Humberto Fernández-Morán

Humberto Fernández-Morán Villalobos (February 18, 1924 – March 17, 1999) was a Venezuelan research scientist born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, renowned for inventing the diamond knife or scalpel, significantly advancing the development of electromagnetic lenses for electron microscopy based on superconducting technology, and many other scientific contributions.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Fernández-Morán and the second or maternal family name is Villalobos.
Humberto Fernández-Morán Villalobos
Fernández-Morán Villalobos on the electron microscope at IVIC in the 1950s
Born(1924-02-18)18 February 1924
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Died17 March 1999(1999-03-17) (aged 75)
Stockholm, Sweden
Alma mater
Known forDiamond knife
Founder of IVIC
Cryoultramicrotomy
Electron cryomicroscopy
AwardsOrder of the Polar Star, John Scott Award
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine
InstitutionsCentral University of Venezuela (UCV), NASA, MIT, University of Chicago, University of Stockholm

Career

Fernández-Morán 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 Munich, 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 cryo-ultramicrotomy. After flying over Angel Falls in his home country of Venezuela he was inspired by the concept of the smoothly reoccurring flow system inherent in a waterfall to take his diamond knife invention and combine it with an ultramicrotome to dramatically improve the ultra-thin sectioning of electron microscopy samples. The ultramictrotome advances the rotating, drum-mounted specimen sample in such small increments (utilizing the very low thermal expansion coefficient of Invar) past the stationary diamond knife that sectioning thicknesses of several Angstrom units are possible. He also helped to advance the field of electron cryomicroscopy - the use of superconductive electromagnetic lenses cooled with liquid helium in electron microscopes to achieve the highest resolution possible - among many other research topics.

Fernández-Morán was commissioned in 1957 with the supervision of the first Venezuelan research nuclear reactor, the RV-1 nuclear reactor, one of the first in Latin America.[1]

He was appointed Minister of Science during the last year of the regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez and was forced to leave Venezuela when the dictatorship was overthrown in 1958. He worked with NASA for the Apollo Project and taught in many universities, such as MIT, University of Chicago and the University of Stockholm.

He donated a collection of his papers to the National Library of Medicine in 1986.[2]

Personal life

His wife Anna was Swedish and together they had two daughters, Brigida Elena and Verónica.

The body of Dr. Humberto Fernández-Morán Villalobos was cremated and his ashes rest today in Cemetery The Square Luxburg-Carolath in his hometown, Maracaibo.

Inventions

Awards and honors

See also

References
  1. Diehl, Sarah (7 May 2019). "Venezuela's Search for Nuclear Power - or Nuclear Prestige". Nuclear Threat Initiative. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  2. "Humberto Fernández-Morán Papers 1952-1985". National Library of Medicine.
  3. "Improvements in or relating of a method of Polishing a Cutting Edge of a Diamond for a Cutting Tool, Patent" (PDF). August 6, 1958. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  4. Garfield, E. "The John Scott Award Recipients 1961–1970". John Scott Award Advisory Committee. Retrieved March 30, 2011. Dr. Eugene Garfield is member of the Advisory Committee.
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