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List of Latin Americans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of notable Latin American people, in alphabetical order within categories.

Actors

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Artists and designers

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See also List of Latin American artists.

Fashion

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Film directors

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Leaders and politicians

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Monarchs

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  • Mexico Agustin I (1783–1824), independence leader, Emperor of Mexico
  • Argentina Pope Francis (born 1936), Sovereign of Vatican City State
  • Brazil Pedro I (1798–1834), independence leader, Emperor of Brazil
  • Brazil Pedro II (1825–1891), Emperor of Brazil

Imperial/royal consorts

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Musicians

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Classical

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Opera singers

Singers

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Philosophers and humanists

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Science and technology

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  • Brazil Manuel de Abreu (1894–1962), physician, scientist, inventor of abreugraphy(mass radiography of the lungs for screening tuberculosis)
  • Argentina Luis Agote (1868–1954), physician and researcher
  • Puerto Rico Ricardo Alegría (1921–2011), physical anthropologist
  • Brazil Álvaro Alvim (1863–1928), physician, pioneer in radiology and radiotherapy
  • Brazil Carolina Araujo, mathematician, included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the Association of Women in Mathematics
  • Brazil Artur Avila (born 1979), Brazilian mathematician; one of the winners of the 2014 Fields Medal, being the first Latin American and lusophone to win such an award.
  • Brazil Francisco João de Azevedo (1814–1880), inventor, best known for his invention of Typewriter
  • Argentina José Antonio Balseiro (1919–1962), nuclear physicist
  • Argentina Gregorio Baro (1928–2012), radiochemist
  • Brazil Geraldo de Barros (1923–1998), painter and photographer, known for his trailblazing work in experimental abstract photography and modernism
  • Brazil Ana Bedran-Russo, Professor of Restorative Dentistry and Chair of the Department of General Dental Sciences in Restorative Dentistry at Marquette University School of Dentistry
  • Venezuela United States Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011), immunologist, Nobel Prize Medicine
  • Mexico United States Martha E. Bernal (1931–2001), psychologist
  • Brazil Fernando Brandão (born 1983), physicist and computer scientist, He was awarded the 2013 European Quantum Information Young Investigator Award for "his highly appraised achievements in entanglement theory, quantum complexity theory, and quantum many-body physics, which combine dazzling mathematical ability and impressive physical insight", He was awarded the 2020 American Physical Society Rolf Landauer and Charles H. Bennett award for his contributions to entanglement theory
  • Brazil Vital Brazil (1865–1950), physician, biomedical scientist and immunologist, known for the discovery of the polyvalent anti-ophidic serum used to treat bites of venomous snakes of the Crotalus, Bothrops and Elaps genera, He went on to be also the first to develop anti-scorpion and anti-spider serums.
  • Brazil David Joseph Bohm (1917–1992), scientist who has been described as one of the most significant
  • Colombia Francisco José de Caldas (1768–1818), naturalist, mathematician, geographer and inventor
  • Argentina United States Fernando Caldeiro (born 1958), NASA astronaut
  • Puerto Rico Víctor A. Carreño (1911–1967), NASA aerospace engineer
  • Mexico Nabor Carrillo Flores (1911–1967), nuclear physicist
  • Brazil Carlos Chagas (1879–1934), physician and scientist
  • Costa Rica United States Franklin Chang Díaz (born 1950), NASA astronaut
  • Puerto Rico Nitza Margarita Cintrón (born 1950), NASA Chief of Space and Health Care Systems
  • Brazil Adelmar Faria Coimbra-Filho (1924–2016), biologist, primatologist, pioneer in studies of and conservation of lion tamarins
  • Venezuela Jacinto Convit (1913–2014), medical scientist, discoverer of vaccines
  • Brazil Newton da Costa (1929–2024), mathematician, logician, and philosopher, recognised for his works in paraconsistent logic
  • Brazil Luís Cruls(1848–1908), astronomer and geodesist, co-discoverer of the Great Comet of 1882
  • Brazil Oswaldo Cruz (1872–1917), physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist
  • Brazil Johanna Döbereiner (born 1924), agronomist, pioneer in soil biology
  • Argentina René Favaloro (1923–2000), cardiologist, created the technique for coronary bypass
  • Venezuela Humberto Fernández-Morán (1924–1999), medical research scientist
  • Brazil Sérgio Henrique Ferreira (1934–2016), physician and pharmacologist, discovered the active principle of a drug for hypertension
  • Puerto Rico Orlando Figueroa (born 1955), NASA Director for Mars Exploration and for Solar System Division
  • Cuba Carlos Finlay (1833–1915), medical scientist, researcher
  • Brazil Hércules Florence (1804–1879), pioneer of photography
