Perhaps the most well-known Cuban innovation is the vaccine CimaVax. Photo by Desmond Boylan/Reuters RIGHT: Farmer Carlos Frachi invented a crop irrigation system using soda bottles. He died in 2020. Ideas, Inspiration, and Giveaways for Teachers. Their flight marked the first engine-powered manned aircraft. 1970. Underground DJs like Joan Coffigny and the female duo Pauza spin at clubs like the Fabrica de Arte Cubano and house parties. Born in 1889 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Charles Terres Weymann would go on to become a leading light in coachwork technology, his designs featuring on many of the finest automobiles of his era. This makes finding one "cure" difficult, if not impossible. 5. Access to culture was a principal pillar of the communist system Fidel Castro installed in Cuba. Ruiz pays contacts in the U.S. to buy and bring the necessary technology to Havana. (July 4, 2014) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/an.1971.12.4.3.4/pdf, BBC. "Frank Asaro, Berkeley Lab Nuclear Chemist, Dies at 86." A quick glance at Luis Alvarez's array of research and engineering projects reveals why colleagues described him as the "prize wild idea man." She's also done training and curriculum design for a financial institution and been a science museum educator. His best-known invention, the Ochoaplane was a small flying machine with collapsible wings. He spent much of his career working for NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and his innovations in aerospace technology are legendary. A charger for non-rechargable hearing aid batteries. Working against a wide-ranging embargo from the neighboring United States, Cubans have been getting along without many basic goods for half a century. Known for: Edison and Teslas rivalry is well-known. The New York-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute is evaluating CimaVax for use in the U.S. May, Leopold. Photo by Edel Rodriguez.Read more about Cuban inventions in How communism turned Cuba into an island of hackers and DIY engineers. Please check your inbox to confirm. Known for: This Founding Father was an innovator in more ways than one, and he was among historys most famous inventors. Over time, he worked to develop the daguerreotype, the precursor of modern photography. However, most transactions between Cuba and the U.S. are still prohibited, which is why Cuban drugs face additional regulatory hurdles for testing and marketing compared to other drugs developed overseas. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1984." A reported 5,000 patients worldwide have been treated with CimaVax. "Luis Alvarez: 1911-1988." "Jacinto Convit." Maldacenas research on the duality of conjecture was so groundbreaking, the participants of a 1998 string theory conference wrote a song to honor him called The Maldacena (sung and danced to the tune of The Macarena. It was the 1990s, after all). It's also trying to get clinical trials underway to replicate Cuban scientists findings, per U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. Invention/discovery . In Cuba, theres hope that loosening restrictions will help it catch up with the 21st century. Scottron was a . What if we could clean them out? Their Cinmatographe was a three-in-one machine that could record, develop, and project films for an audience. The island nation, hemmed in by a 54-year trade embargo with the U.S., cant exchange goods with one of the worlds largest economies and the largest medical market. The most famous symbol of Cubas embargo-innovation balancing act are the vintage American cars. The late 20th century was marked by the recognition that humans could significantly affect the environment, even Earth itself. Now, theyre opening Facebook accounts, listing their homes on Airbnb, and watching Netflix. Cubans wait for the departure of a public bus built from a repurposed semi truck, commonly called ElCamello (The Camel). Read more about Cuban inventions in How communism turned Cuba into an island of hackers and DIY engineers Lamps made from household items like glass jars and toothpaste tubes. The New York Times. Try this: Check out this video to learn more about the Smart Grid and how its used. Mexican inventor Victor Ochoa was also a Mexican revolutionary. A small laptop mounted in a 1955 Ford Mercury. Born in Camaguey, Cuba, in 1948, Adalberto Alvarez was a famous Cuban pianist, musical director, and composer. Vol. Known for: Yet another artist-turned-inventor, Morse is best known for developing the electric telegraph, which allowed people to communicate over long distances nearly instantly. Try this: With a few basic supplies, you can experiment with dry cleaning at home. Countries of origin include: Argentina, Cuba, Spain, United States and Venezuela. After earning his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires, he worked at the Institute of Physiology with Bernardo Houssay. Top 100 famous female inventors in history 1. Known for: Da Vinci was the original Renaissance Man. On weekends, plazas are crammed with bands and dancers showing off their salsa moves. Photo by Ernesto Oroza & Penelope de Bozzi. Note: The first person of Latin American origin in space was Cuba's Arnaldo Tamayo Mndez in 1980, as part of a team from the Soviet Union. The man credited with one of the most important Mesoamerican discoveries in history started out lecturing on legal philosophy. Fidel died in late 2016, and now Cubans are watching to see what further technological advances will arrive on the island. He was the first African-American to hold a patent for a process known as dry scouring. Today, we call it dry cleaning. Sure, politicized scientific issues like global climate change might instigate rancorous debate, but this smoke, though toxic in its own way, is nothing compared to the fire under which teachers, intellectuals and scientists have lived during many authoritarian regimes. Try this: Use an app like Roblox to design and create your own video game experience. Learn more: Guglielmo Marconi (Brittanica). These animals can sniff it out. