Filipino Scientists

1. Edgardo Dizon Gomez (1938-2019): An Expert in Conservation Biology

Edgardo Gomez was born in the Philippines in 1938. He studied biology at St. Mary’s
University of Minnesota and the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in
marine biology.

Gomez spent his whole life protecting the coral reefs and other marine resources in the
Philippines. He led the initiative of replanting corals.

Only 30 scientists have ever won the National Scientist of the Philippines award. Edgardo
Gomez was one of them. This rank comes with an amazing package, including a lifetime pension.

2. Alfredo Lagmay (1919-2005): Father of Psychology in the Philippines

Alfredo Lagmay was a Filipino psychologist notable for introducing behavioral studies to
psychology. He is also known for his contributions to hypnosis and relaxation techniques. But
perhaps his most important contribution was his research on how to change people’s behavior and
how that could help treat mental illnesses.

His work helped establish behavior therapy as a valid treatment option for these
conditions. This was an important development because, until then, hospitalization and
electroshock therapy were the only available options.

What’s even more impressive about Lagmay’s work is that it came at a time when
attitudes towards mental health were not particularly positive or accepting. Lagmay won the
highest honor for Filipino scientists in 1988. The Philippine government awarded him the
National Scientist honor for his work.

3. Geminiano de Ocampo (1907-1987): Father of Eye Care in the Philippines

Geminiano de Ocampo was a medical scientist who is best known for being the first
person in the Philippines to diagnose and treat eye problems. He founded De Ocampo Eye
Hospital in 1952.

This was the first Philippine eye hospital. He started the hospital because he wanted to
help poor Filipinos get eye care. It is still an important part of Filipino health care today.

De Ocampo also designed a corneal dissector that allowed him to improve corneal
transplant surgery. Today, we use a similar tool in our practice. His design remains an important
innovation that helped revolutionize corneal transplant surgery.

4. Gregorio T. Velasquez (1901-1989): Father of Phycology in Philippines

Gregory T. Velasquez was a Filipino botanist who pioneered the field of phycology (the
study of algae). He was also one of the people to receive the National Scientist title. This award is
given to individuals who have contributed significantly to their field of study.

Velasquez’s research focused on marine algae. These are plants that live in water instead
of soil, as most other plants do. He examined these organisms’ chemical composition and ability
to produce oxygen through photosynthesis.
 Velasquez researched diatoms and other types of algae. He also helped come up with a
way to tell them apart based on their unique characteristics.

5. Dioscoro L. Umali (1917-1992): Father of Philippines Plant Breeding

Dioscoro Lopez Umali was a Filipino agriculturalist and National Scientist of the
Philippines awardee, known as "the Father of Philippine Plant Breeding." He was awarded
several international honors and distinctions for his outstanding achievements and improvements
of rice, corn and other economic plants.

6. Benito Vergara (1934-2015): A Pioneer in Rice Farming

Benito Vergara, a plant scientist and rice farmer, grew up in the Philippines. He is notable
for his work on the Farmer’s Primer on Growing Rice. This book helped revolutionize rice
farming in the Philippines. Vergara wrote the text for farmers who wanted to know how best to
grow rice. He designed it to be a teaching tool for those who wanted to know the new techniques
that could help improve their crops.

Benito Vergara not only cataloged different kinds of rice varieties but also provided
instructions on how to grow them. He earned the title “National Scientist” for his contributions to
agriculture and plant science research. This was the Philippines government’s highest order in
science.

7. Eduardo Quisumbing (1895-1986): An Expert in Philippines Medicinal Plants

Eduardo Quisumbing was born in Laguna, Philippines, on November 24, 1895. He was a
Filipino biologist best known for his work on medicinal plants in the Philippines.

This revolutionary scientist wrote books and published over 120 scientific papers on his
studies of Philippine medicinal plants. He was a forerunner to the country’s National Integrated
Research Program.

Quisumbing was also notable for his contributions to plant taxonomy and ethnobotany.
He won many honors during his life for contributing to tropical medicine. The list of awards
included the National Scientist award, established by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976.

