Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz

Mariano E. de Rivero y Ustariz, prominent Peruvian scientist

Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz (October 22, 1798 – November 6, 1857) was a prominent Peruvian scientist, geologist, mineralogist, chemist, archaeologist, politician and diplomat. His publications about his discovery of Humboldtine (an iron-oxalate), demonstrating the existence of organic-minerals; about deposits of copper and sodium nitrate (saltpeter) near Tarapacá in the Atacama Desert; about bird-guano and coal in Peru and their possibilities of industrialization as well were forward-looking and made him a pioneer of mining education in South America and the most notable Peruvian scientist of the 19th century.