Skip to main content

Arturo Posnansky Biography

Arturo Posnansky

(Arturo or Arthur Posnansky; Vienna, 1874-La Paz, 1946) Bolivian archaeologist.Born into a family of Polish origin, he studied in his country and in Bavaria, and became an engineer and doctor in natural sciences.At the end of the 1890s, during the rubber rush, he worked in a river transport company, for which he made numerous expeditions and explorations through the Amazon of Bolivia and Brazil.On behalf of the company, he carried out the hydrographic survey of the Acre River.

Arthur Posnansky

When the independence movement broke out in the state of Acre in 1900, Posnansky supported the Bolivian government; During the war he made his river boat available to the authorities of La Paz, which he renamed Iris, to participate in the blockade of the Acre River.After the defeat of Bolivia in the war he decided to return to Europe.In 1903 he returned to Bolivia and established his residence in La Paz.He then began a brilliant and multifaceted scientific career as an engineer, explorer, anthropologist, archaeologist, historian, photographer, film director and owner of mines; Thanks to his scientific merits, the Bolivian government granted him Bolivian citizenship.

In the 1920s he founded the film production company Cóndor Mayku, with which he produced and directed numerous shorts, documentaries and feature films.One of the most important works produced by his production company was La Gloria de la Raza , a feature film that Posnansky himself directed in 1928.In this case, he used the cinematographic medium to disseminate his discoveries and draw attention to the monumental character of pre-Columbian civilizations.Posnansky was the central character in the film, in which, accompanied by a native as a guide, he visited the ruins of pre-Columbian cultures.

He dedicated a large part of his life to photographing, filming and studying the ruins of Tiwanaku, which, according to his investigations, was the city in which all the civilization of South America originated, a theory that was never accepted by the scientific community.He thought that the Tiwanaku culture had started in the region around 1600 BC.and lasted until 1200 AD.In 1922 he founded the Tiwanaku Archaeological Museum, which he endowed with an important collection of lithic pieces, ceramics and other samples of the Tiwanaku culture and other pre-Columbian cultures of the region.Posnansky also photographed mining towns, villages and numerous rural settlements, topics on which he published numerous books.

In the field of engineering, Posnansky focused his attention on the treatment of the waters of the highlands and their drainage to the western basin, then Bolivian territory.Around 1930 he proposed the construction of a dam near Lake Titicaca, which would be fed by diverted rivers from the Eastern Cordillera.In this way it intended to take advantage of the water for irrigation, the production of electrical energy and the creation of new navigable routes.In 1937 he spread his proposal to empty the waters of the Desaguadero River towards Pisagua through a complicated system of aqueducts and tunnels.With this project he intended to generate a large amount of electrical energy, which could even be exported to Argentina.

He was appointed by the Bolivian government as director of the National Museum of Bolivia.His prestige earned him the election of president of the Archaeological Society and the Institute of Folklore of Bolivia.He wrote numerous works throughout his life, among which are Tiwanaku and Islands of the Sun and the Moon; Tiwanaku, the cradle of American man; Prehistoric monuments of the Andean highlands; The Chipaya language; Anthropology and sociology of the inter-Andean races and of the adjacent regions .An eminent archaeologist and anthropologist, Arthur Posnansky brilliantly expounded his doctrines on the antecedents of the discovery of America and the origins of pre-Columbian civilization, and his scholarly work has an obvious literary interest due to its qualities.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva Biography

José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (Santos, Brazil, 1763-Niteroi, id., 1838) Brazilian politician and scientist.He traveled through Europe dedicated to the study of mineralogy, and came into contact with the Enlightenment.In 1819, with an established prestige, he returned to Brazil and was involved in the decisive events that took place in the then colony.Member of the Freemasonry and close collaborator of the future Pedro I, he contributed to the preparation of the independence movement of 1822, which proclaimed Pedro I Emperor of Brazil.Later, and in view of the new political events that distanced him from the king, he emigrated to France (1823-1829).In 1831, and after the monarch's abdication of his five-year-old son, the future Pedro II, he returned to Brazil as the young king's tutor.
Post a Comment
Read more

Joseph H. Maclagan Wedderburn Biography

Joseph H.Maclagan Wedderburn (Forfar, 1882-Princeton, 1948) British mathematician.Professor at Princeton University, he was editor of the Proceedings of the Edinburgh mathematical society (1905-1909) and the Annals of mathematics (1912-1928).He stated a theorem ( Wedderburn's theorem ) according to which every finite field is commutative.
Post a Comment
Read more

Georg Hermann Quincke Biography

Georg Hermann Quincke (Frankfurt am Oder, 1834-Heidelberg, 1924) German physicist.He studied at the University of Berlin, where he obtained his degree in 1865.He was an assistant professor at said University, in 1872 he was head of the University of Wurzburg and in 1875 of Heidelberg.He conducted research on the most well-known molecular phenomena, such as capillarity, flocculation, electrophoresis, and surface tension.He also investigated the phenomena of optical reflection on metal surfaces and optical interference.He built various measuring devices, such as an acoustic thermometer and a magnetic manometer.A certain device that allows the wavelength of sound waves to be measured through interference phenomena is called the Quincke tube.
Post a Comment
Read more

