Believe it or not, many of the inventions we use on a daily basis were created by Latin Americans. Large companies from other parts of the world distributed them, but it was Mexicans, Argentines, Brazilians or Venezuelans who were behind them.
A) Yes, from the color television to the pen, they had Latin American hands for their birth. And also key elements for health, such as the stent or artificial heart.
We make a selection of some creations, thanks to the portals Tekcrispy Y The Latin Way.
The CAPTCHA code
In the early 2000s, the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart was born, with the acronym CAPTCHA. We owe the Guatemalan Louis von Ahn this code, which serves as extra protection so that malicious programs and bots do not impersonate people.
the contraceptive pill
The Mexican Chemist Luis E. Miramontes, Along with professors George Rosenkranz and Carl Djerassi, they developed the first anti-ovulatory compound in 1951. The official task of the Mexican was to synthesize the chemical elements that led to the contraceptive method.
The pen
Laszlo Jozsef Biró, Of Hungarian origin but living in Argentina, he invented the ballpoint pen at the end of the 1930s, a pen with oil-based ink. With the tungsten ball inside, he kept the ink inside the pen, preventing it from spilling.
the Walkman
Although Sony was the great distributor of the Walkman, even giving it the official name, the invention is due to the Brazilian-German Andreas Pavel. It was called a “stereo belt” at the time, with the Japanese pushing it later. By 2005, and after a long legal battle, Pavel’s creation was recognized.
fingerprinting
John Vucetich, Croatian immigrant established in Argentina, developed the method of identifying people through fingerprints. By 1891, the Argentine authorities began to use it; Since then, he has been key in policing around the world.
The diamond scalpel
The Venezuelan Humberto Fernandez-Moran, who worked with NASA, was the inventor of the diamond scalpel, key for delicate ophthalmological surgeries and goldsmith cuts. However, his first big job was cutting rock samples from the Moon, after the Apollo 11 voyage in 1969.
Color TV
The color television system is due to the Mexican engineer Guillermo gonzalez camarena, who worked on it in the 1930s and patented it in the 1940s. González Camarena also invented a simplified color system, used by NASA in the 1970s for its exploration of Jupiter.
The artificial neonatal bubble
It is an easy-to-use incubator, and its creator was the Peruvian Claudio Castillon Levano. Its function is to provide a warm and sterile environment for a newborn.
the stent
It is a network that allows “filtering” the blood, in order to avoid coagulation problems and obstruction in the blood pathways. It was invented by the Argentine vascular radiologist Julio Cesar Palmaz.
the artificial heart
Sunday Liotta, Argentine surgeon son of Italian immigrants, invented the artificial heart to extend the life expectancy of people with heart conditions. It was used for the first time in 1969: today, the first artificial heart is on display in the Smithsonian Museum.