Science has been one of the most powerful tools for
the development of modern nations. However, since it
has had a differential evolution in different
cultures, its forms of transmission defined the ways
in wich it was implanted in different societies. This
book explores, through the Mexican example, the
first attempt to embody modern microbiology by a
Latin American country. It shows how a combination
of political, economic and personal interests
sometimes came to overshadow the process. The
demonised Porfirio Diaz (president of Mexico 1880-
1911) and his political circle played a...

This innovative monograph is of major significance for not only all students and academics who undertake research on the history of Mexico during the half-century prior to the onset in 1910 of the Mexican Revolution but also the parallel community of scholars who specialise in the history of ideas, philosophy and science throughout Latin America in this period. Its principal purpose is to revisit the influential thesis of the Mexican philosopher Leopoldo Zea that the political-ideological group dubbed 'the scientists' by their opponents were guided by positivist ideas, especially those of the...