Filipino Chemist - Anacleto Del Rosario

Known as the Father of Laboratory Science in the Philippines, Anacleto Del Rosario worked as a chemist during the Spanish period of the Philippines history. The owner of several different drug stores in the Philippines where he worked as a professional chemist. Rosario managed Botica de Javega, which was located in Escolta. This was co-owned with other chemists, but he also went on to establish his own Botica San Fernando in the town of Binondo after his initial period of success. During this time he also worked on many different scientific experiments in his own laboratories that he had built for the purpose, to help advance the field of Philippine science.

What Anacleto Del Rosario is perhaps best known for in the rest of the world is winning first prize at the World's Fair in Paris in 1881. This was due to his discovery of alcohol production from native Filipino Nipa palm trees that managed to be completely odorless. This formula was then sold to Ayala and Company, who helped exhibit it in Paris at the World's Fair that year. Rosario was a champion of the native botanical properties and possibilities of the botanicals that were native to the Philippines, and conducted a series of experiments into their use for pharmaceuticals and other mutable properties.

In addition to the accolades that Anacleto Del Rosario received for his work on producing the odorless alcohol from Nipa palm trees, he also received a number of other important distinctions from the professional sector of the era. In 1882, he was appointed a pharmacist-member of the Sanitary Commission, located in the 8th district of the capital city of Manila. This allowed him to complete work into making society better through hygiene and sanitation, which at that time was a big problem in the urban areas of the country.

Also in 1882, Anacleto Del Rosario received a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Santo Thomas. He was then appointed a professor of chemistry and pharmacy at this same academic institution. Publishing several important documents detailing the features and uses of native botanicals and minerals in the next few years, he was then named as the municipal pharmacist in the northern district of Binondo, Philippines, where his first pharmacy was also located. In later life, he was distinguished as the director of the Municipal Laboratory of Manila and the cofounder of the College of Pharmacists in 1891.