  • Brazil Leopoldo Penna Franca (1959-2012), mathematician, received in 1999 the Gallagher Young Investigator Award for "outstanding accomplishments in computational mechanics, particularly in the published literature, by a researcher 40 years old or younger".He was listed as an ISI Highly Cited Author in Engineering by the ISI Web of Knowledge, Thomson Scientific Company.
  • Colombia Julio Garavito Armero (1865–1920), astronomer
  • Brazil Marcelo Gleiser (born 1959), physicist and astronomer. He is currently Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College and was the 2019 recipient of the Templeton Prize.
  • Brazil Otto Richard Gottlieb (1920–2011), chemist and scientist
  • Brazil José Goldemberg (born 1928), physicist, university educator, scientific leader and research scientist, He is a leading expert on energy and environment issues
  • Mexico Guillermo González Camarena (1917–1965), inventor of an early color television system
  • Brazil Hilário de Gouvêa (1843–1929), ophthalmologist, noted for being the first person to document a case of hereditary cancer, The cause of the recessive familial retinoblastoma he described was later further investigated and resulted in the first reported example of a tumor suppressor gene, RB.
  • Cuba Juan Gundlach (1810–1896), naturalist, taxonomist
  • Brazil Bartolomeu de Gusmão(1685–1724), Catholic priest, pioneer of aviation, the inventor of the balloon, became known as the "flying priest"
  • Brazil Celso Grebogi (born 1947), theoretical physicist who works in the area of chaos theory. He is one among the pioneers in the nonlinear and complex systems and chaos theory
  • Colombia Salomón Hakim (1922–2011), physician and scientist
  • Mexico Guillermo Haro (1913–1988), astrophysicist, specialist in observational astronomy
  • Argentina Bernardo Houssay (1887–1971), physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Mexico Miguel de Icaza (born 1972), free software programmer
  • Brazil Roberto Ierusalimschy (born 1960), computer scientist, known for creating the Lua programming language
  • Brazil Madeleine M. Joullié (born March 29, 1927) organic chemist, first woman to join the University of Pennsylvania chemistry faculty as well as the first female organic chemist to be appointed to a tenure track position in a major American university, Joullié has received numerous awards, including the 1978 Garvan Medal from the American Chemical Society, in recognition of her accomplishments in teaching and research
  • Brazil Warwick Estevam Kerr (1922–2018), agricultural engineer, geneticist, entomologist, professor and scientific leader, notable for his discoveries in the genetics and sex determination of bees
  • Brazil Roberto Landell de Moura (1861–1928), pioneer of telephony and radio
  • Brazil César Lattes (1924–2005), experimental physicist, one of the discoverers of the pion, a composite subatomic particle made of a quark and an antiquark
  • Argentina Luis Federico Leloir (1906–1987), biochemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  • Brazil Maria Carmela Lico (1927–1985), produced important insights on the descending control of nociception by limbic structures, specially the septal nuclei
  • Brazil Henrique da Rocha Lima (1879–1956), physician, pathologist and infectologist, discovered Rickettsia prowazekii, the pathogen of epidemic typhus
  • Argentina Domingo Liotta (1924–2022), cardiologist, created first artificial heart
  • Brazil Rosaly Lopes (born 1957), planetary geologist, volcanologist, author of numerous scientific papers and several books
  • Brazil Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801–1880), first to describe dozens of species of pre-historic Pleistocene megafauna, including the fabled Saber-toothed cat Smilodon populator. He also made the then ground-breaking discovery that humans co-existed with the long-extinct animal species
  • Brazil Adolfo Lutz (1855–1940), father of tropical medicine and a pioneer epidemiologist and researcher in infectious diseases
  • Chile Humberto Maturana (1928–2021), biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis
  • Brazil Peter Medawar (1915–1987), biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants
  • Brazil Lia Medeiros, astronomer, notable participation in the black hole photo in 2019
  • Cuba Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born 1942), USSR Space Program cosmonaut
  • Argentina César Milstein (1927–2002), biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Mexico Luis E. Miramontes (1925–2004), chemist, co-inventor of the oral contraceptive
  • Mexico Mario J. Molina (born 1943), chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  • Honduras Salvador Moncada (born 1944), pharmacologist
  • Brazil Nélio José Nicolai (1940–2017), electrotechnician, inventor of caller ID, theoretical physicist of the 20th century who contributed unorthodox ideas to quantum theory, neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind. Among his many contributions to physics is his causal and deterministic interpretation of quantum theory, now known as De Broglie–Bohm theory.
  • Brazil Miguel Nicolelis(1961), pioneering work surrounding brain-computer interface
  • Chile Hermann Niemeyer (1919–1991), paediatrician and biochemist, pioneer of biochemistry in Chile
  • Mexico Rodolfo Neri Vela (born 1952), Ph.D, NASA astronaut
