Humberto Fernández Morán
| Humberto Fernández Morán | |
 Fernández Morán on the electron microscope at IVIC in the 1950s
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| Born | 18 February 1924 Maracaibo, Zulia, |
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| Died | 17 March 1999 (aged 75) Stockholm |
| Residence | Venezuela |
| Fields | Medicine |
| Institutions | Central University of Venezuela, NASA, MIT, University of Chicago, University of Stockholm |
| Alma mater | University of Münich |
| Known for | cryoultramicrotomy, electronic cryomicroscopy |
| Notable awards | Order of the Polar Star, John Scott Award |
Humberto Fernández-Morán (February 18, 1924 - March 17, 1999) was a Venezuelan research scientist born in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
He founded the Venezuelan Institute for Neurological and Brain Studies, the predecessor of the current Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC). He studied medicine at the University of Münich, where he graduated Summa cum Laude in 1944. He contributed to the development of the electron microscope and was the first person to use the concept of cryoultramicrotomy. He developed the diamond Knife and its applications for precise cuttings of biological tissues. He also worked on the concept of electronic cryomicroscopy, the use of superconducting lenses of liquid helium in electronic microscopes, among many other research topics things. He also helped in the improvement of the ultramicrotomes.
He was appointed minister of Science during the last year of the regime of Marcos Perez Jimenez and was forced to leave Venezuela when the dictatorship was overthrown in 1958. He worked at the NASA for the Apollo Project and taught in many universities, such as MIT, University of Chicago and the University of Stockholm.
In the United States he was proposed to be nominated for the Nobel Prize, which he rejected because to be nominated he would have had to accept American citizenship, which he refused, wanting to maintain his Venezuelan nationality.
His wife Anna was Swedish and together they had two daughters, Brigida Elena and Veronica.
The body of Dr. Humberto Fernández Morán was cremated and his ashes rest today in his second homeland, Stockholm, Sweden.
Inventions
External links
- The Patent of the Diamond Scalpel - September 1955.
- Research done for NASA by Fernández Morán