10 Filipino and 10 foreign scientist and their contributions to science

By : Meg Nina Carlyle Balamon

Filipino Scientists and their contributions

Magdalena C. Cantoria, Ph.D., Botany — With an extensive education in the fields of pharmacy and botany and degrees in these same fields gathered both here and in the United States, Cantoria focused her research efforts on the morphology, physiology and biochemistry of drug plants. She has done basic studies on the pharmacognosy (study of medicines derived from natural sources) of agar, rauwolfia, datura, mint and Piper species. For her research paper on the morphology and anatomy of rauwolfia vomitoria Afz., Cantoria received the Edwin Leigh Newcomb Award in pharmacognosy given by the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education in 1954. She again received this award in 1962 for her research work on the growth and development of Daturia strasmodium L. She is also the recipient of the Phi Sigma awards for marked distinction in biology in in 1951 and was proclaimed the Most Outstanding Phi Sigman in 1977.

Paulo C. Campos, MD is noted for his work in nuclear medicine. As a health scientist, Campos authored and co-authored 75 scientific publications, some of which have won awards. Three of his works, titled Observation of Some Parameter of Insulin Action, Cr-51 Tagged Red Cell Studies and The Genetic Factor in Endemic Goiter, have won the first prize in Research Award. For his achievements in the field of medical research, Campos was named conferred the Gregorio Y Zara award as an outstanding scientist by the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science (PAAS). He was credited for establishing the first known radioisotope laboratory in the country and the first research laboratory of the University of the Philippines Medicine Department. He also established the Thyroid Clinic of the UP-PGH.

Pedro B. Escuro, Ph.D. Genetics and Plant Breeding — As a scientist Escuro has made significant contributions to rice breeding as plant breeder Professor extension worker and consultant in agricultural projects. He provided leadership in the development, isolation and release of nine Seed Board rice varieties: Milpal 4, HBD-2, Azmil 26 and C-22 (upland) and C-18, C4-63, C4-137, C-168 and C-12 (lowland). Escuro has 18 honors and awards to his name, including two Presidential awards – the Presidential Plaque of Merit for outstanding accomplishments in rice improvement (1967) and the Rizal Pro Patria award for his outstanding contribution to rice breeding and genetics. He also received the University of the Philippines Distinguished Professorial award in agriculture (1973) and D. Sc. honoris causa in 1974, and the 1974 Ayala award in agricultural science.

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Jose N. Rodriguez, MD Leprology — He is a renowned Filipino leprologist and researcher who has devoted 53 years of his life to the control of leprosy in the country. As one of the few pioneers in the early fight against leprosy worldwide, Rodriguez proposed a leprosy control program which was adopted by the Philippines and other Asian countries. He has written many scientific articles on leprosy which have been published in various medical journals all over the world and which are considered classic texts in leprosy research. In recognition of his untiring struggle to control and eradicate leprosy in the Philippines, he is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the 1974 Damien Dutton Award. (NO PICTURE AVAILABLE)
Dr. Benjamin Cabrera published more than a hundred scientific studies concerning medical parasitology and public health. He also developed innovations in drug treatments against diseases caused by mosquitoes and agricultural soil. In 1961, together with Lee M. Howard, he made the first field study of simian malaria in the Philippines, and found that malaria occurred in 8.6 percent of the animals tested. Although the study was very limited, the report suggested that the simian reservoir of malaria is probably of limited significance for the human population in the Philippines.
For his work on filariasis, Dr. Cabrera received the Philippine Legion of Honor, a Presidential Award in 1996. With the elucidation of the epidemiology and life cycles of filarial parasites, preventive measures in the form of drug treatment of human cases as well as measures against the mosquito vectors can be implemented. Dr. Cabrera also worked on the control of ascariasis. With the model he proposed, hazards produced by these soil-transmitted helminths can be reduced. Lourdes J. Cruz is a biochemist whose research has contributed to the understanding of the biochemistry of toxic peptides from the venom of fish-hunting Conus marine snails. The characterization of over 50 biologically active peptides from the snail's venom had been made possible, in part, by her studies. She also contributed to the development of conotoxins as tools for examining the activity of the human brain. For instance, w-conotoxin is widely used for studying neutral calcium channels and m-conotoxin is used when muscular activity must be controlled to examine events at the synapse. Dr. Cruz' scientific awards include: the NAST Outstanding Young Scientist Award,1981; the NRCP Achievement Award in Chemistry, 1982; and the Outstanding Women in the Nation's Services Award (Bio-chemistry).

