Manuel Fernández de Castro y Suero (1825-1895), director of the Commission for the Geological Map of Spain

Abstract

An updated biography of the mining engineer Manuel Fernández de Castro y Suero (1825-1895), who was the head of the Commission for the Geological Map of Spain between 1873 and 1895, is presented. Through different documentary we have approached to both his family ancestry in the Greater Antilles, and the three stages of his professional career. The first one, between the completion of engineering studies in 1845 and his departure to Cuba in 1859; the second, as head of the Cuban Bureau of Mines; and the third stage, and not less important, as director of the Commission and as senator for Cuba. Fernández de Castro became interested in the applications of electricity, patenting in 1853 a system of electrical signals for railway safety, and later formulating an “electro-telluric” theory for the formation of mineral deposits. He was the author of the first geological map of Cuba and that of an important part of the Dominican Republic. He founded, in 1873 and 1874, respectively, the first Spanish publishing series on geology: Memorias and Boletín de la Comisión del Mapa Geológico de España. His work at the head of the Commission was decisive for the institutionalization of the construction of the national geological map, as well as to ensure the administrative continuity of the organization, the current Geological and Mining Institute of Spain.