Famous Hispanic Scientists

Ellen O. Ochoa, an American engineer, former astronaut, and former Director of the Johnson Space Center, was born May 10, 1958. Ochoa became the center's director when Michael Coats retired on December 31, 2012. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space, serving on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Henry Eyring may refer to Henry Eyring (chemist) (1901–1981), Mexican-born American theoretical chemist Henry Eyring (Mormon pioneer) (1835–1902), German Mormon convert and emigrant to the U.S., then Mexico Henry B. Eyring (born 1933), American leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Henry J. Eyring (born 1963), and an American university administrator.

France Anne-Dominic Córdova, born August 5, 1947, is an American astrophysicist and administrator. She serves as the fourteenth director of the National Science Foundation. Before that, she led Purdue University as its eleventh President from 2007 to 2012.

Theodore Brewster Taylor, an American theoretical physicist focusing on nuclear energy, earned a PhD in theoretical physics from Cornell University. Dr. Taylor made notable contributions to nuclear weaponry by developing small bomb designs at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. He developed the smallest, most powerful, and most efficient fission weapons ever tested by the US.

Albert Vinicio Báez (November 15, 1912 – March 20, 2007) was a Mexican-American physicist and the father of singers Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña. Báez was born in Puebla, Mexico. His family moved to the United States when he was two because his father was a Methodist minister who converted. The son grew up in Brooklyn, considered becoming a minister, and later turned to mathematics and physics. He made important contributions to early X-ray microscope and later X-ray telescope development.

Sidney McNeill Gutierrez (Colonel, USAF, Ret.), born June 27, 1951, was a former NASA astronaut.

Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, also known as "Dr. Q," is a neurosurgeon, author, and researcher. He currently serves as the William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professor and Chair of Neurologic Surgery and runs a basic science research lab at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in Florida. Hispanic Business Journal named Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. in 2008. Voices Against Brain Cancer named him Neurosurgeon of the Year in 2014, recognizing him with the Gary Lichtenstein Humani

Eloy Rodriguez, born January 7, 1947, is a Mexican-American biochemist. He holds the James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies at Cornell University. Rodriguez was born in Edinburg, Texas. Collaborating with primatologist Richard Wrangham, Rodriguez created zoopharmacognosy. He earned a B.S. from the University of Texas, Austin in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Phytochemistry and Plant Biology in 1975. Later, the University of British Columbia gave him medical postdoctoral training in Medicinal Botany. He served as an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at

Elsa Salazar Cade, born 1952, is an award-winning Mexican American science teacher and entomologist. Elsa earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from the University of Texas at Austin. She got her master's in public school administration from Niagara University. New York State certifies her as a school district administrator. As an amateur entomologist, she and her husband, William H. Cade, found the first parasite case using a host's sexual signal to find and parasitize the host. She also became one of the top ten science teachers in

Víctor Celorio, born July 27, 1957 in Mexico City, is an author, entrepreneur, inventor, and former union organizer. Celorio invented InstaBook, a digital printing technology. He lives and works in Gainesville, Florida.

Robert Navarro, born May 1, 1952, in Cuxac-d'Aude, Aude, is a French politician and French Senator for Hérault. He joins the Socialist Party (PS), part of the Party of European Socialists. Navarro was elected Senator on September 21, 2008, on the official PS list. That list came third behind the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and 'renegade' PS lists in the Département of Hérault, which elects four Senators. Before that, he was a member of the European Parliament, which he won in 2004.