Carlos Juan Finlay (born Juan Carlos Finlay y Barrés; December 3, 1833, Puerto Principe, Cuba – August 20, 1915, Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban physician and scientist, recognized as a pioneer in yellow fever research.
Finlay was born in Puerto Principe, Cuba, of French and Scottish descent. He changed his name to Carlos Juan Finlay later in his life. In 1853 he attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1855, an...
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Carlos Juan Finlay (born Juan Carlos Finlay y Barrés; December 3, 1833, Puerto Principe, Cuba – August 20, 1915, Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban physician and scientist, recognized as a pioneer in yellow fever research.
Finlay was born in Puerto Principe, Cuba, of French and Scottish descent. He changed his name to Carlos Juan Finlay later in his life. In 1853 he attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1855, and completed his studies in Havana and in Paris. Afterwards he settled in Havana and opened a medical practice.
Finlay's work, carried out during the 1870s, finally came to prominence in 1900. He was the first to theorize, in 1881, that a mosquito was a carrier, now known as a disease vector, of the organism causing yellow fever: a mosquito that bites a victim of the disease could then bite a healthy person and spread the disease. A year later Finlay identified a mosquito of the genus Aedes as the organism transmitting yellow fever. His theory...
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