Humberto Fernández Morán

Humberto Fernández-Morán (February 18, 1924 - March 17, 1999) was a research scientist born in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

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He founded the Venezuelan Institute for Neurological and Brain Studies (IVNIC in Spanish), the predecessor of the current Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC). He studied medicine at the University of Münich, 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 cryoultramicrotomy. He developed the diamond scalpel and its applications for precise cuttings of biological tissues and metals. He also worked on the concept of electronic cryomicroscopy, the use of superconducting lenses of liquid helium in electronic microscopes, among many other research topics things. He also helped in the improvement of the ultramicrotomes.

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

His wife Ana was Swedish and together they had two daughters, Maria Elena and Verónica.

Inventions

• diamond scalpel
• Ultra microtome