Karl Hoffmann: naturalista, médico y héroe nacional de 1856-1857

Abstract

This article intends to highlight the contributions of Karl Hoffmann (1823-1859), a German physician and naturalist who arrived to Costa Rica in 1854 with a recommendation letter by his mentor Alexander von Humboldt, along with his wife and his colleague Alexander von Frantzius. In contrast to his predecessors, he was the first naturalist who studied both our flora and fauna, which allowed him to discover a great number of species new to science (of which some 40 were named after him), while making important contributions in biogeography, vuIcanology and climatology. As a result of the invasion by the filibuster army leaded by William Walker, Hoffmann became the head of the medical team of our army, playing amazing duties as a surgeon in the Santa Rosa and Rivas battles, as well as while facing the devastating cholera epidemics. Such duties seriously affected his health, as they intensified an illness he has withstood from youth times. Poor and a widower, he died at age of 35 in Puntarenas, leaving no descendants, He is buried in the General Cemetery.