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Originally Posted by Tiago
In a bar-room debate with a Nordic supermacist friend of mine, he put forward the viewpoint that Iberia had not produced any worthy mathematicians or scientists in the last 300 years. In his defence he was able to site the names of many world-reknown ones from N. and C. Europe as well as French and Italians, but no Spaniards or Portuguese; he had me on the ropes. A brief trawl using google when I got home (a bit drunk) didn't furnish me with any either, so I put the question to Stirpes members: can you name any famous Iberian mathematicians or scientsist of the last 300 years?
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I seem to run across this question a lot. Here's a partial list of well-known Spanish scientists from the last 300 years:
José María Algué (1856–1930), meteorologist, inventor of the barocyclometer, the nephoscope, and the microseismograph.
Ángel Cabrera (1879–1960), naturalist, investigated the South-American fauna.
Nicolás Cabrera (1913–1989), physicist, did important work on the theories of crystal growth and the oxidisation of metals.
Juan de la Cierva (1895–1936), aeronautical engineer, pioneer of rotary flight, inventor of the autogyro.
Josep Comas i Solá (1868–1937), astronomer, discovered the periodic comet 32P/Comas Solá and 11 asteroids, and in 1907 observed limb darkening of Saturn's moon Titan (the first evidence that the body had an atmosphere).
Fausto de Elhúyar (1755–1833), chemist, joint discoverer of tungsten with his brother Juan José de Elhúyar in 1783.
Jaime Ferrán (1852–1929), doctor and researcher, discovered several vaccines.
Manuel Jalón Corominas (b. 1925), inventor of a world-wide used "two-piece" disposable syringe (1978).
Carlos Jiménez Díaz (1898–1967), doctor and researcher, leading figure in pathology.
Gregorio Marañón (1887–1960), doctor and researcher, leading figure in endocrinology.
Narcís Monturiol (1818–1885), physicist and inventor, pioneer of underwater navigation and first machine powered submarine.
José Celestino Bruno Mutis (1732–1808), botanicist, doctor, philosopher and mathematician, carried out relevant research about the American flora, founded one of the first astronomic observatories in America (1762).
Severo Ochoa (1905–1993), doctor and biochemist, achieved the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA), Nobel prize Laureate (1959).
Mateu Orfila (1787–1853), doctor and chemist, father of modern toxicology, leading figure in forensic toxicology.
Joan Oró (1923–2004), biochemist, carried out important research about the origin of life, he worked with NASA on the Viking missions.
Julio Palacios Martínez (1891–1970), physicist and mathematician.
Isaac Peral (1851–1895), engineer and sailor, designer of the first fully operative military submarine.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934), father of Neuroscience, Nobel prize Laureate (1906).
Julio Rey Pastor (1888–1962), mathematician, leading figure in geometry.
Andrés Manuel del Río (1764–1849), geologist and chemist, discovered vanadium (as vanadinite) in 1801.
Pío del Río Hortega (1882–1945), neuroscientist, discoverer of the microglia or Hortega cell.
Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente (1928–1980), naturalist, leading figure in ornithology, ethology, ecology and science divulgation.
Margarita Salas (born 1938), biochemist, molecular genetist and researcher.
Esteban Terradas i Illa (1883–1950), mathematician, physicist and engineer.
Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852–1936), engineer and mathematician, pioneer of automated calculation machines, inventor of "automatic chess," pioneer of remote control, designer of the funicular over the Niagara Falls.
Josep Trueta (1897–1977), doctor, his new method for treatment of open wounds and fractures helped save a great number of lives during WW2.
Antonio de Ulloa (1716–1795), scientist, soldier and author; joint discoverer of element platinum with Jorge Juan y Santacilia (1713–1773).