The Origins of Modern Science in Costa Rica: The Instituto Físico-Geográfico Nacional, 1887–1904

Abstract

Abstract This essay reconstructs the history of the Instituto Fisico-Ceogrdiico Nacional, its scientists, and their activities. After surveying the historical context and the first scientific activities in Costa Rica, it narrates the institutional history of the IFG. Also covered are the main activities of the Instituto-meteorology, botany, agriculture, andethnography, especially theefforts to mapCosta Rica in the 1890s. Theworkof this institute and the scientists associated untn it markthefitful beginnings of the institutionalization of modern science in Costa Rica. Thecase of theIFG clearly demonstrates theenormous obstacles facing scientists and scientific institutions in the agro-exporting economies of modern Latin America. As a small country on the "periphery of the periphery," Costa Rica offers an extreme example of the problems of cultivating modern science in developing nations.