Carlos Albán  Carlos Albán (March 9, 1844 – January 20, 1902) was a Colombian inventor who specialized in mathematics, chemistry, medicine, and surgery. Albán also practiced as a political philosopher, journalist, and lawyer. Born in Popayán, Colombia, the capital of the department of Cauca. Albán studied at the University of Cauca. In 1869, he was awarded a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery degree, and two years later, in 1871, he earned a doctorate of Law and Political Science, for which he wrote a thesis on the "Constitution of 1863". The thesis declared that the Colombian people could no longer be governed by liberalism, including the Constitution and its laws. After returning from battle in 1865, Albán set about reorganizing the Conservative Party which had virtually disappeared. To achieve this, he founded "Los Principios", a newspaper in Cali, in 1870. The newspaper called for political activism and denounced the state of social disorder, which had resulted from the Rionegro and Cauca Constitutions. He believed that there existed a "carte blanche for violence," that the regime of individual liberty had degenerated in favor of the liberal mindset, and that many conservatives "had abandoned the main focus." In 1871, the paper had to be closed due to distribution problems. Later that year, Albán founded the Principios Político-Religiosos (the Politico-Religious Principles) newspaper in Popayan, with assistance from Fernando Angulo and Sergio Arboleda, with whom he reorganized the Conservative Party. The newspaper was forced to close after the first term, because the liberals warned that conservative reorganization would lead to war. It reopened in 1873 under the management of Manuel Carvajal Valencia and with the collaboration of Albán, who was also writing in El Tradicionista (the Traditionist) and other conservative newspapers in Bogotá. Albán began participating in political activities as a youth. In 1865, while still a student, he fought in the Battle of Santa Barbara in defense of the liberal government of the Sovereign State of Cauca, which faced a conservative revolution. His most active years were 1875-76 when he took advantage of the division of the liberal camp among radicals and independents and began to work on creating a "Catholic Party". Persons who "support Catholicism with all its consequences, and without restrictions of any kind, regardless of what may happen and also the political party to which they belong" were invited to join.