Fernando Altamirano

Mexican physiologist

Fernando Altamirano (Fernando Altamirano-Carbajal) (July 7, 1848 – October 7, 1908) was a Mexican physician, botanist and naturalist.He was born in Aculco, studied in Querétaro, and died in Mexico City.

Altamirano was the founder and the director of the Instituto Medico Nacional from 1888 to 1908.He published more than 250 papers on pharmacology of Mexican plants and on physiology.

He was also interested in the industrial uses of Mexican plants.Altamirano collaborated with many internationally recognized botanists of the period, like Joseph Nelson Rose, Cyrus Pringle, George Russell Shaw and Edward Janczewski.

At least one genus and nine species of plants and animals were named after him, many of them by Joseph Nelson Rose.