Abstract

BARREDA, Viviana D. The world of plants in the last 130 million years: The Museum and its researchers as propellants of knowledge. Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2012, vol.14, n.2, pp.175-187. ISSN 1853-0400.

: The magnificence and diversity of the extant flora, with plants adapted to almost all environments and latitudes throughout the world have originated, and originate, innumerable questions to all who study its fossil record. This Museum and its researchers have played a leading role in answering many of these questions almost from the very beginning. In early stages of the Museum the fossil plant record was highlighted by Hermann Burmeister and Florentino Ameghino, among others. After 1951, with the formation of the Paleobotany Division, the discipline began to have a significant rise in the Museum with growing and progressive incorporation of researchers, increase of scientific collections and the transfer of knowledge through scientific meetings and publications in renowned national and international journals. In this context, it is worth noting the task conducted by Dr. Alberto Castellanos and the first Heads of the Paleobotany Division: Drs. Carlos Menéndez (1951-1975), Wolfgang Volkheimer (1975-1987) and Sergio Archangelsky (1987-2006) who laid the foundations that would position the Museum as one of the most important centers in Argentina on the study of Paleobotany.

Keywords : Paleobotany; Argentina; MACN bicentenary; Researchers; Plant evolution.