  • Brazil Carlos Nobre (scientist) (born 1951), scientist and meteorologist who is mainly highlighted in global warming-related studies. Nobre spearheaded the multi-disciplinary, multinational Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, a program noted to have “revolutionized understanding of the Amazon rainforest and its role in the Earth system".
  • Peru United States Carlos I. Noriega (born 1959), NASA astronaut
  • Puerto Rico Antonia Novello (born 1944), 14th Surgeon General of the United States
  • Brazil Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig (1928–2018), immunologist specializing in the development of malaria vaccines
  • Brazil Diltor Opromolla (1934–2004), physician and dermatologist respected due to his lifetime work with leprosy patients and leprosy research, Among other things, he was the first to introduce rifamycin in the treatment of leprosy, in 1963
  • Brazil Andreas Pavel, cultural producer and media designer who is generally credited with patenting the personal stereo
  • Colombia Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (born 1947), pathologist, vaccines specialist
  • Brazil Carlos Paz de Araújo, scientist and inventor, holds nearly 600 patents in the area of nanotechnology
  • Dominican Republic Feniosky Peña-Mora (born 1966), engineer and educator
  • Brazil Sérgio Pereira da Silva Porto (1926–1979), pioneering physicist who became notable for his research in spectroscopy and for the use of laser radiation in medicine
  • Cuba Felipe Poey (1799–1891), zoologist, specialist in ichthyology
  • Brazil Marcos Pontes (born 1963), first AEB/NASA astronaut
  • Peru Aracely Quispe Neira (born 1982), NASA senior astronautical engineer, professor, researcher
  • Brazil Silvano Raia, first surgeon to achieve a successful living donor liver transplantation in July 1989
  • Argentina Eduardo H. Rapoport (1927–2017), ecologist, biogeographer
  • Venezuela L. Rafael Reif (born 1950), engineer, president of MIT
  • Spain Mexico Andrés Manuel del Río (1764–1849), geologist, chemist
  • Brazil Maurício Rocha e Silva (1910–1983), physician and pharmacologist, discovered bradykinin, an active cardiovascular peptide
  • Puerto Rico United States Helen Rodríguez Trías (1929–2001), pediatrician, early advocate for women's reproductive rights
  • El Salvador United States Francisco Rubio (astronaut) (born 1975), NASA astronaut
  • Brazil Oscar Sala (1922–2010), nuclear physicist and important scientific leader
  • Brazil Roberto Salmeron (1922–2020), electrical engineer and experimental nuclear physicist and an emeritus Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the largest fundamental science agency in Europe
  • Puerto Rico Wilfredo Santa-Gómez (born 1949), psychiatrist
  • Dominican Republic José Santana (economist) (born 1962), specialist in technology and development
  • Brazil Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873–1932), aviation inventor
  • Brazil Nise da Silveira (1905–1999), psychiatrist and mental health reformer
  • Mexico United States Sarah Stewart (cancer researcher) (1905–1976), microbiologist, discovered Polyomavirus
  • Chile Klaus von Storch (born 1962), aerospace engineer
  • Brazil Sérgio Trindade (1940–2020), chemical engineer and researcher, specialist in renewable energies and consultant in sustainable business; coordinating lead author for a chapter of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, Methodological and Technical Issues in Technology Transfer (2000); the IPCC as an organization won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as a result of its contributors' work.
  • Chile Pablo DT Valenzuela (born 1941), biotechnologist, co-founder of Chiron Corporation and Fundación Ciencias Para la Vida
  • Chile Francisco Varela (1946–2001), biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis
  • Mexico United States Lydia Villa-Komaroff (born 1947), biologist, early Mexican American PhD in the sciences
  • Brazil Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (1912–1993), physician and cardiac surgeon, internationally known for performing the first heart transplantation in Latin America in 1968

Social scientists

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Sports

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Athletics to Cycling

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Athletics
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Chess
Cycling
Draughts
  • Brazil Lourival Mendes França (died 2012), world champion in draughts-64,(1993), International grandmaster (GMI) in draughts-64, International master (MI) in International draughts

Football to Volleyball

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Football (soccer)
Handball
Golf
Horse racing
Motor sports
Skateboarding
  • Brazil Bob Burnquist (born 1976), better known as Bob is the most medalist in X Games history, with a total of 30 medals
  • Brazil Letícia Bufoni (born 1993), considered one of the greatest names in the history of the sport
Surfing
Tennis
Volleyball
UFC

Writers

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See also List of Latin American writers (by country).

A-L

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M-Z

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Others

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Lists by nationality

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See also

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