Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15 – October 15.
This US national month of recognition honors Hispanic and Latinx people, their culture, their achievements, and their influence on American society. First introduced in June of 1968 by California Congressman George E. Brown as Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1987 U.S. Representative Esteban E. Torres of California purposed that Hispanic Heritage Week be expanded into Hispanic Heritage Month. 1988 President Reagan signed it into law and in September 1989 President George H. Bush was the first president to declare 9/15-10/15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month.
The term Hispanic or Latinx referred to a person’s culture or origin rather than their race. Hispanic people could identify as having Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, black, indigenous roots/indigeneity, or “another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.”
There are many people of Hispanic descent that have made huge contributions in STEM fields over the decades and we would like to recognize them here!
Carlos Castillo-Chavez – Ph.D. in mathematics, expertise in mathematical epidemiology
Carlos Juan Finlay – Cuban doctor and scientist, a pioneer in the study of yellow fever
Cesar Milstein – Nobel Prize-winning biochemist
Christina Hernandez – Payload Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
David Ríos Insua – Spanish Mathematician
Ellen Ochoa – The first Hispanic woman to go to space
Erika Camacho – Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and advocate for diversity in the world of mathematics
France A. Córdova – Astrophysicist and the director of the National Science Foundation
Franklin Chang-Díaz – Mechanical engineer and NASA’s first Hispanic astronaut
Jaime Escalante – Bolivian Math Teacher that inspired the movie Stand and Deliver
Maria Da Penha – Brazilian Biopharmacist and defender of human rights for women
Mario Molina – The first Mexican-born scientist to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nicole Hernandez-Hammer – Guatemalan-American climate scientist
Ruth Gonzalez – First Hispanic woman to earn a Doctorate in Mathematics
Scarlin Hernandez – Aerospace engineer working on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
Susana Ibarra – El Salvador’s first female commercial airline pilot
Ynes Mexia – Mexican-American botanist who discovered two new plant genera and 500 new plant species
Resources and References:
National Hispanic American Heritage Month 2021 (hispanicheritagemonth.gov)
Hispanic Heritage Month – Origins & Facts – HISTORY
Hispanics Who Have Led The Way in Math (7generationgames.com)
A Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration Of Mathematicians (forbes.com)
10 Game-Changing Hispanic Scientists You Didn’t Learn About In School | Mental Floss
Get Inspired by these Hispanic Scientists and Engineers | Science Buddies Blog
Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Please notify us if we missed any important Hispanic figures in STEM, we will happily add them to our list. Email our marketing team montgok@linnbenton.edu
Image: taken from http://www.thefamuanonline.com/
