Graciela Salicrup

Graciela Beatriz Salicrup López (México City, México, April 7, 1935 – July 29, 1982) was a Mexican architect, archaeologist, and mathematician. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was a pioneer in the field of categorical topology. Most of her work was published in Spanish, and her original contributions were not widely recognized until after her premature death.

Personal life Graciela Beatriz Salicrup López was born in Mexico City on April 7, 1935. As a child, she attended Colegio Alemán, a German language primary school in Mexico City, followed by a religious secondary school for girls. A professor at Colegio Alemán originally encouraged her, inciting an interest in mathematics that her family did not understand or support, even sending her to see a psychiatrist for "extravagance, disorientation, and a bit of madness," according to her friend Claudia Gomez Wulschner.

When asked how the story ends, Salicrup López states that she married him. She married the psychiatrist Armando Hinojosa Cavazos. They had three children: Ariel who pursued music, David who became an architect like his mother; and Mariana who studied ballet.

Salicrup Lopez had many interests and passions, especially for music and art. She loved the opera and visiting art exhibits. She also enjoyed literature and history.

Legacy

Shortly before her death, Graciela fell out with her mentor Roberto Vázquez and they stopped collaborating. In the summer of 1982, she was visited by Lamar Bentley and Horst Herrlich, with whom she planned to collaborate. Soon after this Graciela suffered a fall that hurt her badly. She did not recover and died on July 29, 1982.

The main hall of the UNAM Institute of Mathematics is named after her. Her research in categorical topology was published in 1986 by Horst Herrlich.

Selected publications

Architecture

Mathematics

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