Mexican natural scientist. Alfonso Herrera was born in Mexico City and graduated as a pharmacist in 1889. This same year he became an assistant naturalist at the National Museum and soon specialised in biology. From 1895 Herrera published scientific works in a range of journals including catalogues for the vertebrate and anthropological collections of the museum. During this time he also occupied distinct roles within the National Institute of Medicine until, in 1900, he was named professor of parasitology at the School of Agriculture and managed to arrange the creation of a Commission of Agricultural Parasitology which he directed until 1907.

In 1902 Herrera created the faculty of general biology within the Escuela Normal and as a teacher he worked both here and in the National Preparatory School, the Military College and the Faculty of Higher Studies. Herrera was the director of the National Museum of Natural History in 1915 and was responsible for founding the Botanic Garden (1922). A year later he was involved with the creation of the Zoológico de Chapultepec and the marine biology station of Veracruz.

Herrera published works on a huge range of topics including zoology, botany, geology, physics and chemistry; his work contributed significantly to the understanding of the origin of life through conceiving the idea of plasmogenesis and explaining the laws of variation and adaptation and in 1912 he finished publishing his multi-volume work on the ornithology of Mexico, in which over a thousand species are described. In the field of botany he was part of the research group that produced the third edition of the Farmacopea Mexicana.

Sources:
Alfonso Luis Herrera. Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicación Educativa. Red Escolar:
http://www.redescolar.ilce.edu.mx/redescolar/publicaciones/publi_quepaso/alfonsoherrrera.htm
Anon. Apendice: Alfonso L. Herrera. Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicación Educativa. Biblioteca Digital:
http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/ciencia/volumen1/ciencia2/46/htm/sec_26.html.