De Lausanne aux forêts vénézuéliennes. Mission géologique de François de Loys (1892-1935) et les origines d'une controverse anthropologique

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Titre du document / Document title

De Lausanne aux forêts vénézuéliennes. Mission géologique de François de Loys (1892-1935) et les origines d'une controverse anthropologique = From Lausanne to the Venezuelan forests. Geological mission of François de Loys (1892-1935) and the origins of an anthropological controversy

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

VILORIA A. L.⁽¹⁾ ; URBANI F.⁽²⁾ ; MCCOOK S.⁽³⁾ ; URBANI B.⁽⁴⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾Museo de Biología, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, La Universidad del Zulia, Apartado 526, Maracaibo 4011, Zulia, VENEZUELA
⁽²⁾Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 47.028, Caracas 1041-A, D. F., VENEZUELA
⁽³⁾Programme in History of Science and Technology, 146 Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St. SE, Minneapolis MN 55455, ETATS-UNIS
⁽⁴⁾Sociedad Venezolana de Espclcología, Apartado 47.334, Caracas 1041-A, D. F., VENEZUELA

Résumé / Abstract

François de Loys (1892-1935), a geologist from Lausanne, was one of the pioneers of oil exploration in the remote rain forests south west of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. As a field geologist, he participated in expeditions to Europe, Africa and America during the golden age of great oil discoveries. However. Dr de Loys is less known for his geological achievements than for the discovery of a primate with exceptional features in the forests of western Venezuela. His photographic document and testimony, presented for the first time by the Swiss anthropologist Georges Montandon, led to a controversy around what the latter claimed to be the discovery of an anthropoid ape in South America. Montandon's hypothesis was initially accepted and defended by French scientists, but radical criticisms, especially from Great Britain and North America, rapidly brought the case to an end in the 1930s, when it was finally regarded as a hoax. However, there seems to be no sufficient reasons to deny the veracity of the discovery and the seriousness of de Loys and its mentor Montandon. Nowadays, the story is still eventually recalled as an unresolved case.

Revue / Journal Title

Bulletin de la Société vaudoise des sciences naturelles ISSN 0037-9603 CODEN BSVAA6

Source / Source

1999, vol. 86, n^o3, pp. 157-174 (3 p.1/2)

Langue / Language

Français

Editeur / Publisher

Payot, Lausanne, SUISSE (1867) (Revue)

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 4319, 35400008976582.0010

Nº notice refdoc (ud4) : 1953332