List of Puerto Rican scientists and inventors

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Before Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Conquistadors landed on the island of "Borikén" (Puerto Rico), the Tainos who inhabited the island depended on their astronomical observations for the cultivation of their crops.^[1]

In 1581, Juan Ponce de León II, the grandson of the Conquistador Juan Ponce de León, studied an eclipse and its effects on the island and was able to establish the exact geographical coordinates of San Juan with his observations.^[2]

During the 19th century the economies of many countries in the world suffered from the spread of crop failures. Puerto Rico, whose economy depended heavily on its agriculture, felt the effects of some of the crop diseases. Scientists such as Agustín Stahl, Fermín Tangüis and Fernando López Tuero conducted investigations and experiments in the fields of agriculture, botany, ethnology and zoology. The findings of their investigations helped Puerto Rico's agricultural industry.

With the advances in medical technologies and the coming of the Space Age of the 20th century, Puerto Ricans have expanded their horizons and have made many contributions in various scientific fields, among them the fields of aerospace and medicine.

There are many Puerto Rican scientists involved in the American space program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). According to an article written by Margarita Santori Lopez for the official newspaper of the University of Puerto Rico's Mayagüez Campus, "Prensa RUM", as of 2003, of the 115 Hispanics working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, 70 were Puerto Ricans or of Puerto Rican descent.^[3] According to a research conducted during the period of 1990 to 1998 by Puerto Rican scientists in science and technology, Puerto Rican scientific production was greater than in any other Caribbean country and the sixth largest in all of Latin America.^[4]

The following is a list of some of Puerto Rico's notable scientists and inventors with short profiles that include the scientific contributions, inventions and achievements in their respective fields. The list is not limited to people born in Puerto Rico, it also includes people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican ancestry, and many long-term residents and who have made Puerto Rico their home, and who are recognized for their life and/or work.