Liborio Zerda

At the end of the 19th century, radioactivity was discovered. In these years Zerda published about the phenomenon and about ions and electrons

Liborio Zerda (Bogotá, Republic of New Granada, 10 July 1834 (other sources state 1830 or 1833) - Bogotá, Colombia, 9 November 1919) was a Colombian physician and Muisca scholar. Zerda has been important in the natural sciences of the late 19th and early 20th century in Colombia, publishing many articles about various topics, from medicine to chemical analysis, radioactivity and the popular drink chicha.

Zerda was contemporaneous with other Muisca scholars, and influenced by them; Joaquín Acosta and Ezequiel Uricoechea. He analysed the work done by José Domingo Duquesne on the Muisca numerals and published in 1883 his major work El Dorado about the mythical El Dorado, that he situated not in Lake Guatavita as is currently accepted to have been the site of the inauguration of the new zipa, but in the Siecha Lakes in the Chingaza Natural National Park.

Liborio Zerda taught at the Colegio del Rosario in Bogotá for 60 years and died on 9 November 1919 in the Colombian capital.

Biography Liborio Zerda was born on 10 July 1830, 1833 or 1834 in the capital of the then Republic of New Granada, Bogotá. He attended the Colegio de San Bartolomé, a strict school that prohibited their students to walk on the streets at night, enter houses with a bad reputation, playing games or read obscene books. His interest for natural sciences was born at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, where Zerda, as student of Joaquín Acosta, took classes in chemistry, geology and mineralogy. Liborio Zerda studied medicine at the Universidad Central in the capital, graduating in 1853. He became a medical practitioner in Bogotá right after finishing his studies and in 1854 gained his specialisation in surgery and military medicine. The frog was known from the Muisca calendar, that was first analysed by Duquesne. Zerda theorised that the well-known publication of Duquesne (Disertación sobre el origen del calendario y jeroglíficos de los moscas) was merely a summary of the larger work Anillo astronóomico de los moscas. Zerda did not analyse the work done on the Muisca calendar by famous naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who met Duquesne in Colombia in the early 19th century. Liborio Zerda wrote about a stone that represented the calendar, a similar stone as the Choachí Stone, which was found later. It has been thought possible by researcher Manuel Arturo Izquierdo Peña that the stone Zerda described was actually a mould used in the famous goldworking of the Muisca, to produce tunjos.

In the later chapters of El Dorado, Zerda draws comparisons between the origins of the indigenous peoples of the Americas with Africa and Asia, based on metalworking and ceramics. In his work, he described the ritual of El Dorado in sacred Lake Guatavita, represented in the golden Muisca raft, which was found after Zerda's death in Pasca, Cundinamarca. Deeply influenced by the ethnological works of Lubbock, De Mortillet and Broca, Zerda proposed a long chronology of the history of the Muisca. He defended the period of Spanish conquest to educate the primitive Muisca to a higher level. Zerda proposed the sacred Siecha Lakes were the actual site of El Dorado, later found to have been Lake Guatavita.

Liborio Zerda's research revealed the diet of the Muisca people was formed by the deer species Cervus virginianus, Cervus mexicanus and Cervus simplicicomis, and fish from the Funza and other rivers (Eremophilus mutisii and Grundulus bogotensis). The fish provided a source of iodine for the Muisca.

In 1885, Zerda described a mummy of a young girl, found in a cave on the Toquilla paramo within the municipality of Aquitania, at altitude. The mummy was decorated with golden objects and wrapped in cotton mantles. The body was organised in a squatting position.

He also wrote about Cuchavira, god of the rainbow of the Muisca.

Works This list is a selection.

Books 1883 - El Dorado; estudio histórico, etnográfico y arqueológico de los Chibchas, habitantes de la antigua Cundinamarca, y de algunas otras tribus 1880 - Monografía del caucho 1873 - Análisis industrial de diez y seis clases de ulla de los contornos de la sabana de Bogotà y una de Riohacha, practicado por Liborio Zerda 1866 - Hipiátrica, tratado de medicina del caballo

Articles 1910 - Reglamento para las escuelas normales 1906 - Fisica molecular 1906 - Hipotesis. Propuesta para explicar la radioactividad 1906 - Metodos para reconocer si una materia es radioactiva 1903 - Utilidad del estudio elemental de anatomia y fisiologia aplicables a las bellas artes 1893 - Acuerdo celebrado entre el gobierno y la consiliatura del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario 1892 - La balsa del dorado 1889 - Estudio quimico, patologico e higienico de la chica, [sic] bebida popular en Colombia 1889 - La ptomaina de la chicha 1881 - El eucalyptus 1881 - Construccion de un anfiteatro en el patio principal de San Juan de Dios 1871 - Programa de la clase de Metalurjia i esplotacion de minas 1868 - Escuela de ciencias naturales. Programa de física matemática i médica

Trivia The Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá has named an investigation prize after Liborio Zerda