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

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, known for inventing the

diamond knife A diamond knife is a very sharp knife in which the edge is made from diamond, invented by Humberto Fernández-Morán in 1955. Diamond knives are used for medical and scientific applications where an extremely sharp and long-lasting edge is essent ...

or scalpel, significantly advancing the development of electromagnetic lenses for electron microscopy based on superconducting technology, and many other scientific contributions.

Career

Fernández-Morán founded the Venezuelan Institute for Neurological and Brain Studies, the predecessor of the current Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC). He studied medicine at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1944. He contributed to the development of the

electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

and was the first person to use the concept of cryo-ultramicrotomy. After flying over

Angel Falls Angel Falls ( es, Salto Ángel; Pemon language: ''Kerepakupai Merú'' meaning "waterfall of the deepest place", or ''Parakupá Vená'', meaning "the fall from the highest point") is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the world's tallest unint ...

in his home country of

he was inspired by the concept of the smoothly reoccurring flow system inherent in a waterfall to take his diamond knife invention and combine it with an ultramicrotome to dramatically improve the ultra-thin sectioning of electron microscopy samples. The ultramictrotome advances the rotating, drum-mounted specimen sample in such small increments (utilizing the very low thermal expansion coefficient of

Invar Invar, also known generically as FeNi36 (64FeNi in the US), is a nickel–iron alloy notable for its uniquely low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE or α). The name ''Invar'' comes from the word ''invariable'', referring to its relative lac ...

) past the stationary diamond knife that sectioning thicknesses of several Angstrom units are possible. He also helped to advance the field of electron cryomicroscopy - the use of

superconductive Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

electromagnetic lenses cooled with liquid helium in electron microscopes to achieve the highest resolution possible - among many other research topics. Fernández-Morán was commissioned in 1957 with the supervision of the first Venezuelan research nuclear reactor, the

RV-1 nuclear reactor The RV-1 nuclear reactor, now repurposed and known as Gamma rays sterilization plant ('Pegamma'; ''Spanish'': Planta de Esterilización por Rayos Gamma), is a facility located in Altos Mirandinos, Miranda, Venezuela. It was the only nuclear react ...

, one of the first in Latin America. He was appointed Minister of Science during the last year of the regime of

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military and general officer of the Army of Venezuela and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 19 ...

and was forced to leave

when the dictatorship was overthrown in 1958. He worked with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

for the Apollo Project and taught in many universities, such as

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

. He donated a collection of his papers to the National Library of Medicine in 1986.

Personal life

His wife Anna was Swedish and together they had two daughters, Brigida Elena and Verónica. The body of Dr. Humberto Fernández-Morán Villalobos was cremated and his ashes rest today in Cemetery The Square Luxburg-Carolath in his hometown, Maracaibo.

Inventions

Diamond knife A diamond knife is a very sharp knife in which the edge is made from diamond, invented by Humberto Fernández-Morán in 1955. Diamond knives are used for medical and scientific applications where an extremely sharp and long-lasting edge is essent ...

*Ultra microtome

Awards and honors

* 1967, the

John Scott Award John Scott Award, created in 1816 as the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, is presented to men and women whose inventions improved the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind" in a significant way. "...the John Scott Medal Fund, establish ...

, for his invention of the diamond scalpel. Dr. Eugene Garfield is member of the Advisory Committee. * Knight of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star ( Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of t ...

* Claude Bernard Medal,

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

* Cambridge annual Medical Prize

References

External links

The Patent of the Diamond Scalpel
- September 1955.
Research done for NASA by Fernández Morán
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez-Moran Villalobos, Humberto 1924 births 1999 deaths People from Maracaibo Venezuelan inventors Venezuelan scientists Microscopists Academic staff of the Central University of Venezuela Knights of the Order of the Polar Star 20th-century inventors Venezuelan emigrants to Sweden Education ministers of Venezuela