Luis Torres Díaz

Luis Torres Díaz (September 11, 1897-1988) was a Puerto Rican chemist, poet, and Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Puerto Rico.Conoce a Peñuelas, El Museo Universitario: Un modelo participativo para
la integración de la comunidad universitaria en el
Museo de Farmacia y Plantas Medicinales, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.html He is most widely known as the founder of the College’s Museum of Pharmacy,Ninoshka Coll Martínez, Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus at 119-20, available at https://riunet.upv.es/bitstream/handle/10251/48530/COLL%20-%20EL%20MUSEO%20UNIVERSITARIO%3A%20UN%20MODELO%20PARTICIPATIVO%20PARA%20LA%20INTEGRACI%C3%93N%20DE%20LA%20COMUNIDAD%20UNIVER....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y the first museum dedicated to the history of a health profession in Puerto Rico.Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, available at https://farmacia.rcm.upr.edu/museum/foundations-transformation/ Dr. Torres also authored several scientific works, including A Concise History of Pharmacy in Puerto Rico ("Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico").Luis Torres-Diaz, Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico, Instituto Americano de la Historia de Farmacia y la Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1951) available at https://books.google.com/books/about/Breve_historia_de_la_farmacia_en_Puerto.html?id=JeJjGQAACAAJ Throughout his life, Dr. Torres wrote poetry for Puerto Rican newspapers and literary magazines, and in 1983 his collected works were published under the title Cántigas del Hondo Amor y Otros Poemas.Luis Torres Díaz, Cántigas del hondo amor y otros poemas, the University of Virginia (2009), available at https://books.google.com/books/about/C%C3%A1ntigas_del_hondo_amor_y_otros_poemas.html?id=h39DAAAAYAAJ Conoce a Peñuelas, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.html
Luis Torres Díaz was born to Vicente Cappa and Isabel Díaz Torres on September 11, 1987, in Puñuelas, Puerto Rico. He graduated from the Escuela Superior in Ponce before obtaining several degrees in chemistry and pharmacy from the University of Puerto Rico between 1919 and 1923. He earned a doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Madrid where his thesis examined pharmaceutical practices in Puerto Rico. Dr. Torres also pursued additional graduate studies at the University of Michigan and Columbia University.Ninoshka Coll Martínez, Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus at 119 n.25, available at https://riunet.upv.es/bitstream/handle/10251/48530/COLL%20-%20EL%20MUSEO%20UNIVERSITARIO%3A%20UN%20MODELO%20PARTICIPATIVO%20PARA%20LA%20INTEGRACI%C3%93N%20DE%20LA%20COMUNIDAD%20UNIVER....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y From 1923 to 1925, he taught science and mathematics at Fajardo High School. Conoce a Peñuelas, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.htmlLuis Torres-Diaz, Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico, Instituto Americano de la Historia de Farmacia y la Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1951) available at https://books.google.com/books/about/Breve_historia_de_la_farmacia_en_Puerto.html?id=JeJjGQAACAAJ
Dr. Torres began a long and distinguished career at the University of Puerto Rico by joining the staff in 1925 as a chemistry and pharmacy instructor. He was appointed to an Assistant Professorship of Pharmacy in 1938, and by 1940 Dr. Torres had become a tenured Professor of Pharmacy and Dean of the College of Pharmacy, positions he held for over forty years.Id.Ninoshka Coll Martínez, Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus at 119 n.25, available at https://riunet.upv.es/bitstream/handle/10251/48530/COLL%20-%20EL%20MUSEO%20UNIVERSITARIO%3A%20UN%20MODELO%20PARTICIPATIVO%20PARA%20LA%20INTEGRACI%C3%93N%20DE%20LA%20COMUNIDAD%20UNIVER....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 
While Dean, Dr. Torres served as Chairman of the Puerto Rico Auxiliary Commission for the Revision of the United States Pharmacopeia, and as a committee member for the organization of the Pan-American Congress on Pharmaceutical Education held at Havana, Cuba, in December 1948.Id.