Agapito Flores has been acclaimed by some as being the inventor of the first fluorescent lamp. However, the dates are all wrong for this being possible. The following points have been taken from "The History of Fluorescent Lights". It has been reported that Agapito Flores received a French patent for a fluorescent bulb and that the General Electric Company bought Flores' patent rights and manufactured and sold his fluorescent bulb (making millions from it). However, all the inventors named above and more predate Agapito Flores' possible work on any fluorescent bulb.

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Benjamin Almeda, Sr. is the inventor and designer of various original food processing machines, earning him the title of Father of Filipino Inventors. Almeda invented most of the food processing devices seen all over the Philippines, including the rice grinder, the coconut grater, and the meat grinder. In 1954 he started the Almeda Cottage Industry, which manufactured his inventions. The company prospered and later changed its name to Almedah Food Machineries, Inc. Benjamin's youngest son, Carlos Almeda, a physician, now leads the business, as it continues to produce more food processing machines.

Gregorio Y. Zara, D.Sc. Physics — His important achievements include: the invention of the two-way television telephone, the discovery of electrical kinetic resistance known as the Zara effect, the invention of an airplane engine that runs on alcohol instead of aviation fuel and methods by which solar energy can be harnessed. Zara’s airplane engine was successfully tested in a test flight conducted at the Manila International Airport (now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport) on Sept. 30, 1954. For having completed over 40 research papers and making 20 outstanding contributions to science, Zara received many awards, including the Presidential Diploma of Merit. He was conferred the Distinguished Service Medal in 1959 for his pioneering works and achievements in solar energy research, aeronautics and television. Zara was also given the Presidential Gold Medal and Diploma of Honor for Science and research in 1966; the Cultural Heritage Award for Science Education and Aero Engineering in 1966. Ramon Barba- Filipino scientist, Ramon Barba is best known for his advancements in mango farming research and tropical tree physiology. Ramon Barba invented techniques to promote crop flowering using a potassium nitrate spray. The Philippines is a leading exporter of mangoes and mango products. Ramon Barba has advanced the research for many tropical crops including bananas, cassava, sugarcane on plant physiology and plant breeding.

Foreign Scientists and their contributions

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom with the atomic nucleus at the centre and electrons in orbit around it, which he compared to the planets orbiting the Sun. He helped develop quantum mechanics, in which electrons move from one energy level to another in discrete steps, instead of continuously. He founded the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, now known as the Niels Bohr Institute, which opened in 1920. Bohr mentored and collaborated with physicists including Hans Kramers, Oskar Klein, George de Hevesy and Werner Heisenberg. He predicted the existence of a new zirconium-like element, which was named hafnium, after Copenhagen, when it was discovered. Later, the element bohrium was named after him. He conceived the principle of complementarity: that items could be separately analysed as having contradictory properties, like behaving as a wave or a stream of particles. The notion of complementarity dominated his thinking on both science and philosophy. Isaac Newton - Newton's Principia formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that dominated scientists' view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. It also demonstrated that the motion of objects on the Earth and that of celestial bodies could be described by the same principles. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from his mathematical description of gravity, Newton removed the last doubts about the validity of the heliocentric model of the cosmos.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours of the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound. In addition to his work on the calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, and developed Newton's method for approximating the roots of a function. Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist who was one of the most important founders of medical microbiology. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to treat milk and wine in order to prevent it from causing sickness, a process that came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. He worked chiefly in Paris. Pasteur also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the molecular basis for the asymmetry of certain crystals. His body lies beneath the Pasteur Institute in a spectacular vault covered in depictions of his accomplishments in Byzantine mosaics. In 1887 he founded the Pasteur Institute.

