Abstract

MORELOS RODRIGUEZ, Lucero. The Mexican Geological Society in its early years (1904-1912). Bol. Soc. Geol. Mex [online]. 2022, vol.74, n.1, e301121.  Epub May 02, 2023. ISSN 1405-3322.  https://doi.org/10.18268/bsgm2022v74n1a301121.

Mexico has a scientific tradition associated with geology and related disciplines dating back to the 18th century with the founding of the School of Mines of Mexico City, cradle of engineering and geological sciences in America. A Mexican engineer Antonio del Castillo (1820-1895) conceived the idea of creating the Geological Institute of Mexico in 1888, an institution dedicated exclusively to geology regardless of mining, which served as seedbed of institutions and societies. The founding in 1904 of the Mexican Geological Society by a group of engineers and science men led by José Guadalupe Aguilera (1857-1941), who were dedicated to geological science and attached to the Geological Institute of Mexico, represented one of the institutional efforts of the pioneers due to their organization, recognition and their developing of useful but unexplored knowledge of Mexican soil. Between 1903 and 1912, initiatives, meetings, statutes, the edition of the Bulletin as a vehicle for communication and expression were forged, along with the design of the emblem of Society, the organizing of excursions to sites of geological interest across the vast and unknown book of national nature. This, within the framework of a national academic project that included geology on the agenda of the Mexican State. It was also the heroic time of geology, as the rising scientific communities invented the discipline with the establishment of Geologist’s Day in Mexico, the confraternity and ties between the affiliated partners in the corporation - mine engineers, geologists, metallurgists and amateurs - and their link with the Geological Institute of Mexico, which from its origin served as the headquarters.In the following lines we seek to offer an outline of the dawn of one of the first scientific societies related to geology in Mexico, which corresponds to the years 1904 and 1912, the first of three historical moments it has had throughout its existence. This, in order to show how geological practice in the country was developed by the Geological Society of Mexico and the Geological Institute of Mexico, based on the revision of the first edited volumes of Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana and documentary, graphic and electronic sources preserved in archives and libraries that are part of Mexico’s memory and scientific documentary heritage.

Keywords : Mexican Geological Society (1904-1912); history of geology; Mexico; field trips; excursions.