and had lost his eyesight. He was one of the most famous naturalists from the Americas during the time when Europeans were settling there.

He wrote several important works. One was Descripción del Volcan Jorullo en versos latinos (Mexico, 1801), which described a volcano. Another was “Observaciones sobre la resina del hule,” published in a science magazine in 1804. This article was about the resin from rubber trees.

To honor Mociño, his student Pablo de la Llave named a beautiful bird, the resplendent quetzal, Pharomachrus mocinno. Mociño was the first person to scientifically classify this amazing bird.

See also

In Spanish: José Mariano Mociño para niños