8. Julian Banzon (1908-1988): A Pioneer in Renewable Energy

Julian Arca Banzón was a Filipino biochemist and a National Scientist of the Philippines.
Banzon is credited for his research in alternative fuel. He researched on the production of ethyl
ester fuels from sugarcane and coconuts and devised a method of extracting residual coconut oil
through chemical means.

9. Fe del Mundo (1911-2011): A Pioneer in Child Healthcare System & Filipino Medical
Doctor

Fe Villanueva del Mundo, OLD ONS GCGH, was a Filipina pediatrician. She founded
the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and is known for shaping the modern child healthcare
system in the Philippines. Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines while in active
medical practice spanned eight decades

10. Gregorio Y. Zara (1902-1978): Videophone Inventor

 Gregorio Zara was a scientist and engineer from Southeast Asia. He is best known for
inventing the videophone, which he patented in 1955.

Born in Batangas, he grew up with a passion for science and technology. He earned his
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1926. After taking a graduate course in aeronautical engineering (University of Michigan), Zara
moved to the University of Paris to study physics. In 1930, he graduated with his Ph.D.

As one of the most widely-known Filipino inventors, Zara patented 30 devices. He

received the National Scientist Award for his work on various devices that make communication
easier for people.

Foreign Scientists

1. Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1780): Father of modern Taxonomy

Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, was a
Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature,
the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy".

2. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923): X-rays or Röntgen rays

The famous German physicist Röntgen is the one who discovered X-rays(also called as
Röntgen rays).This invention allowed the German scientist to win the first Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1901.

3. Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907): Periodic Table

Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements. Mendeleev found
that, when all the known chemical elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight,
the resulting table displayed a recurring pattern, or periodicity, of properties within groups of
elements. In his version of the periodic table of 1871, he left gaps in places where he believed
unknown elements would find their place. He even predicted the likely properties of three of the
potential elements. The subsequent proof of many of his predictions within his lifetime brought
fame to Mendeleev as the founder of the periodic law.

4. J.J Thomson (1856-1940): Electron

English physicist who helped revolutionizes the knowledge of atomic structure by his
discovery of the electron (1897). He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 and was
knighted in 1908.

5. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895): Pasteurization

French chemist and microbiologist who was one of the most important founders of
medical microbiology. Pasteur’s contributions to science, technology, and medicine are nearly
without precedent. He pioneered the study of molecular asymmetry; discovered that
microorganisms cause fermentation and disease; originated the process of pasteurization; saved
the beer, wine, and silk industries in France; and developed vaccines against anthrax and rabies.

6. Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794): Father of modern Chemistry

 Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, also Antoine Lavoisier after the French Revolution, was a
French nobleman and chemist who was central to the 18th-century chemical revolution and who
had a large influence on both the history of chemistry and the history of biology
Lavoisier is most noted for his discovery of the role oxygen plays in combustion. He
recognized and named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783), and opposed phlogiston theory.
Lavoisier helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list of elements, and
helped to reform chemical nomenclature.

7. Max Planck (1858-1947): Quantum Theory

German theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel
Prize for Physics in 1918.
Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame rests primarily on
his role as originator of the quantum theory. This theory revolutionized our understanding of
atomic and subatomic processes, just as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized our
understanding of space and time. Together they constitute the fundamental theories of 20th-
century physics. Both have forced humankind to revise some of the most-cherished philosophical
beliefs, and both have led to industrial and military applications that affect every aspect of
modern life.

8. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884): Father of modern Genetics

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian scientist, teacher, and Augustinian prelate who lived in
the 1800s. He experimented on garden pea hybrids while living at a monastery and is known as
the father of modern genetics.
Through his careful breeding of garden peas, Gregor Mendel discovered the basic
principles of heredity and laid the mathematical foundation of the science of genetics. He
formulated several basic genetic laws, including the law of segregation, the law of dominance,
and the law of independent assortment, in what became known as Mendelian inheritance.

9. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): Father of Microbiology

Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek FRS was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in
the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is
commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists and
microbiologists
10. Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876): Father of Embryology
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn was a Baltic German scientist and explorer.
Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the,
founding father of embryology.