Resumen de Comunicación y generación del saber geográfico en el siglo XIX. Francisco Jiménez y el Boletín de la SMGE
- español
En la actualidad el comunicador de la ciencia es un profesional cuya labor consiste en hacer accesible el conocimiento de los fascinantes y variados temas científicos a los diferentes públicos; también busca motivar a las nuevas generaciones a interesarse por la ciencia. En el México del siglo XIX, los problemas sociales y políticos, que enfrentaba el país, así como el analfabetismo de un gran sector de la población, hacían prácticamente imposible la tarea de la divulgación de la ciencia. Motivadas por ello, las élites ilustradas, preocupadas por crear asociaciones que permitieran la instauración de la ciencia en México, apoyaron el establecimiento de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística (SMGE), la cual concentró a los hombres de ciencia más destacados del momento, quienes se reunían para discutir las noticias relativas a los temas científicos de su interés. Una de las ciencias cultivadas con esmero fue la Geografía, la cual proporcionaba elementos para conocer el territorio nacional y sus recursos, por lo que los ingenieros geógrafos tenían entre sus objetivos la determinación de coordenadas geográficas.Francisco Jiménez, miembro activo de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, era un prestigiado científico y publicó diversos trabajos en el Boletín de dicha Sociedad, en este trabajo se analizan sus artículos para evaluar su labor como comunicador y divulgador de los avances de esta disciplina.
- English
During the nineteenth-century, the Mexican scientists and illustrated elites, anxious to create associations that allowed the establishment and diffusion of science in Mexico, supported the foundation of scientific associations such as the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics (SMGE), this society concentrated the most outstanding scientists of that moment. One of the carefully cultivated sciences was Geography, a fundamental discipline for the knowledge of the national territory and its resources, topics of interest to the State, in which Geography and its professionals played an important role in activities such as obtaining geographic coordinates for defining borders, coasts and the country as a wholeThe Social History of Science is the support for analyzing the papers of Francisco Jiménez, active member of the SMGE and prestigious scientific, who was author of various papers publishing in the Bulletin of this scientific society. The revision of the content of his articles in relation to the events that occurred in his time allows defining the profile of this researcher as a scientist and man of his time, who, despite the contradictions that he could not escape, developed an important work as a generator of scientific knowledge, communicator and disseminator of the advances of geography.Francisco Jiménez de la Cuesta was born in 1824 and died in 1881 in Mexico; his life coincided with the nineteenth century Mexican conflicts. He graduated from the Military College and also studied and taught in the School of Mines where he obtained a Geographer Engineering degree. He joined as first engineer with the Mexican Boundary Commission, which was responsible for demarcating the border between Mexico and the United States of America. When the fieldwork and mapping were completed, he joined the public service and worked in various ministries of the Mexican government, mainly in the Ministry of Publics Works. He was an active member of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics and its Chairman in 1874. This scientific association held meetings where they followed the progress of science. Francisco Jiménez presented during the regular meetings various studies that contributed to a greater and more precise knowledge of the national territory. His relationships with scientists from around the world allowed him to note the advances in geography and related sciences that leading scientists had achieved in other countries. This paper presents some biographical data on Francisco Jiménez and analyses the articles that he published in the Bulletin of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics. These allowed the public dissemination of geographic knowledge that has reached to the present day, all within the theoretical framework of the Social History of Science. The importance of the topic lies in appreciating the work of Mexican scientists in the past, their accomplishments and their contributions to the advancement of science in Mexico, especially Geography.
