The National College (Spanish: Colegio Nacional) is a Mexican honorary academy with a strictly limited membership created by presidential decree in 1943 in order to bring together the country's foremost artists and scientists, who are periodically invited to deliver lectures and seminars in their respective area of speciality. Membership is generally a lifelong commitment, although it could be forfeited under certain conditions. It should not be confused with El Colegio de México, a public institution of higher education and research.
The College was founded on 8 April 1943. with the purpose of promoting Mexican culture and scholarship in a number of different fields. Its motto is "Libertad por saber" (Freedom through knowing) and its emblem is an eagle taking off (symbolizing freedom of thought) above a flaming sun (representing wisdom). The College's foundation decree, signed by General Manuel Ávila Camacho, limited membership to twenty Mexican-born citizens, who were supposed to deliver their lectures and or seminars in its official premises at Mexico City. A subsequent amendment signed by President Luis Echeverría in 1971 increased the limit to forty and members were given the choice of delivering both their lectures or seminars in places other than the capital. Those aged 70 and over were released, at their discretion, from that obligation. Naturalized Mexicans could also been appointed, provided that at least ten years had passed since they acquired citizenship.
In 1995, President Ernesto Zedillo amended the rules so that naturalized Mexicans could be admitted to the College irrespective of the date on which they acquired citizenship.
The property on which the Colegio sits used to belong to the Convent of La Enseñanza. When the convent was closed in 1863, due to the Reform Laws, this site first became the Palace of Justice. Later, the property was split to house the General Notary Archives and the Colegio. The building took on its present appearance in 1871. During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, the building used by the Unified Socialist Youth Movement.
The main access to the building is on Luis Gonzalez Obregon between Rep. de Argentina and Rep. de Brazil Streets. This used to be the back entrance to the convent. The facade of the building has three levels and is covered in tezontle, a blood-red, porous, volcanic stone. The doors, windows and balconies are framed in chiluca, a greyish-white stone. The windows and balconies have ironwork railings and window guards. The main entrance leads to an entrance hall, which leads to a central patio. The ground floor of the patio is marked with pilasters while the upper level has columns. The most important room in this building is the assembly hall, where debates take place, new members are initiated and congresses in the College's various specialities are conducted.
The building houses a collection of nine gilded altarpieces that date from the end of the 17th century, with the largest of these dedicated to the Our Lady of the Pillar. Among the paintings on display are "The Assumption of Mary" and "The Virgin of the Book of Revelation Apocalypse", both done by Andres Lopez in 1779.
The first date is the admission date to The National College; the second is the date of death or resignation/expulsion.
Alfonso Reyes, writer and diplomatDiego Rivera, painter and muralistJosé Vasconcelos, writer and philosopherJosé Clemente Orozco, painter and muralistEnrique González Martínez, poet and diplomatEzequiel A. Chávez,Antonio Caso, philosopherIgnacio Chávez, cardiologistIsaac OchoterenaManuel Uribe y Troncoso, ophthalmologistCarlos Chávez, composerMariano Azuela, novelist of the Mexican RevolutionManuel Sandoval Vallarta, MIT cosmic ray physicist, former mentor of Richard Feynman and Julius Stratton.Alfonso Caso, archaeologistEzequiel OrdóñezIgnacio González Guzmán (22 November 1943; † 2 December 1946) Haemotology and cytologyManuel Toussaint (21 January 1946; † 2 December 1946) Art history and criticismSilvio Zavala (6 January 1947) HistoryArturo Rosenblueth (6 October 1947; † 20 September 1970) PhysiologyAntonio Castro Leal (9 August 1948; † 7 January 1981) HumanitiesJesús Silva Herzog (16 November 1948; † 13 March 1985) EconomicsGerardo Murillo "Dr. Atl" (6 November 1950; resigned 7 May 1951) PaintingDaniel Cosío Villegas (2 April 1951; † 10 March 1976) HistorySamuel Ramos (8 July 1952; † 20 June 1959) PhilosophyAgustín Yáñez (8 July 1952; † 17 January 1980) LiteratureGuillermo Haro (6 July 1953; † 27 April 1988) AstronomyJaime Torres Bodet (6 July 1953; † 15 May 1974) Poetry and literary criticismManuel Martínez Báez (7 March 1955; † 19 January 1987) Preventive medicineEduardo García Máynez (4 November 1957; † 2 September 1993) Philosophy of lawJosé Ádem (4 April 1960; † 14 February 1991) MathematicsJosé Villagrán García (4 April 1960; † 10 June 1982) ArchitectureAntonio Gómez Robledo (7 October 1960; † 3 October 1994) Law and philosophyVictor L. Urquidi (18 October 1960; resigned 1 January 1968) EconomicsOctavio Paz (1 August 1967; † 19 April 1998) Poetry and