JORGE ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ-TAMAYO (13 de noviembre de 1940 – 20 de enero de 2014)

Resumen

Roberto González-Tamayo was born “by a twist of fate”, he said, in Mexico City on November 13 1940, but around his first birthday his parents

moved to the town of La Barca, Jalisco, and then to Guadalajara, where he received his education. Amancio Rodríguez, one of his high school teach- ers, had a private collection of wild orchids, and when they blossomed he would take them to the classroom, to the delight of his students. Thus was born González-Tamayo’s interest in these fasci- nating organisms. But it was Dr. Salvador Rosillo de Velasco who provided him with the bases for his taxonomic work. At that time, knowledge of orchids focused on 50 Mexican species and clas- sifying them was a rather daunting task.

Today, the number of species found in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, alone is around 500!