Riano, Vanessa D.
Science, Technology and Society
CBET-18-704E
10 Filipino Scientist and their Inventions/Development
Moon Buggy
Invented in 1968 by Eduardo San Juan. He was the
project leader for NASA in the buggy development. A brilliant
success in engineering that remains underfunded and
underappreciated. This one has special meaning to me
because my grandpa worked for the Cape when early space
efforts were being launched.. The moon buggy made it
possible to move around more on the moon, but look at poor
Eduardo San Juan, he did more than just become a foot note.
Erythromycin
Invented (Discovered) by Dr. Abelardo Aguilar in 1949. He
sent example to Eli Lilly, who promptly stole and patented the idea
and later marketed it successfully. Aguilar discovered the antibiotic
from the Aspergillus species of fungi in 1949 and sent samples to
Indiana-based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly Co. The drug firm was
said to have registered the propriety name Iloson for the antibiotic in
recognition of Iloilo province where Aguilar found the antibiotic. Iloson
is a brand of erythromycin, the macrolide antibiotic which was stated
to have been successfully marketed in the United States as a generic
drug. As those among you who actively read comic books will
remember, this is why the great inventors effectively consult attorneys first. He never got a peso
from his product that saved many millions of lives.
Video Phone
Invented by Gregorio Zara, in 1955 no less!
When James Bond was using one in Dr.
No, it had already been in existence for
several years. This is the several
predecessors of the camera on your
mobile!
Computer Microchips
Many types were invented by Diosdado
Banatao, beginning with the world’s first 16-bit chip in
1972, which he invented while working at Commodore.
This led to the development of GUI (The thing that
makes the graphics on this page…). Why should you
care? Without GUI, you would
now be looking at a page filled
with nothing but a bunch of ones and zeroes.
Isolated Rice Breeds
Dr. Rodolfo Aquino was able to isolate nine distinctive varieties of the grain the
following year for the International Rice Research Institute. His discoveries greatly
averted famine in most of the Asia and was almost solely responsible for Thailand and
Vietnam becoming world’s top rice producers (A position they almost dominated that
once belonged to the Philippines.)
Drug Detection
Dr. Enrique Ostrea developed the
method for detecting drug use by pregnant
females by detecting traces in the baby’s
stools. His
method is
used by
doctors worldwide in diagnosing drug dependency in
infants.
Karaoke
Invented in 1975 by Roberto del Rosario. I
thought this was a Japanese invention, despite its popularity here, and I was completely
wrong. A brilliant guy, he invented many
other musical devices, but Karaoke will
always be remembered as his greatest
triumph (or bane to humankind, depending
on your point of view.)
FLORESCENT
Agapito Flores is the reason why the world has become brighter. A Filipino Inventor who
is known for his funnel of the fluorescent light tube invention one of the most commonly
used lighting devices in the world.
Medical Incubator
Invented in 1941 by Fe del Mundo.
She was the first Asian student in Harvard’s
School of Medicine. Countless young lives
were saved by her invention and genius.
QUINK INK
FRANCISCO QUISUMBING a new
type of ink at that time and was expanded for use in conjunction with Parker Pens.
Besides being fast drying it was also water repellent, never clogged the pen opening,
did not feather and was colour fast. It is widely accepted to be one of the most
successful ink for fountain pens of the year 2000.
