Miguel Ignacio Lillo was an Argentine naturalist and professor.
Early life and education
Born in the city ofSan Miguel de Tucuman in 1862, Lillo was related to Lastenia Blanco, and journalist, Emilio J. Schleh. Miguel Lillo studied at the National School of Tucumán, graduating in 1881, but could not afford to continue formal university studies.
Career
Lillo was passionately devoted to various scientific studies, especially those pertaining to nature. After his formal education, he continued working as an assistant pharmacist in the Physics and Chemistry laboratories of the National College. By 1883 he had amassed a collection of plants from his local area comprising 700 specimens. He went to the National University of Córdoba for guidance from Federico Kurtz and the brothers, Oscar and Adolfo Döring and from whom he gained an appreciation of classification. In 1888 he published an interesting essay on the plants of Tucumán. Shortly after he was appointed assistant and student of Friedrich Schickendantz, chemist and director of the Municipal Chemical office of Tucumán; a post to which Lillo succeeded in 1892. In 1905 he published Fauna Tucumana, Aves containing their discoveries of new species; at that time already he had the largest collection of birds of his province. In 1914 the National University of La Plata awarded Lillo the title of Doctor Honoris Causa. After teaching chemistry and physics in the National School and the Normal school, from 1914 he lectured at the National University of Tucumán. He was appointed director of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Tucumán and member of the National Commission of Argentina flora. In 1918 he retired from teaching, but maintained the honorary position of director of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Tucumán. In December 1930, and shortly before his death, he donated all his property to the National University of Tucumán; this consisted of extensive grounds, a considerable sum of money, an extensive library and his zoological and herbarium collections consisting of more than 20,000 specimens of 6,000 different species. With this donation the National University of Tucumán established the Miguel Lillo Foundation in 1933. Miguel Lillo died in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán on May 4, 1931.
Activities
Miguel Lillo was an amateur naturalist: extremely shrewd and observant; erudite and gifted with an extraordinary scientific vocation. He specialised in botany, but also pursued other branches of science, including chemistry and zoology. He was dedicated to scientific research alternating with teaching. He made a notable contribution to the knowledge of the trees of Argentina and the botanical family of Compositae. He was also a keen ornithologist, a discipline in which he also became an authority. His interests extended beyond sciences to language, studying both classical literature and indigenous languages. He was a competent phytogeographer. Expeditions undertaken between 1885 and 1916 familiarised him with the province of Tucumán. He also toured much of Argentina, from Buenos Aires to the north, expeditions to the provinces of Córdoba and Santiago del Estero in 1885, to Cuyo between 1890–1891, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe from 1891–1902, to the province of Salta in 1894 and into Chile in 1895. Other expeditions included Formosa, Chaco and Mesopotamia, Argentina, including Martín García Island.