literature, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.Miguel León-Portilla (23 March 1971) Ancient Mexican historyIgnacio Bernal (4 April 1972; † 24 January 1992) AnthropologyRubén Bonifaz Nuño (4 April 1972) Poetry and literatureAntonio Carrillo Flores (4 April 1972; † 20 March 1987) LawRamón de la Fuente (4 April 1972; † 31 March 2006) Psychiatrist; chaired the National Academy of Medicine, served as vice-president of World Psychiatric Association and founded the Mexican Institute of Psychiatry.Carlos Fuentes (4 April 1972; † 15 May 2012) Novels and literatureAlfonso García Robles (4 April 1972; † 2 September 1991) International lawMarcos Moshinsky (4 April 1972) Theoretical physicist; winner of the UNESCO Science Prize.Jesús Romo Armeria (4 April 1972; † 14 May 1977) Applied chemistryEmilio Rosenblueth (4 April 1972; † 11 January 1994) Seismic engineeringFernando Salmerón (4 April 1972) PhilosophyRamón Xirau (1 October 1973) PhilosophyJulián Ádem (23 October 1974) GeophysicsCarlos Casas Campillo (23 October 1974; † 6 October 1994) MicrobiologyHéctor Fix-Zamudio (23 October 1974) Legal procedure and comparative lawJesús Kumate (23 October 1974) ImmunologyJaime García Terrés (23 October 1974; † 29 April 1996) Poetry and literatureBernardo Sepúlveda Gutiérrez (24 October 1975; † 17 March 1985) GastroenterologyLeopoldo Solís (13 October 1976) EconomicsLeopoldo García-Colín (12 September 1977) Physicist; winner of the 1988 National Prize for Arts and Sciences and former chair of the Mexican Society of Physics (1972-1973).Luis González y González (8 November 1978) History of MexicoLuis Villoro (14 November 1978) PhilosophyRuy Pérez Tamayo (27 November 1980) PathologySalvador Elizondo (28 April 1981; † 29 March 2006) Literature and literary criticismAntonio Alatorre (26 June 1981) PhilologyGuillermo Soberón Acevedo (5 November 1981) Biochemistry and higher educationGustavo Cabrera (19 November 1981) demographer; winner of the 1981 National Prize for Demography.Marcos Mazari Menzer (11 November 1982) Nuclear physicsEduardo Mata (9 August 1984; † 4 January 1995) MusicGabriel Zaid (26 September 1984) Poetry and literatureBeatriz de la Fuente (7 May 1985) Art historyAdolfo Martínez Palomo (6 June 1985) Pathology and cellular biologyJosé Emilio Pacheco (9 October 1986) Novels and literatureSamuel Gitler Hammer (9 October 1986; † 9 September 2014) MathematicsJosé Sarukhán Kérmez (26 June 1987) BiologyArcadio Poveda Ricalde (1 March 1989) AstronomyTeodoro González de León (28 October 1989) ArchitectureRufino Tamayo (21 May 1991; † 24 June 1991) PaintingPablo Rudomín (25 February 1993) PhysiologyManuel Peimbert (24 May 1993) AstronomyEduardo Matos Moctezuma (24 June 1993) ArchaeologyDonato Alarcón Segovia (9 November 1994) MedicineVicente Rojo (16 November 1994) artist; recipient of the National Prize for Arts and Sciences.Francisco Bolívar Zapata (8 December 1994) BiotechnologyOctavio Novaro (27 October 1995) theoretical physicist; winner of the 1993 UNESCO Science Prize.Fernando del Paso (12 February 1996) LiteratureAlejandro Rossi (22 February 1996) PhilosophyMario Lavista (14 October 1998) MusicLuis Felipe Rodríguez Jorge (24 February 2000), radioastronomer, discoverer of double-sided radio jets from the galactic sources 1E1740.7-2942 and GRS 1758-258 and superluminal motion of radio knots in the galactic source GRS 1915+105. Winner of the 1996 Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society and the Mexican National Prize of Science.Mario J. Molina (24 April 2003), co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for elucidating the threat to the Earth's ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs).Enrique Krauze (27 April 2005), historian and cultural promoter, member of the board of Instituto Cervantes and the Mexican Academy of History.Eusebio Juaristi (13 February 2006), researcher on Physical chemistry, winner of the 1998 National Prize of Arts and Sciences.María Elena Medina-Mora Icaza (6 April 2006), researcher at the National Institute of Psychiatry, winner of the 1986 Gerardo Varela National Prize of Public Health.Diego Valadés (13 February 2007), former Attorney General and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).Luis Fernando Lara (5 March 2007), linguist, member of UNESCO's Permanent International Committee of Linguists.Linda Rosa Manzanilla (9 April 2007), archaeologist specialized in domestic archaeology in early urban developments, first Mexican woman ever admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences.Ranulfo Romo (March 9, 2011), neuroscientist and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi (February 4, 2014), geophysicist, president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).José Ramón Cossío Díaz (February 11, 2014), lawyer and jurist, member of the Supreme Court of the Nation.Juan Villoro, (February 24, 2014), author.Antonio Lazcano (October 6, 2014), biologist specialized in the origins of life. Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).Alejandro Frank Hoeflich (Mach 31, 2016), physicist and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
