1. Carlos Juan Finlay was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes Aedes aegypti.
16 Facts About Carlos Finlay
1. 2.
Finlay was born Juan Carlos Finlay y de Barres in Puerto Principe, Cuba to Scottish-born Dr Edward Finlay and French-born Elisa de Barres.
3.
Carlos Finlay reversed the order of his given names to "Carlos Juan" later in his life.
4.
Carlos Finlay's father was a physician who had fought alongside Simon Bolivar, and his family owned a coffee plantation in Alquizar.
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Carlos Finlay attended school in France in 1844, but was forced to return to Cuba after two years because he contracted chorea.
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Carlos Finlay's work, carried out during the 1870s, finally came to prominence in 1900.
7.
Carlos Finlay was the first to theorize, in 1881, that a mosquito was a carrier, now known as a disease vector, of the organism causing yellow fever: a mosquito that bites a victim of the disease could subsequently bite and thereby infect a healthy person.
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Carlos Finlay presented this theory at the 1881 International Sanitary Conference, where it was not well-received, and in fact made him subject to ridicule and mockery.
9.
Carlos Finlay's theory was followed by the recommendation to control the mosquito population as a way to control the spread of the disease.
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Carlos Finlay went on to become the chief health officer of Cuba from 1902 to 1909.
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Carlos Finlay was a member of Havana's Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences.
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Carlos Finlay was fluent in French, German, Spanish, and English and could read Latin.
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Carlos Finlay's interests were widespread and he wrote articles on subjects as varied as leprosy, cholera, gravity, and plant diseases.
14.
Carlos Finlay received the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France in 1908.
15.
Carlos Finlay died from a stroke, caused by severe brain seizures, at his house in Havana on August 20,1915.
16.
Carlos Finlay was honoured with a Google Doodle on December 3,2013, on the 180th anniversary of his birth.