Hispanic and Latino chemists you should know about
Credit: Antoninho Perri (Alves); Wikimedia Commons (Borrell Ruiz, del Río, Leloir, Miramontes, Molina, Stewart); University of Rochester/River Campus Libraries (Gerschman); Corbin O’Grady Studio/Science Source (Milstein); Associated Press (Villegas)
The contraceptive pill has been hailed as world-changing as the wheel, the printing press, and the internal combustion engine. Since its discovery in the 1950s it has liberated millions of women around the world—socially, sexually, and economically.
The birth control pill would not exist today without the work of Mexican chemical engineer Luis E. Miramontes. In 1951, Miramontes—a 26-year-old student at the time—synthesized norethindrone, the main component of the first effective contraceptive pill.
Miramontes is one of the scientists in this list of Hispanic and Latino chemists you should know about. This collection highlights the lives and careers of influential historical or recently deceased figures whose work has shaped our science and it follows collections that C&EN published to highlight the contributions of Black and LGBTQ+ chemists.
We hope these figures inspire future generations of chemical scientists—and not just Hispanic and Latino ones.
Take Mario Molina, the Mexican chemist who played a pivotal role in the discovery of the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer and who won a share of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on elucidating the mechanisms of the formation and decomposition of ozone in the stratosphere.
And there are lesser-known Nobelists. Argentine physician and biochemist Luis F. Leloir received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the metabolic pathways in sugars. César Milstein, also an Argentine biochemist, won a share of the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the chemistry of antibodies.
The list also includes scientists like Rebeca Gerschman, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Chemistry but died before she could receive it. She discovered that free radicals can cause oxygen toxicity and cell death. And we feature an element discoverer: Andrés Manuel del Río, the Spanish Mexican scientist who found vanadium in a piece of lead ore in 1801 but was not credited with the discovery at the time.
Ultimately, whether they are known or not, whether they’ve received accolades or not, they are trailblazing researchers, mentors, and educators that we should know about.