Jorge Negrete Biography

Jorge Negrete (Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno; Guanajuato, 1911-Los Angeles, 1953) Mexican singer and actor whose personal appeal and unmistakable voice raised him to the category of myth of the music of his country.His film appearances and his tumultuous romantic relationships with well-known stars of the moment undoubtedly contributed to this.In a Mexico that was still suffering from the aftermath of the civil strife of the Revolution, the patriotic style of Jorge Negrete's songs, in which values ​​such as virility, courage or family were extolled, took root in a society in need of myths on which to rebuild a national identity. Jorge Negrete At age 16 he entered the Military College; curiously, Negrete seemed to start a promising career: he soon graduated as a lieutenant in administration and, in 1930, he was already appointed second captain and carried out military studies in Paris and Rome.But in parallel to his military work, Negrete took singing classes with the prestigi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Georges Clemenceau Biography

Georges Clemenceau (Mouilleron-en-Pareds, 1841-Paris, 1929) French politician and journalist.As a journalist and leader of the parliamentary left, he was one of the most influential men in French politics in the late 19th century.During his second term as Prime Minister (1917-1919), he led the war effort that led France to triumph over the Axis powers, and played an essential role in the peace talks that concluded in the Treaty of Versailles, establishing himself as one of the most important figures in politics of his time. Georges Clemenceau He was the first of six children from a humble family.Born and raised in a region of strong traditionalism, Clemenceau received, however, from a very young age, the anticlerical and progressive influence of his father, Benjamin, imbued with the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.At the age of twelve he entered the Lycée de Nantes.During his student days in that city, he was introduced, through his father, into the politic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ivar Aasen Biography

Ivar Aasen (Volden, 1813-Oslo, 1896) Norwegian linguist and poet.Founder of the landsmaal or national language based on indigenous dialects.Self-taught, he is the author of a Grammar of Norwegian popular speech (1848) and of a Dictionary of Norwegian popular speech (1850).He also wrote botanical works, a collection of poems and a lyrical drama ( The heir , 1855).
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Zapiola Biography

José Zapiola (José Zapiola Cortés; Santiago, 1802-1885) Chilean musician and writer.Self-taught clarinetist, he is remembered as the author of the Yungay hymn (1839).Created in commemoration of the triumph of the Chilean forces against the troops of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation in the Battle of Yungay (1839), the lyrics of this hymn were written by Ramón Rengifo; The composition of the music fell to Zapiola.The Yungay anthem was publicly performed on April 8, 1839, the day the government offered festivities to celebrate the victory. José Zapiola José Zapiola developed an intense musical and institutional activity throughout his life.In charge of directing the military bands (1823-1832), he participated in the founding of the Santiago Philharmonic Society (1826) and the magazine Semanario Musical (1852).Later he was director of the Conservatory of Music (1857-1858) and teacher of the Cathedral of Santiago (1864-1874). In the political field he was the founder of the Societ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Joseph I Bonaparte Biography

José I Bonaparte (Ajaccio, France, 1768-Florence, 1844) King of Spain (1808-1812).Napoleon Bonaparte's older brother, he studied law and devoted himself to business.His brother appointed him King of Naples and, later, in 1808, of Spain, to which he immediately moved. José I Bonaparte When he arrived in Madrid, Spain was in revolt due to the mutiny of May 2, and he barely had time to settle down, as he had to leave hurriedly before the French defeat in Bailén.After the intervention of Napoleon himself, with the bulk of the French army, he was able to establish his government in the capital of the kingdom, but his liberal and enlightened measures met with popular hostility, which made him the victim of ridicule regarding his supposed alcoholism (he received the nickname by Pepe Botella ). After the battle of the Arapiles, and before the advance of the Duke of Wellington, he left Madrid taking a large amount of wealth, according to his detractors, and moved to Vitoria, where...
Post a Comment
Read more

Social classes in the Roman Empire: Patricios, Noble Commoners and Gentlemen Commoners

The Roman Empire has been one of the most powerful, extensive and important in the history of Humanity.Many peoples fell under the yoke of Rome, and today you can still admire the architectural remains of a civilization that reached a splendor almost absolute.However, in the Roman Empire there were great differences between the different strata that made up the society.Although from the oldest civilizations there were already different orders or "classes", today we focus on the different social classes in the Roman Empire: Patricios, Noble Commoners and Gentlemen Plebeians . Social classes in the Roman Empire The Roman civilization is one of the most complex societies of universal history.Given its long duration (since 8th century BC until the 5th century AD ) historians have divided the History of Rome into different historical periods: Monarchy, Republic of Empire .Today I propose you to enter the most splendid years of the Roman Empire ( sI and II BC .), ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heinrich maier Biography

Heinrich Maier (Heidenheim, 1867-Berlin, 1933) German philosopher.He produced a "critical realism", along the lines of H.Driesch.He is the author, among other works, of Aristotle's syllogistics (1896-1900) and of The philosophy of reality (1926-1935).
Post a Comment
Read more