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Scientist. Cuban inventor Yolando Perez Paez uses his new makeshift crop spraying tool on a corn field at a farm near the village of Guira de Melenas in the province of Artemisa, some 50 km (31 miles). During that time, Finlay didnt give up on his research. 64, no. He shared the prize with Carl Cori and Gerty Cori (ne Radnitz), pioneers in understanding the catalytic conversion of glycogen [sources: Magill; Nobel Prize; USASEF]. In 1974, scientists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Jos Molina argued CFCs were not as harmless as they seemed. Try this: Franklin is famous for experimenting with electricity. Margarita Carmen Cansino was one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1940s and '50s. Nowhere is the old adage about necessity breeding innovation more true than in Cuba. Recruited by Booker T. Washington for the Tuskegee Institute, George did extensive work and study on agriculture. Known for: Woz and Jobs are two of the most famous inventors of the 20th century. Jill Staake is a Contributing Editor with WeAreTeachers. "Mario J. Molina -- Biographical." 1998. Ask kids to name famous inventors, and you might get Thomas Edison or Henry Ford. Gloria Estefan. Known for: One of the most famous inventors around, Bell gave the world the telephone. Born in Puerto Prncipe, Cuba, Finlay studied abroad before returning to Havana as a general practitioner and ophthalmologist with a penchant for scientific research. "The Leprosy Bacillus, Circa 1873." Before she spent her days overseeing Americas science and scientific education programs, Crdova conducted important research on X-ray and gamma ray sources, accretion discs, and black holes, publishing more than 150 scientific papers. Photo by Ernesto Oroza. Here are a few basic designs to get you started. Born in 1870 in Washington D.C. to a Mexican diplomat father, Mexia spent many years as a social worker before enrolling as an undergraduate at the University of California Berkeley and discovering her passion for botany. Milstein and his team developed a technique for the unlimited production of monoclonal antibodies, a type of antibody made by identical immune cells. List of Cuban Americans - Wikipedia List of Cuban Americans Lists of Americans By US state By ethnicity or nationality Afghan African Americans African-American Jews Albanian Algerian Amish Angolan Antiguan and Barbudan Arab Argentine Armenian Asian Assyrian Australian Austrian Azerbaijani Bahamian Baloch Bangladeshi Barbadian Belarusian Belgian He tested its efficacy in children against diffuse pontine glioma (aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumors) across multiple sites in Canada and the U.S., and found that the drug wasnt effective. But over the years, scientists have developed a variety of different treatments that can transform cancer into a chronic, survivable condition. It can be used as both a treatment for lung cancer patients and a preventive measure for people at high risk of the disease. Vol. George Washington Carver, though famous for his idea of peanut butter, did far more than that. Salsa and ballet have long been staples of Cuban culture, but other dance forms are arriving. "Death Notices (Alfonso Caso Andrade, Merle H. The following year, he and Felix Bloch pioneered measuring a neutron's magnetic moment, that is, its tendency to align with an applied magnetic field (an important clue that the neutrally charged particle is made of electrically charged fundamental particles). 1947. Known for: When the Wright Flyer I took off from Kitty Hawk and flew for 12 seconds, the Wright brothers made history! How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? Astrophysicist France A. Crdovawas the director of the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that develops programs to advance all fields of scientific discovery, from 2014 to 2020. Try this: Screen movies using a homemade projector built with a cardboard box and a magnifying glass. "All of these arcane rules and restrictions related to the embargo that are designed to block commerce with Cuba are keeping Americans from having access to these treatment opportunities," LaRame said. (July 4, 2014) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/60347/Baruj-Benacerraf, Encyclopedia Britannica. Photos by Ernesto Oroza & Penelope de Bozzi. Photo by Ernesto Oroza. (July 7, 2014) http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1970/leloir-bio.html. Sep. 29, 2006. This list may not reflect recent changes . The first, a child of Spanish immigrants, spent his life in his homeland and dedicated himself to the treatment of leprosy there; the second, born of Spanish Moroccan and French Moroccan parents, spent his formative years in Paris and most of his life in America, and studied the genetic causes of autoimmune diseases. Thanks to Milsteins work, monoclonal antibodies are now used in everything from diagnostic tests to the treatments of several autoimmune diseases to alleviating COVID-19. (July 7, 2014) http://faculty.cua.edu/may/Leloir.pdf, Meier, Natalie. Vol. Ochoa researched information processing at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center and listed as co-inventor on three patents in optics, object recognition and image processing. (July 7, 2014) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/383094/Cesar-Milstein, Encyclopaedia Britannica. (July 7, 2014) http://yellowfever.lib.virginia.edu/reed/finlay.html, Wohl, Charles G. "Scientist as Detective: Luis Alvarez and the Pyramid Burial Chambers, the JFK Assassination, and the End of the Dinosaurs." Music isnt the only art form transforming as Cuba opens. Electronics are still hard to buy in Cuba, and often come from relatives who live in the United States. She filed her patent in 1966, and it includes innovations still used today. famous cuban inventors Jan Matejko (1838-1893): He was a famous history painter and portrait painter. At the time, yellow fever still ravaged the tropics, terrorizing populations and disrupting shipping, especially in Havana [sources: Frierson; Haas; PBS; WHO; UVHSL]. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? In contrast, China has completed or is currently conducting at least 25 Nimotuzumab trials. These drugs aren't as fully developed as CimaVax, says Lee, but they appear to have great potential. Finlay noticed that yellow fever epidemics roughly coincided with Havana's mosquito season, but his mosquito-transmission hypothesis was met with disdain for decades until he convinced American military surgeon Walter Reed (like the hospital) to look into it. (July 4, 2014) http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1947/houssay-bio.html, Leloir, Luis. 1: Franklin Chang-Daz (1950-) and Ellen Ochoa (1958-), Anthropology News. Ted Cruz is the first Hispanic-American to serve as U.S. To wit: Mark Cuban. During his 75-year career, he received several honors, including Spain's Prince of Asturias Award and France's Legion of Honor. But Convit, who was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and died there a century later, extended his hand beyond the confines of the lab or doctor's office. Yellow fever was wiped out of Cuba as well as Panama, enabling engineers to finally complete the Panama Canal [sources: Haas; PBS; UVHSL]. Learn more: Thomas Jennings, Smithsonian Magazine. The electric engine from the widely-owned Soviet Aurika washing machine is commonly repurposed. 2. Since 2007, the most important method of distributing the Internet has been the El Paquete Semanalor, The Weekly Package. Since 2006, Cuba has had a drug for foot ulcers called Heberprot-P that prevents the need for amputations. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. An enduring early sex symbol, the Spanish-American actress, singer, and dancer starred in more than 60 films over nearly four decades. Since the Cuban government opened 35 wifi hotspots in parks and plazas across the island in July 2015, theyve become ubiquitous. Since then, researchers have applied his technique to other antibody hybrids and produced a versatile array of assays and diagnostics, including tools used in pregnancy tests, biomarkers, cancer treatments, highly specific vaccines, and blood and tissue typing [sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Chang; Telegraph UK]. All Rights Reserved. Here are a few basic designs to get you started. The seven-time Grammy Award winner. Known for: Kids may not give a lot of thought to cataracts, but they should still know about Dr. Bath. About 1.7 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and about 600,000 are expected to die of it. Dec. 8, 1995. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988." Known for: Petite has made major contributions to wireless technologies, including the components of the Smart Grid. Known for: If you love a good Netflix binge, thank Philo Farnsworth. "Leprosy Vaccine Scientist Dies, Aged 100." regional theatre auditions Before Argentine physician and biochemist Luis Federico Leloir did his groundbreaking research into the transformation of one sugar into another, combustion was well-understood, but synthesis remained a mysterious, largely guessed-at phenomenon. 6: Luis Alvarez (1911-1988) Father-and-son research team Luis and Walter Alvarez peer through a star dome, which shows the orbit and location, relative to Earth, of stars and constellations. Unfortunately, all of this creativity is motivated by profound poverty and desperation. Milstein was born to poor immigrant parents in Baha Blanca, Argentina, and attended the universities of Buenos Aires and Cambridge, where he earned his Ph.D. Joseph and John weren't the only black inventors involved in agriculture. Try this: Find an old CRT TV or monitor and learn how cathode ray tubes work using a strong magnet. Back in 1993, she also became the first woman to hold the position of NASA Chief Scientist. Photo by Rafael Perez/Reuters. "Luis Leloir -- Biographical." Photo by Ernesto. The drugs Cetuximab and Panitumumab, which are in the same class as Nimotuzumab but are available in the U.S., can cause unsightly and unpleasant acne-like rashes, while international reports about Nimotuzumab suggest its incidence of rash is a lot lower. His impact was felt through his extensive papers, his widely published textbook, "Human Physiology," and his organization of the Institute of Physiology at the University of Buenos Aires, which produced such medical luminaries as Luis Leloir and Csar Milstein, both on this list [sources: Magill; Houssay; USASEF]. (July 3, 2014) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1984458/Jacinto-Convit, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Biographies of famous latin or hispanic inventors from the latin world: Narciso Monturiol, Ellen Ochoa, Baruj Benacerraf, Carlos Finlay, Bernardo Houssay, Luis Federico Leloir, Milstein, Severo Ochoa de Albornoz, Santiago Ram Cajal and Miguel Servet.