ARE HISPANICS UNSUITED FOR SCIENCE?
Not all Hispanics in the US are cooks, dancers, singers, actors,
politicians, language teachers, journalists or gardeners… some are also
scientists, top-notch scientists, mind you, contrary to the prevailing preconceived
idea of the Latino as a person unsuited for science and scientific research.
That notion flies in the face of reality.
More than any other country, the US is the land where
the stereotype flourishes, where there is a tendency to slot nationalities
according to age-long, worn-out ideas and definitions. Hispanics do not escape
the notion that Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, German-Americans,
Greek-Americans –to name a few- have inherited from their immigrant
grandparents or parents who, this way, feel important and have a better sense
of belonging to a land their forefathers
reached after abandoning their “old country”, as they used to call their
land of origin. Stereotyping others makes them feel important.
Some examples of Hispanic Scientists in the U.S.
Dr. José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado, late professor of physiology at Yale University became famous for
research in the physical control of the brain. His book Physical
Control of the Mind: Toward a Psychocivilized Society, is still a must. He
was born in Spain and died in California in 2011. His experiment with a bull
with electrode implants in its brain which was stopped in its tracks while
charging, became world famous.
In 1959 the
Nobel Prize in Physiology was awarded to Dr.
Severo Ochoa who, after doing research at Oxford and Heilderberg in
Germany, in 1942 was appointed professor at Columbia University.
Columbia University’s Dr. Rafael Yuste, “professor of biological sciences and
neuroscience, is a leader of the Brain
Activity Map Project, a massive effort to create a dynamic map of the mind.
Its aim is to reconstruct a full record of neural activity, which could unlock
fundamental and pathological brain processes.” (Research, Columbia University,
Feb. 26, 2013.)
Born in Madrid
in 1963, Dr. Yuste graduated with an MD degree from the Universidad Autónoma
and later obtained a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. He is now Full
Professor at Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences, and the
Department of Neuroscience at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Columbia’s Medical Center.
Dr. Rafael Yuste
has been tapped to advise the White House on brain study, on the “butterflies
of the soul”, as Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal so poetically called neurons, brain
cells.
“An intrepid
mountain climber, who has scaled Monte Perdido in the Spanish Pyrenees, he
likens this sport with scientific research: Assemble a skilled team, get the best equipment, map the route and
proceed with slow, deliberate steps. By walking up very securely, step by step,
and not losing track of the summit, you can get there.”
(Research, June 23, 2011.) This piece of advice by a hard scientist could very
well be applied to other pursuits in life in general: Slog through your work
and reach the summit, the goal of your endeavors, come what may.
Neurologists do
not know how the brain works, but they are trying to disentangle its mysteries.
Along with other researchers, Yuste is working on the Brain Activity Map, dedicated
to map the activity of each neuron. This project will take time, effort and
money. “At the end of the project,
Dr. Yuste says there should be a greater understanding of the causes of
depression, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia. Causes that are
currently unknown.” (Kristina Puga, NBCLatino, 02/22/2013)
No small feat trying to unlock those mysteries.