Moisés Santiago Bertoni, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Moisés Santiago Bertoni

Paraguayan politician and Swiss botanist (1857-1929)

Date of Birth: 15-Jun-1857

Place of Birth: Lottigna, Ticino, Switzerland

Date of Death: 19-Sep-1929

Profession: botanist

Nationality: Switzerland, Paraguay

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Mosè Giacomo Bertoni (15 June 1857 – 19 September 1929), known in Spanish as Moisés Santiago Bertoni, was an italian speaking Swiss naturalist.
He emigrated to South America in 1884 and lived in Paraguay from 1887 until he died in 1929. Bertoni work and researched in botany, meteorology, and anthropology.
He discovered and classified many new species of plants and left a collection of more than 7000 vegetal species and about 6500 insects.
One of the plants he studied in depth was ka'a he'ê (Stevia rebaudiana), a herb indigenous to Paraguay, which became important as a non-caloric sweetener, reputed to be 300 times sweeter than sugar.
He also scientifically classified yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis).