Biography

Argentine botanist. Miguel Lillo, although professionally a chemist and teacher, was a self taught natural scientist who specialised in botany and was the first to collect plants extensively in the north of Argentina. Born in San Miguel de Tucumán he grew up as an only child in an environment of hard work, devotion and discipline. At school he was always very studious and showed good potential, entering the National College and continuing to develop an interest in natural history. Due to economic reasons, however, he finished his studies and never attended university but was a perfect example of an autodidact and amassed a great deal of knowledge in all aspects of natural sciences by reading extensively, developing a particular interest in botany.

Lillo was employed as an assistant pharmacist and later worked in the physics and chemistry laboratories of the National College. He began collecting plants, organising those he had collected around his home and making small trips further afield, and by the age of 21 he had already amassed 700 specimens. Lillo took the opportunity to travel to the University of San Carlos (Córdoba) where he met F. Kurtz and the Doering brothers and learnt to classify the plants he had found while also taking the time to collect further in the surrounding areas. In 1885 the Oficina Química Municipal was created and Lillo was put forward as the assistant to its director, the German chemist F. Schickendantz. Together they concentrated on the study of bromatology, especially the residual processes of the sugar making industry and wine fermentation, advising the government as to the safety of food produce. Later the director had a disagreement with the government so Lillo took over as official chemist of the province (1892) a role he would undertake for some 30 years. In 1887 he was made a temporary professor of chemistry at the National College, at just 24, and Lillo would continue to teach at secondary level whilst at the Oficina Química.

During this time he travelled all over the province, and over much of northern Argentina, collecting and classifying everything he found. All in all he completed more than 50 trips on horseback, riding long hours in remote locations, and in 1916 his final trip would take him to Chacó and Paraguay. Amongst the pioneers of botany in his country he was the first to collect in Tucumán and to keep his collections there, making a great contribution to the understanding of Argentine flora with his total of 70'000 labelled and classified specimens and 50 species named by him or for him. The Compositae were his family of choice and he also studied the phytogeography of Argentina. In active correspondence with all the naturalists of his country and many foreigners he also collected and published in the fields of zoology and entomology, making a considerable contribution to the understanding of local birds and Lepidoptera. In fact the only field of natural history that he did not dabble in was mineralogy, despite being a renowned chemist. Lillo also made regular meteorological observations which he sent to the National Observatory of Córdoba. Amongst his most important publications can be found Los Genera Plantarum y Animalium, a Flora Tucumana (1888), a Fauna Tucumana (Aves) (1905) and a publication on the trees of Argentina (1910).

Aside from the sciences Lillo also enjoyed languages at school and continued to teach himself Latin and Greek and to study local indigenous languages; he even made a dictionary of Quichua. A member of the founding council for the University of Tucumán, the government named him professor of chemistry in 1916 and following his retirement in 1918 he was made honorary director of the Natural History Museum at the same University. He was a corresponding member of the La Plata Academy of Sciences for Tucumán and he received a Doctorate Honoris causa from the University of La Plata, which he received in a big ceremony at his house where many intellectuals, government members and university authorities gave speeches. At the age of 70, having abandoned his professional roles but never his personal quest for knowledge, Lillo died of cancer. His collections now form the basis of the items held at the Foundation Miguel Lillo Institute (San Miguel de Tucumán), which serves as a highly renowned centre for research in the natural sciences. The botany journal of this institute, Lilloa, was named in honour of him, as was a small plaza near the foundation that contains a bronze bust of him.

Sources:
Torres, A., 1958, Lillo: Vida de un Sabio. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán.
Torres, A., 1970, Una Historia de Lillo Para Jóvenes. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán.
"Miguel Lillo", Fundación Instituto Miguel Lillo:
http://lillo.org.ar/content/blogcategory/52/83/.