Humberto Fernández Morán

Humberto Fernández-Morán (1924-1999) was the founder of the Venezuelan Institut for Neurological and Brain Studues (IVNIC in Spanish), the predecessor of the current Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC). He contributed to the development of the electron microscope and was the first person to introduce the concept of crioultramicrotomy. He developed the diamond scalpel and its applications for very thin cuttings of biological tissues and metals. He also worked on the concept of electronic cryomicroscopy, the use of superconducting lenses of liquid helium in electronic microscopes, among other things. He also helped in the improvement of the ultramicrotomes.

He was minister of Science during the regime of Marcos Perez Jimenez and because of that he was forced to leave Venezuela in 1958. He worked at the NASA for the Apollo Project and taught in many universities, such as MIT, University of Chicago and the University of Stockholm.