The role of naturalists in the diffusion of geography: Lucas Fernández-Navarro and his vision of the Sierra de Guadarrama

Abstract

Geologist Lucas Fernández-Navarro, a professor of crystallography at the Universidad Central, dedicated his life as a researcher to the study of crystallography, mineralogy and petrography. However, his work went much further, paying special attention to the landscapes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, one of his favorite places as a geology laboratory, so he played a fundamental role in the dissemination of these mountains. With a numerous articles in scientific journals and high cultural reviews, Fernandez-Navarro contributed in a remarkable way to cover a space barely incipient in Spanish geography, that of a modern knowledge of human geography and regional studies, always supported in the excursion as method of study of geologists and geographers.

Keywords: Lucas Fernandez-Navarro, Sierra de Guadarrama, Landscape, Humanities, Geology.