José Hipólito Unánue (1755-1833) was a Peruvian intellectual, educator, scientist, and journalist. He was one of the foremost physicians and thinkers of the transition period from the colonial to the independence era.

The 18th-century intellectual movement called the Enlightenment had its reflection in the viceroyalty of Peru, where a small group of individuals concerned themselves with developing and applying the revolutionary ideas of the emerging sciences. The ablest and most devoted student of these new trends in Peru was José Hipólito Unánue, an individual of diverse interests, a court physician, and an adviser of viceroys and presidents, whose life coincided with the transition from the 18th to the 19th century and from the viceroyalty to the republic.

José Hipólito Unánue was born in Arica, Peru, on Aug. 13, 1755, of a well-to-do family who directed...