page_title: List of Puerto Ricans
section_title: Physicians, scientists and inventors
hierarchical_section_title: List of Puerto Ricans / Physicians, scientists and inventors
caption_attribution_description: English: Astronaut Joseph Acaba, mission specialist
context_page_description: This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican descent. The Government of Puerto Rico has been issuing "Certificates of Puerto Rican Citizenship" to anyone born in Puerto Rico or to anyone born outside of Puerto Rico with at least one parent who was born in Puerto Rico since 2007. Also included in the list are some long-term continental American and other residents and/or immigrants of other ethnic heritages who have made Puerto Rico their home and consider themselves to be Puerto Ricans.
  The list is divided into categories and, in some cases, sub-categories, which best describe the field for which the subject is most noted. Some categories such as "Actors, actresses, comedians and directors" are relative since a subject who is a comedian may also be an actor or director. In some cases a subject may be notable in more than one field, such as Luis A. Ferré, who is notable both as a former governor and as an industrialist. However, the custom is to place the subject's name under the category for which he/she is most noted.
context_section_description: Joseph M. Acaba, scientist, educator, first Puerto Rican astronaut
  José Ramón Alcalá, anatomist; appointed assistant professor in 1972 in the Wayne School of Medicine; expert on cell makeup of the human eye lens; developed laboratory methods to study the histology of ocular tissue, which ultimately helped explain the development of cataracts, among other maladies of the eye
  Carlos Albizu Miranda, psychologist; first Hispanic educator to have a North American university renamed in his honor; one of the first Hispanics to earn a PhD in psychology in the U.S.
  Ricardo Alegría, anthropologist, archaeologist and educator; "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology"
  Jorge N. Amely Vélez, electrical engineer and inventor; holds various patents in the field of medical technology
  Bailey K. Ashford, author, physician, soldier, and parasitologist; Colonel in the U.S. Army, arrived in Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War and made the island his home; organized and conducted a parasite treatment campaign which cured approximately 300,000 people (one-third of the Puerto Rico population) and reduced the death rate from this anemia by 90 percent
  Pedro Beauchamp, surgeon; first Puerto Rican specialist certified by the American Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Board; performed the first in vitro fertilization technique on the island in 1985
  Víctor Manuel Blanco, astronomer; in 1959, discovered a "Blanco 1", a galactic cluster; second Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, which has the largest 4-m telescope in the Southern Hemisphere; in 1995, the telescope was dedicated in his honor as the "Víctor M. Blanco Telescope", also known as the "Blanco 4m"
  Rafael L. Bras, former chair of Civil Engineering at MIT; leading expert on hydrometeorology and global warming
  Anthony M. Busquets, electronic engineer, aerospace technologist; involved in the development and application of multifunction control/display switch technology in 1983 and development and application of a microprocessor-based I/O system for simulator use in 1984
  Carlos E. Chardón, a.k.a. the "father of mycology in Puerto Rico"; first Puerto Rican mycologist; discovered the aphid "Aphis maidis", the vector of the mosaic of sugar cane, in 1922; author of the Chardón Plan; first Puerto Rican to hold the position of Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico
  Nitza Margarita Cintron, scientist; Chief of NASA's (JSC) Space and Health Care Systems Office
  Pablo Clemente-Colon, first Puerto Rican Chief Scientist of the National Ice Center (2005–present)
  Antonia Coello Novello, physician; first Hispanic and first woman U.S. Surgeon General (1990–93)
  Martín Corchado (born 1839), physician, medical researcher, and president of the Autonomist Party of Puerto Rico
  José F. Cordero, pediatrician; founding director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC
  Milagros J. Cordero, pediatrician; founder and President of Team Therapy Services For Children
  María Cordero Hardy, physiologist, educator and scientist; did important research on vitamin E
  Juan R. Correa-Pérez, scientist; first clinical andrologist and embryologist in Puerto Rico
  Juan R. Cruz, NASA scientist, played an instrumental role in the design and development of the Mars Exploration Rover parachute
  Carlos Del Castillo, NASA scientist; Program Scientist for the Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program at NASA; recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers
  Manuel de la Pila Iglesias, multi-faceted physician; introduced the first EKG and X-ray machines into Puerto Rico; founded a medical clinic which today houses a respected medical center in Ponce
  Alfonso Eaton, mechanical engineer, aerospace technologist; first Puerto Rican to work for NASA
  Enectalí Figueroa-Feliciano, astronaut applicant and astrophysicist with NASA; pioneered the development of position-sensitive detectors
  Orlando Figueroa, mechanical eng
caption: Joseph Acaba
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