Osvaldo Boelcke (1920-1990) Argentine botanist.
Argentine agricultural engineer, Osvaldo Boelcke dedicated his academic life to the study of Argentine pastoral species (particularly in Patagonia) and the Cruciferae family. Born in Buenos Aires he graduated from the University of La Plata as an agricultural engineer in 1945. While at university he spent much of his time at the Darwinian Institute of Botany in San Isidro, researching the seed morphology of agriculturally important Leguminosae, Mimosoideae and Cesalpinoideae for his thesis. Having graduated he became chief of the plant fodder section of the Experimental Station of Pergamino (1945-1949) and at the same time was head of practical work in the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of La Plata. In 1948 he was made an honorary collaborator of the Darwinian Institute of Botany and the following year began his teaching career lecturing agricultural botany in the Agricultural and Veterinarian Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Later he would become a professor and between 1971 and 1973 was director of biology and ecology in the same faculty. As a teacher Boelcke's enthusiasm inspired many young botanists who would go on to hold important positions within Argentine botanical institutes. In 1973 political occurrences in the country meant he had to leave UBA and continued his research at the Darwinian Institute where he spent the next ten years as an external researcher. Boelcke married Maevia Correa, a fellow botanist who spent much of her life working on the Flora Patagonica.
As a researcher Boelcke worked under the National Council for Research in Science and Technology (CONICET) from 1962 and on two separate occasions was a directive member. His research on pastures was renowned and in 1957 he was awarded the Holmberg prize. This same year he received a grant from the US government to study the organisation and problems associated with the study of native pastures. In 1960 Boelcke received a grant from CONICET to present at the International Congress of Pastures on Argentine Cruciferae types found in European herbaria. Boelcke was also highly influential as an administrator of Argentine botanical associations, directing the Society of Botany between 1965 and 1968. Later he was responsible for gaining funding for the International Biological Program and he presided over the Argentine Committee between 1967 and 1976. In 1975 a group of botanists was assembled under the Centre of Pharmacological and Botanical Studies (CEFYBD) of CONICET and he acted as head of this 'Unidad Botánica'. This same year he coordinated the Argentine sector of the Biological Transect of Austral Patagonia, the publications of which were praised on an international level. Boelcke is responsible for founding the journal Parodiana and for publishing over 50 journal articles, including floras and descriptions of new species and genera in Cruciferae and other groups.
IPNI standard form: Boelcke
