Humberto Fuenzalida Villegas (1904–1966) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an geologist, paleontologist and geographer. Fuenzalida headed in turn the geography and geology departments of the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

,Recordando a Don Humberto, Estanislao Godoy. being also founder of Sociedad Geológica de Chile, a professional society grouping Chile's geologists. In 1938 he took charge of the geological and paleontological collection of Chilean National Museum of Natural History by request of

Ricardo E. Latcham Ricardo Eduardo Latcham Cartwright (Thornbury, England, 5 March 1869 - Santiago, Chile, 16 October 1943) was an English-Chilean archaeologist, ethnologist, folklore scholar and teacher. Born and raised near Bristol, England, as Richard Edward La ...

. In 1948 he became director of the museum holding that post until 1964 when he was succeeded by

Grete Mostny Grete Mostny (17 September 1914 – 15 December 1991) was a Jewish Austrian who became a leading Chilean anthropologist. She was born in Austria but had to leave because of the rise of the Nazis. She went to Belgium to complete her studies before ...

. Fuenzalida championed the establishment of a geology degree in the University of Chile, leading a successful effort in 1961. In the 1926–1930 period Fuenzalida studied in Sorbonne, Paris with teachers such as Emmanuel de Martonne, Émile Haug and León Lyteaud. He died in 1966 after a long period of illness.Eusebio Flores S. (1966). "Dr. Humberto Fuenzalida Villegas".

Career as scientist

The work of Fuenzalida spanned the whole Chilean territory, studying the geology around Puelo River, the volcanoes of Maule Region (

Quizapu Cerro Azul (, ''blue hill'' in Spanish), sometimes referred to as Quizapu, is an active stratovolcano in the Maule Region of central Chile, immediately south of Descabezado Grande. Part of the South Volcanic Zone of the Andes, its summit is a ...

, Descabezado Grande, Descabezado Chico), Arauco Basin, Magallanes Basin, plus the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Chilean Antarctica The Chilean Antarctic Territory or Chilean Antarctica (Spanish: ''Territorio Chileno Antártico'', ''Antártica Chilena'') is the territory in Antarctica claimed by Chile. The Chilean Antarctic Territory ranges from 53° West to 90° West and f ...

. In addition he did some confidential work for ENAP and a work on the borders between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...

at a time the

Beagle conflict The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war i ...

was latent. Subjects he dealt with include sea-level change, the

Andean orogeny The Andean orogeny ( es, Orogenia andina) is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along ...

(within a Geosynclinal theory framework), volcanism in Chile and Antarctica, sand dunes,

economic geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography. There is, primary sect ...

, and reflections on figures such as

Juan Ignacio Molina Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (; (June 24, 1740 – September 12, 1829) was a Chilean Jesuit priest, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist, and linguist. He is usually referred to as Abate Molina (a form of Abbot Moli ...

Claudio Gay Claude Gay, often named Claudio Gay in Spanish texts, (March 18, 1800 – November 29, 1873), was a French botanist, naturalist and illustrator. This explorer carried out some of the first investigations about Chilean flora, fauna, geology and ge ...

Diego Barros Arana Diego Jacinto Agustín Barros Arana (; August 16, 1830 – November 4, 1907) was a Chilean professor, legislator, minister and diplomat. He is considered the most important Chilean historian of the 19th century. His main work ''General History of ...

and

Physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere ...

and climatology were Fuenzalida's research interests of choice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuenzalida Villegas, Humberto 1904 births 1966 deaths Chilean geographers 20th-century Chilean geologists Chilean paleontologists Chilean climatologists Chilean volcanologists People from Curicó University of Chile alumni University of Chile faculty Employees of the Chilean National Museum of Natural History 20th-century geographers