Remarkable Filipino Scientists and their inventions you need to know
1. Fe del Mundo
Born in Intramuros, Manila, on November 27, 1911, Fe del Mundo founded the very first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and molded the modern child healthcare system to what it is now. She graduated from the University of the Philippines and continued her studies at Boston University.
Her work and accomplishments were focused on addressing the lack of medical equipment in rural communities during the aftermath of the war. She is most reknown for inventing an incubator made out of bamboo specifically designed for places without electrical power.
Here are few things she is known for:
1st woman pediatrician to be admitted to Harvard Medical School (1936).
1st woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines (1980).
Founded the 1st pediatric hospital then Children Medical Center, and now Fe Del Mundo Medical Center.
She is credited with studies that lead to the invention of the first incubator and jaundice-relieving device.
Received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award as a “Woman Doctor of World Reknown”.
Received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for “Outstanding Public Service”.
Received the 15th International Congress of Pediatrics Award as the “Most Outstanding Pediatrician and Humanitarian” in (1977).
2. Diosdado “Dado” Banatao
Born in Iguig, Cagayan on May 23, 1946, Diosdado “Dado” Banatao’s story is a success story of rags to riches. His family worked on a rice farm and went to school barefooted. He studied hard and graduated from Ateneo de Teguegarao Highschool and later earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from the Mapua Institute of Technology as cum laude.
He joined Philippine Airlines as a trainee pilot and later landed a job at Boeing as a design engineer and gave him the opportunity to stay in the US. He then pursued his studies in Stanford for his Masters of Science. Later, he joined the Homebrew Computer Club, where he met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
His first major accomplishment was the design and invention of the first single chip 16-bit microprocessor based calculator. This would lead him later to develop the first system logic chip set for IBM, the first Windows Graphics accelerator chip for PCs.
He is now a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and philanthropist with the aim of furthering education and study of the next generation.
He has received the following awards:
1993 Asian Business League of San Francisco; Asian Leadership Award
1997 Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos Pamana ng Filipino Award
1997 Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine, and Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award
2011 Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA); Kalampusan Award Corporate Achievement
3. Ramon Barba
Born in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte on August 31, 1939, Ramon Cabanos Barba was a horticulturist and is the reason why we have mangoes to eat every season rather than waiting all year.
He graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Banos with a BS in Agriculture majoring in Agronomy and fruit production. He furthered his education in the University of Georgia and graduated with a Masters in Horticulture in 1962 and took his PhD in Plant Physiology in University of Hawaii at Manoa.
His research focused on inducing flowering of mangoes out of season (April- May) using potassium nitrate. This lead to fruiting several times a year without harming the plants. He also choose to not file a patent to his research so that farmers were free to use his research at no cost.
Ramon’s achievements did not stop with mangoes. He also made breaking research in Bananas, Sugarcanes, Calamansi (Filipino lemon), and other fruits and vegtables that led a boom in the agriculture market.
He was added as a national scientist of the Philippines in 2014.
4. Abelardo Aguilar
After discovering an antibiotic derived from a type of bacteria found on his own farm in 1949, a Filipino scientist became famous. Dr. Abelardo Aguilar identified a strain of bacteria while studying soil samples from his own lawn, which led to the discovery of Erythromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is now widely used.
Erythromycin is an antibiotic that is used to treat and prevent a variety of infections in the body. Illnesses of the respiratory system and skin, as well as acute pelvic inflammatory disease, pertussis, Legionnaire's disease, and syphilis, are among these infections. It's also used as a penicillin substitute for those who are allergic to the antibiotic.
Dr. Aguilar worked for the Eli Lily Company in the United States of America at the time of his discovery. He provided the soil samples to his company in good faith, and they worked on isolating Erythromycin from a bacterial strain detected in the samples. It was a Streptomyces Erythreus strain that produced Erythromycin as one of its metabolic products.
The substance was first sold in 1952 under the brand name Ilosone (the place in the Philippines where it originated). Unfairly, Eli Lily Co. filed for both patent protection and a US patent without paying Dr. Aguilar any royalties or credit for his invention. Following that, he fought for what he was owed in a 40-year battle.
5. Maria Orosa y Ylagan
Born in Taal, Batangas in 1892, Mara Orosa e Ylagan was a Filipino food technologist, pharmacist, humanitarian, and military hero. She experimented with Filipino cuisine and invented Soyalac, a nutrient-rich drink made from soybeans, and Darak, rice biscuits containing vitamin B-1, which prevents beriberi sickness, during WWII. She also assisted in the smuggling of thousands of Filipinos, Americans, and other nationals into Japanese-run detention camps. She was the first to bring banana ketchup to the general audience.
During World War II, Orosa fought alongside Marking's Guerrillas for the liberation of the Philippines. During her lifetime, she created over 700 recipes, including Soyalac and Darak, which saved thousands of lives during WWII. She also devised a method of canning goods for the guerilla fighters fighting for the Philippines' independence. Thousands of people would have died in internment camps, hospitals, and on the streets if it hadn't been for her food inventions.
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