Marcos Jiménez de la Espada

Marcos Jiménez de la Espada (1831–1898) was a Spanish zoologist, herpetologist, explorer and writer, born in Cartagena, Spain, although he spent most of his life in Madrid, where he died.

The son of a politician, Jiménez de la Espada had to move several times during his childhood and youth, studying in Valladolid, Barcelona and Sevilla.

In 1850, he started a career in Natural Sciences in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, finishing five years later with the work "The Blainville Amphibians and the Cuvier Batracians form a class apart".

However, it must be said that his positions at the museum were never very important (except at the end of his life), due to the fall from grace of his teacher and advisor, Mariano de la Paz Graells, in 1867.

Many descendants of this animals would later be given to European zoos, which would garner Jiménez the First Class Medal of Mammal Division by the Société impériale zoologique d'acclimatation of France, on 23 March 1866.

Despite being at the climax of his zoologist prestige, Jiménez de la Espada put his scientific work at hold and devoted himself to the study of geography and American history.

Francisco Giner de los Ríos and other friends presented him as a symbol of Spanish scientific regenerationism during a posthumous ceremony in his honor.