06012015Mon
Last updateFri, 29 May 2015 4pm

Jalisco’s most famous paleontologist passes at 92

The Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) gave Federico Solorzano Barreto a solemn and dignified send off at the Paraninfo Enrique Diaz de Leon after the famed local paleontologist died at the age of 92 this week.

While perhaps best know for his vast collection of 9,500 fossil specimens, many of which are on display in Guadalajara’s Museo de Paleontologia, Solorzano spent 55 years on the UdG teaching roster, and was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by his alma mater.

The winner of the 1992 Jalisco Prize for Science, as well as many other awards, Solorzano carried out research for the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH) since 1973. He has served as director of the Museo Regional de Guadalajara’s prehistory and paleontology department and published a swath of research and academic papers.

Colleagues say Solorzano’s relentless investigations are responsible for much of the current knowledge on the prehistory of western Mexico.  He also penned the first few chapters in the Jalisco government’s published volume “Historia de Jalisco.”

Solorzano was a founder member of the Geology and Mineralogy Institute of Jalisco and Natural Sciences Institute of Jalisco, and a member of the country’s geography and paleontology societies.

The fascinating Museo de Paleontologia by the entrance to Guadalajara’s Agua Azul Park is perhaps his most lasting legacy.