Celebrating Hispanic Scientists During Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15th - October 15th is Hispanic Heritage month! This is a particular time to celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic Americans.

There are so many incredible Hispanic scientists blazing the trail in their respective fields but here are 10 that all people should know about:

1. Ellen Ochoa

1. She was a first generation college student, first attending San Diego State University before going to Stanford for her masters and Ph. D in electrical engineering.

2. She originally joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer

3. First Hispanic woman to go to space in 1993. Has since returned 3 more times and while aboard the space shuttle Discovery she studied to ozone layer.

4. She became the director of Johnson Space Center in 2013 and continued until 2018.

5. Passionate about encouraging females and minorities to pursue technical fields

6. Has most recently written a bilingual children's book called “We Are All Scientists”

7. “Leadership provides an ability to influence the things that you care most about” from her website

2. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski

1. A Cuban American scientist born in 1993 who is the youngest person in the world to build and pilot her own aircraft. Took her maiden voyage at just 16!

2. Has written many scientific papers including one while she was at MIT on electromagnetic memory which was cited by Stephen Hawking

3. Currently working on postdoctoral research at Princeton and you can read more about everything she's done on her website PhysicsGirl.com

4. “If I see that someone else has done something, and I want to do it, I think, “If they can do it, I can do it, too” (from YouTube Interview [24:05] at Misk Global Forum, 2017).

3. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz

1. In 2010 he was the youngest person (at 35) to be inducted into the Mexican Academy of Sciences

2. Completed his undergraduate education in Mexico in physics and his Ph.D in astronomy and astrophysics at Cambridge. Since he has earned many awards and completed fellowships at many institutions.

3. Currently researches violent universe phenomena like stellar explosions at UC Santa Cruz.

4. You can find him on twitter @astroenrico and find many great talks on TED Talks.

4. Franklin Chang-DÍaz

1. Born in Costa Rica in 1950, he became a mechanical engineer, physicist and astronaut after attending the University of Connecticut and MIT.

2. Was the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut in space (1986)

   1. Went on to fly 7 missions total and is tied for the record of most space flights

3. Founder of Ad Astra Rocket Company

4. Advocate for environmental protection and climate change

5. MarÍa Teresa Ruiz

1. Chilean astronomer who was the first woman to receive Chile’s National Prize for Exact Sciences and the first female to receive a doctorate in astrophysics from Princeton University.

2. She discovered the first brown dwarf star in 1995

3. She started the chemical engineering program at the University of Chile but decided to continue her studies in astronomy and became the first graduate of that program in 1971.

6. Helen RodrÍguez TrÍas

1. Studied medicine and started the first infant health clinic in Puerto Rico in 1960

   1. After 3 years, infant mortality in San Juan dropped by 50 percent according to the American Journal of Public Health.

2. Advocated for women of color rights throughout the 70’s and 80’s and was a founding member of the Committee to End Sterilization Abuse.

   1. In the 1980’s she was the director of New York State’s AIDS Institute where she advocated for women and children with HIV

3. Became the first Latina to be elected president of the American Public Health Association in 1993

7. Mario J Molina

1. First Mexican-born scientist to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry

2. Discovered the environmental threat posed by CFCs in depleting the ozone layer in the 1970’s

   1. His discovery was initially met with skepticism but is now widely accepted and his work lead to the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987

3. Advocate for climate change and environmental justice

4. Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013

5. His education spans far and wide. Originally studying in Mexico for his undergraduate studies in chemical engineering, moving to Germany for his masters, and then finally on to UC Berkeley for his Ph.D.

8. Carlos Juan Finlay

1. Cuban epidemiologist who is the pioneer in the study of Yellow Fever and discovered that it is transmitted by mosquitoes.

2. His research in 1881 and for decades after was met with ridicule.

3. Finlay did not give up on his research and spent 20 years continuing to refine his theory and prove everyone wrong.

4. In 1900 his ideas were finally accepted and therefore the disease was able to become eradicated from Cuba and Panama.

9. Pedro A. Sanchez

1. A Cuban born soil scientist who received his degrees from Cornell University and has dedicated his life's work to ending world hunger.

2. He spent many years working in third world countries fighting world hunger and within 5 years in Malawi, he had helped to double their crop yield by increasing productivity of tropical soil.

3. He is currently the director at the Earth Institute in the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program

10. France A Córdova

1. Dr. Córdova is an astrophysicist and conducted notable research on x-ray and gamma ray sources, accretion disks and black holes.

2. In 1993 she became the first woman and youngest person to hold the position of NASA Chief Scientist

3. She was the director of the National Science Foundation from 2014 to 2020, nominated by President Obama

4. She has worked for many higher education institutions and has received many awards and honorary doctorates.

Interested in learning about other amazing scientists? Check back for my article during Black History month or my Scientist of the Week presentation on Teachers pay Teachers.