Florentino Ameghino

Florentino Ameghino
Florentino Ameghino (in the 1890s)
Born	September 18, 1854 Luján
Died	August 6, 1911 Buenos Aires
Nationality	Argentine
Fields	paleontologist

Florentino Ameghino (September 18, 1854 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist.

Born in Luján of Italian immigrants (some sources state he himself was born in Italy), Ameghino was a self-taught naturalist, and focused his study on the lands of the southern Pampas. He formed one of the largest collections of fossils of the world at the time, which served him as base for numerous geological and paleontological studies. He also investigated the possible presence of prehistoric man in the Pampas and made several controversial claims about human origins in South America.

Image of Florentino Ameghino, by the sculptor Erminio Blotta

Ameghino was appointed professor of zoology at the University of Córdoba, subdirector of the La Plata Museum, and director of the National Museum of Buenos Aires.

He died from diabetes in Buenos Aires.

The crater Ameghino on the Moon is named in his honour. The Florentino Ameghino Partido and its head town of Ameghino, situated in the north-west of Buenos Aires Province are also named after him. The palaeontology journal Ameghiniana is named after Ameghino.

References

• Garate, Justo (1970). "Ameghino, Florentino". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 129-132. ISBN 0684101149. 
• Shampo, M A; Kyle R A (September 1987). "Argentinian paleontologist contributes to the understanding of humans and the environment". Mayo Clin. Proc. 62 (9): 855. PMID 3306184. 

External links

• Florentino Ameghino biography (Spanish)

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