Dr. Torres was an avid historian of pharmaceutical studies, and in 1947 he acquired a significant collection of original materials which helped create the Museum of Pharmacy at the University of Puerto Rico.Ninoshka Coll Martínez, Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus at 122, available at https://riunet.upv.es/bitstream/handle/10251/48530/COLL%20-%20EL%20MUSEO%20UNIVERSITARIO%3A%20UN%20MODELO%20PARTICIPATIVO%20PARA%20LA%20INTEGRACI%C3%93N%20DE%20LA%20COMUNIDAD%20UNIVER....pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Foundations for the Transformation, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, available at https://farmacia.rcm.upr.edu/museum/foundations-transformation/ In 1954, the Museum was established after Dr. Torres himself persuaded the university administrators to endow what became the first museum of any health profession on the island.Id.
After the College of Pharmacy moved to the Medical Sciences Campus in 1984, the Museum reopened as the Luis Torres Díaz Pharmacy Museum, in honor of its founder.Id. The museum continues to support research and education related to the evolution of pharmaceutical studies and practice in Puerto Rico.Museum of Pharmacy and Medicinal Plants, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, available at https://farmacia.rcm.upr.edu/museum/ Although the museum expanded under a new name in 2007, nearly half of its collection still resides in the Luis Torres Diaz Hall on the first floor of the Pharmacy and Students Deanship building at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus in San Juan.Collections, School of Pharmacy University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, available at https://farmacia.rcm.upr.edu/museum/collections/
Throughout his career, Dr. Torres wrote a number of scientific books and articles, including: “Estudio Preliminar de una Dieta Usual en Puerto Rico” Conoce a Peñuelas, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.html and A Concise History of Pharmacy in Puerto Rico ("Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico").Luis Torres-Diaz, Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico, Instituto Americano de la Historia de Farmacia y la Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1951) available at https://books.google.com/books/about/Breve_historia_de_la_farmacia_en_Puerto.html?id=JeJjGQAACAAJ
Dr. Torres also wrote poetry, and is considered a member of Puerto Rico’s modernist school. Conoce a Peñuelas, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.html His poems appeared in El Mundo, Puerto Rico Ilustrado, Revista de las Antillas, Poliedro, y Gráfico de Puerto Rico.Id. Félix Franco Oppenheimer, "La Poesia de Don Luis Torres Diaz, available at https://books.google.com/books/about/C%C3%A1ntigas_del_hondo_amor_y_otros_poemas.html?id=h39DAAAAYAAJ In 1983, a collection of his poetry was published under the title Cántigas del Hondo Amor y Otros Poemas.Id.Luis Torres Díaz, Cántigas del hondo amor y otros poemas, the University of Virginia (2009), available at https://books.google.com/books/about/C%C3%A1ntigas_del_hondo_amor_y_otros_poemas.html?id=h39DAAAAYAAJ
List of Poems:Luis Torres-Diaz, Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico, Instituto Americano de la Historia de Farmacia y la Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1951) available at https://books.google.com/books/about/Breve_historia_de_la_farmacia_en_Puerto.html?id=JeJjGQAACAAJ Conoce a Peñuelas, available at https://conoceapenuelas.weebly.com/luis-torres-diacuteaz.html
* “El Paso de los Amantes”
* “Margarita”
* “Insomnio”
* “Mi Pegaso”
* “El Mendigo”
* “Ansias de Cumbres”
* “La Tarde del Bohío”
Dr. Torres married Emma Luis Vidal on July 12, 1923. They had three children: Luis Angel, Carlos Jose, and Emma Esther. They lived in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Luis Torres Diaz, Breve historia de la farmacia en Puerto Rico, Instituto Americano de la Historia de Farmacia y la Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1951) available at https://books.google.com/books/about/Breve_historia_de_la_farmacia_en_Puerto.html?id=JeJjGQAACAAJ
Category:American poets
Category:American chemists
Category:American university and college faculty deans