Michael Faraday, FRS was an English scientist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include those of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.Although Faraday received little formal education he was one of the most influential scientists in history. It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. He similarly discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and the laws of electrolysis. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion. Faraday ultimately became the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a lifetime position. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRSwas an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a member of the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami, and spent the last decade of his life at Florida State University.Among other discoveries, he formulated the Dirac equation, which describes the behaviour of fermions and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1933 with Erwin Schrödinger, "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory." He also did work that forms the basis of modern attempts to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics.He was regarded by his friends and colleagues as unusual in character. Albert Einstein said of him "This balancing on the dizzying path between genius and madness is awfull referring to his autistic traits. His mathematical brilliance, however, means he is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century.

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (February 20, 1844 – September 5, 1906) was an Austrian physicist whose greatest achievement was in the development of statistical mechanics, which explains and predicts how the properties of atoms (such as mass, charge, and structure) determine the visible properties of matter (such as viscosity, thermal conductivity, and diffusion).

Sir Joseph John "J. J." Thomson, OM, FRS (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a British physicist. He is credited with discovering electrons and isotopes, and inventing the mass spectrometer. Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the electron and for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases.

Enrico Fermi (was an Italian theoretical and experimental physicist, best known for his work on the development of Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics. Along with Robert Oppenheimer, he is referred to as "the father of the atomic bomb". He held several patents related to the use of nuclear power, and was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity and the discovery of transuranic elements. Throughout his life Fermi was widely regarded as one of the very few physicists who excelled both theoretically and experimentally.Fermi's first major contribution was to statistical mechanics. After Wolfgang Pauli announced his exclusion principle in 1925, Fermi followed with a paper in which he applied the principle to an ideal gas, employing a statistical formulation now known as Fermi–Dirac statistics. Today, particles that obey the exclusion principle are called "Fermions". Later Pauli postulated the existence of an invisible particle with no charge that was emitted at the same time an electron was emitted during beta decay in order to satisfy the law of conservation of energy. Fermi took up this idea, developing a model that incorporated the postulated particle, which Fermi named the "neutrino". His theory, later referred to as Fermi's interaction and still later as the theory of the weak interaction, described one of the four forces of nature. Through experiments inducing radioactivity with recently discovered neutrons, Fermi discovered that slow neutrons were more easily captured than fast ones, and developed a diffusion equation to describe this, which became known as the Fermi age equation. He bombarded thorium and uranium with slow neutrons, and concluded that he had created new elements, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize, but the new elements were subsequently revealed to be fission products.

Professor Dmitri Mendeleev published the first periodic table of the chemical elements in 1869 based on properties which appeared with some regularity as he laid out the elements from lightest to heaviest. When Mendeleev proposed his periodic table, he noted gaps in the table, and predicted that as-yet-unknown elements existed with properties appropriate to fill those gaps. The four predicted elements lighter than the rare earth elements, ekaboron (Eb), ekaaluminium (Ea), ekamanganese (Em), and ekasilicon (Es), proved to be good predictors of the properties of scandium, gallium, technetium and germanium respectively, which each fill the spot in the periodic table assigned by Mendeleev. Initial versions of the periodic table did not give the rare earth elements the treatment now given them, helping to explain both why Mendeleev’s predictions for heavier unknown elements did not fare as well as those for the lighter ones and why they are not as well known or documented. Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (also Antoine Lavoisier after the French Revolution; 26 August 1743 – 8 May 1794; French pronunciation:, the "father of modern chemistry,"was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology. He named both oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783) and predicted silicon (1787). He helped construct the metric system, put together the first extensive list of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature. He was also the first to establish that sulfur was an element (1777) rather than a compound. He discovered that, although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same.