Chile's first professor of bacteriology: Alejandro del Río Soto Aguilar

Abstract

The physician Alejandro del Río Soto Aguilar was a brilliant medical student from 1884 to 1889. He early joined the nascent Pathological Anatomy Department, directed by the distinguished professor Francisco Puelma Tupper, who was one of the first scholarship recipients sent to Germany for further training in 1874. Alejandro del Río quickly became enthusiastic about the new microscopic studies on normal and pathological histology that Professor Puelma taught him. His great motivation for microscopy led him to compile notes from Professor Puelma's course, printed with beautiful drawings of various tissues, which miraculously are still available. The microscopic world captivated him, and it was there that he discovered bacteria. After graduating as a Medical Surgeon in 1889, he received a scholarship to study Bacteriology and Hygiene in Germany. Upon his return in 1895, the Chair of Bacteriology was created by the University of Chile at School of Medicine.