Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg
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Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg (27 July 1852, in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
– 4 November 1937) was an Argentine natural historian and
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
, one of the leading figures in Argentine biology. Together with
Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...
he undertook the inventory of Argentine flora and fauna, and explored all the ecoregions in the country, summarizing for the first time the biodiversity of its territory. The son of botanical aficionado and grandson of the Baron Holmberg, Holmburg accompanied Argentine '' Libertador''
Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...
on his campaigns and introduced the cultivation of the ''
camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...
'' to Argentina. As director of the Buenos Aires Zoological Garden he greatly developed its scientific aspect, publishing booklets and providing printed media for a learned appreciation of its contents. He also directed the Natural History Cabinet of the
University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...
and published the standard reference works on botany and zoology used in his country for most of the 20th century. While less distinguished for his writing, he was arguably the first science fiction writer in Latin America. He wrote the first Latin American science fiction novel, ''Viaje maravilloso del señor Nic-Nac al planeta Marte'' (Eng. ''The Marvellous Journey of Mr. Nic-Nac to the Planet Mars''). In 1879, he wrote ''Horacio Kalibang o los autómatas'' (Eng. ''Horacio Kalibang or The Automatons''), the first short science fiction story of Latin America.


Early life

Coming from a European Bourgeois family, Holmberg had mastered English, French, and German by the time he became Faculty of Medicine of the
University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...
. He had grown up in close contact with his father's gardens and extensive literature collection, gaining a life-long interest in botany and entomology. He quickly learned Latin as well, an essential for scientific studies at the time. He became a doctor in 1880 with a thesis on
phosphene A phosphene is the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye. The word ''phosphene'' comes from the Greek words ''phos'' (light) and ''phainein'' (to show). Phosphenes that are induced by movement or sound may be associated wi ...
, however he never practiced the profession. Despite the low standing of natural history at the time, Holmberg had studied the science for nearly a decade at the time of his graduation, beginning with the documentation of native flora and fauna in his study ''Travels in
Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...
, 1872'' (Es. ''Viajes por la Patagonia, 1872''). From 1874 onward he dedicated himself to the study of arachnids, publishing several studies over the next decade and laying a foundation for the study of the arthropods in the country. That very same year he married the young Magdalena Jorge, a fashionable lady of Buenos Aires society. He was published in the ''Annals of Argentine Agriculture'' (Es. ''Anales de la Agricultura Argentina'') and the Zoological Periodical (Es. ''Periódico Zoológico''), two of the most important scientific publications of the era, describing species and investigation the effects of agricultural activities on the natural world. In 1877 he completed his journey through Patagonia with an expedition to the north, during which he crossed the Chaco providence, the
Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...
in the Andes and Cuyo providence. The botanical and zoological descriptions he collected on this trip were reviewed and published in the ''Board of Education Bulletin'' (''Boletín del Consejo de Educación''), and then led studies published through the
National Academy of Sciences of Argentina The National Academy of Sciences of Argentina was created in 1869 by President D. F. Sarmiento in the City of Cordoba, Argentina, as a scientific corporation supported by the Federal Government. It was the first Academy to be supported by the Federa ...
, the ''Annals of the Argentine Scientific Society'' and the ''Argentine Geographic Society'' magazine, as well as the book ''Mammals and Birds of Salta''. In 1878, along with the entomologist Enrique Lynch Arribálzaga, Holmberg founded the first magazine dedicated exclusively to biology in Argentina, ''The Argentine Naturalist''. Only one issue was published, but the quality of the material caused numerous scientific institutions around the world, including the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, to request copies. The magazine would then be translated through an important collaboration with the American Journal of Natural History, founded in 1891 by
Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...
.


Research and teachings

Holmberg abandoned the study of spiders relatively early, but he enthusiastically approached the exploration of the diversity of Argentine biology. From 1881 onwards he would systematically explore all the biomes of the country, collecting the results of his research in the monumental ''Scientific Results, especially those zoological and botanical of the three journeys carried out in 1881, 1882, and 1883 to the Tandil Mountain Range'' (Es''. Resultados científicos, especialmente zoológicos y botánicos de los tres viajes llevados a cabo en 1881, 1882 y 1883 a la sierra de Tandil''). The exploration of Chaco also included Ameghino, leading to the ignition of a long and fruitful collaboration between the two. Holmberg made several new scientific expeditions to the Tandil mountain range (1883), to Chaco (1885), to
Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...
, (1897), and to Mendoza.


The Buenos Aires Zoo

In 1888 he was appointed director of the
Buenos Aires Zoo The Buenos Aires Eco Park ( es, Ecoparque de Buenos Aires) is an park in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The former zoo, opened in 1888, contained 89 species of mammals, 49 species of reptiles and 175 species of birds, with a tot ...
, which he boosted greatly, in terms of both collection and infrastructure. Founded during the administration of President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the Zoo did not even have a definitive plan. Holmberg appointed a commission to this effect, composed of Florentino Ameghino, Carlos Berg and Lynch Arribálzaga, to which the current layout is due almost in its entirety. He would occupy the position of director until 1904, when he distanced himself from the organization after a disagreement with the municipal authorities. The grounds of the Zoo were a swampy shoal, divided by the tracks of the Northern Railroad and partly occupied by a shooting club. Holmberg had complete freedom for the redesign, which entailed the redirection and removal of the railway, the filling of the swamp, the layout of the paths and the construction of the pavilions; His idea was to design them according to the architecture of each region of origin, creating fantastic buildings of great architectural value. The largest of these pavilions had not yet been completed when he stopped working at the zoo. This was the Hindu temple destined to house the elephants, replica of a Hindu temple in Bombay designed by Vicente Cestari. With the idea of forming a diverse source of zoological training, Holmberg acquired European, African and Asian species to complement the rich fauna of the interior of the country. He also implemented changes in the treatment and feeding of wild animals, improved their visibility to the public, and encouraged the role of scientific dissemination of the zoological garden before the purely recreational.


Honours

In 1909, botanist Cristóbal Mariá Hicken (1875-1933),named a genus of
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s from southern South America, (belonging to the family
Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...
) in his honour '' Holmbergia''


Bibliography

* Bruno, Paula, ''Pioneros culturales de la Argentina. Biografías de una época, 1860-1910'', Buenos Aires, Siglo XXI Editores, 2011. * Holmberg E. L. (1881) "Aracnidos"
pages 117
168. In: Roca J. A. (ed.), Döring A., Berg C., Holmberg E. L. (1881) ''Informe oficial de la Co (Patagonia) realizada en los meses de Abril, Mayo y Junio de 1879, bajo.'' Buenos Aires. 168 pp. + 4 plates.
scan
. * Holmberg E. L. (1909). "Mollusca Geophila Argentina Nova". '' Apuntes Historia Natural Buenos Aires'' 1: 19–12. * Holmberg E. L. (1909). "Mollusca Argentina Varia". ''Apuntes Historia Natural Buenos Aires'' 1: 691–92. * Holmberg E. L. (1912). "Moluscos Argentinos en parte nuevos, coleccionados por Franco Pastore". ''Physis'' 1: 20–22.


See also

* :Taxa named by Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmberg, Eduardo Ladislao 1852 births 1937 deaths Argentine biologists Argentine male writers Argentine science fiction writers Argentine people of Austrian descent Holberg, Eduardo Ladislao Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery