List of Latin Americans

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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  •   Agustin I (1783–1824), independence leader, Emperor of Mexico
  •   Pope Francis (born 1936), Sovereign of Vatican City State
  •   Pedro I (1798–1834), independence leader, Emperor of 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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  •   Manuel de Abreu (1894–1962), physician, scientist, inventor of abreugraphy(mass radiography of the lungs for screening tuberculosis)
  •   Luis Agote (1868–1954), physician and researcher
  •   Ricardo Alegría (1921–2011), physical anthropologist
  •   Álvaro Alvim (1863–1928), physician, pioneer in radiology and radiotherapy
  •   Carolina Araujo, mathematician, included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the Association of Women in Mathematics
  •   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.
  •   Francisco João de Azevedo (1814–1880), inventor, best known for his invention of Typewriter
  •   José Antonio Balseiro (1919–1962), nuclear physicist
  •   Gregorio Baro (1928–2012), radiochemist
  •   Geraldo de Barros (1923–1998), painter and photographer, known for his trailblazing work in experimental abstract photography and modernism
  •   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
  •     Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011), immunologist, Nobel Prize Medicine
  •     Martha E. Bernal (1931–2001), psychologist
  •   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
  •   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.
  •   David Joseph Bohm (1917–1992), scientist who has been described as one of the most significant
  •   Francisco José de Caldas (1768–1818), naturalist, mathematician, geographer and inventor
  •     Fernando Caldeiro (born 1958), NASA astronaut
  •   Víctor A. Carreño (1911–1967), NASA aerospace engineer
  •   Nabor Carrillo Flores (1911–1967), nuclear physicist
  •   Carlos Chagas (1879–1934), physician and scientist
  •     Franklin Chang Díaz (born 1950), NASA astronaut
  •   Nitza Margarita Cintrón (born 1950), NASA Chief of Space and Health Care Systems
  •   Adelmar Faria Coimbra-Filho (1924–2016), biologist, primatologist, pioneer in studies of and conservation of lion tamarins
  •   Jacinto Convit (1913–2014), medical scientist, discoverer of vaccines
  •   Newton da Costa (1929–2024), mathematician, logician, and philosopher, recognised for his works in paraconsistent logic
  •   Luís Cruls(1848–1908), astronomer and geodesist, co-discoverer of the Great Comet of 1882
  •   Oswaldo Cruz (1872–1917), physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist
  •   Johanna Döbereiner (born 1924), agronomist, pioneer in soil biology
  •   René Favaloro (1923–2000), cardiologist, created the technique for coronary bypass
  •   Humberto Fernández-Morán (1924–1999), medical research scientist
  •   Sérgio Henrique Ferreira (1934–2016), physician and pharmacologist, discovered the active principle of a drug for hypertension
  •   Orlando Figueroa (born 1955), NASA Director for Mars Exploration and for Solar System Division
  •   Carlos Finlay (1833–1915), medical scientist, researcher
  •   Hércules Florence (1804–1879), pioneer of photography
  •   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.
  •   Julio Garavito Armero (1865–1920), astronomer
  •   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.
  •   Otto Richard Gottlieb (1920–2011), chemist and scientist
  •   José Goldemberg (born 1928), physicist, university educator, scientific leader and research scientist, He is a leading expert on energy and environment issues
  •   Guillermo González Camarena (1917–1965), inventor of an early color television system
  •   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.
  •   Juan Gundlach (1810–1896), naturalist, taxonomist
  •   Bartolomeu de Gusmão(1685–1724), Catholic priest, pioneer of aviation, the inventor of the balloon, became known as the "flying priest"
  •   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
  •   Salomón Hakim (1922–2011), physician and scientist
  •   Guillermo Haro (1913–1988), astrophysicist, specialist in observational astronomy
  •   Bernardo Houssay (1887–1971), physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  •   Miguel de Icaza (born 1972), free software programmer
  •   Roberto Ierusalimschy (born 1960), computer scientist, known for creating the Lua programming language
  •   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
  •   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
  •   Roberto Landell de Moura (1861–1928), pioneer of telephony and radio
  •   César Lattes (1924–2005), experimental physicist, one of the discoverers of the pion, a composite subatomic particle made of a quark and an antiquark
  •   Luis Federico Leloir (1906–1987), biochemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  •   Maria Carmela Lico (1927–1985), produced important insights on the descending control of nociception by limbic structures, specially the septal nuclei
  •   Henrique da Rocha Lima (1879–1956), physician, pathologist and infectologist, discovered Rickettsia prowazekii, the pathogen of epidemic typhus
  •   Domingo Liotta (1924–2022), cardiologist, created first artificial heart
  •   Rosaly Lopes (born 1957), planetary geologist, volcanologist, author of numerous scientific papers and several books
  •   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
  •   Adolfo Lutz (1855–1940), father of tropical medicine and a pioneer epidemiologist and researcher in infectious diseases
  •   Humberto Maturana (1928–2021), biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis
  •   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
  •   Lia Medeiros, astronomer, notable participation in the black hole photo in 2019
  •   Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born 1942), USSR Space Program cosmonaut
  •   César Milstein (1927–2002), biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  •   Luis E. Miramontes (1925–2004), chemist, co-inventor of the oral contraceptive
  •   Mario J. Molina (born 1943), chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  •   Salvador Moncada (born 1944), pharmacologist
  •   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.
  •   Miguel Nicolelis(1961), pioneering work surrounding brain-computer interface
  •   Hermann Niemeyer (1919–1991), paediatrician and biochemist, pioneer of biochemistry in Chile
  •   Rodolfo Neri Vela (born 1952), Ph.D, NASA astronaut
  •   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".
  •     Carlos I. Noriega (born 1959), NASA astronaut
  •   Antonia Novello (born 1944), 14th Surgeon General of the United States
  •   Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig (1928–2018), immunologist specializing in the development of malaria vaccines
  •   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
  •   Andreas Pavel, cultural producer and media designer who is generally credited with patenting the personal stereo
  •   Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (born 1947), pathologist, vaccines specialist
  •   Carlos Paz de Araújo, scientist and inventor, holds nearly 600 patents in the area of nanotechnology
  •   Feniosky Peña-Mora (born 1966), engineer and educator
  •   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
  •   Felipe Poey (1799–1891), zoologist, specialist in ichthyology
  •   Marcos Pontes (born 1963), first AEB/NASA astronaut
  •   Aracely Quispe Neira (born 1982), NASA senior astronautical engineer, professor, researcher
  •   Silvano Raia, first surgeon to achieve a successful living donor liver transplantation in July 1989
  •   Eduardo H. Rapoport (1927–2017), ecologist, biogeographer
  •   L. Rafael Reif (born 1950), engineer, president of MIT
  •     Andrés Manuel del Río (1764–1849), geologist, chemist
  •   Maurício Rocha e Silva (1910–1983), physician and pharmacologist, discovered bradykinin, an active cardiovascular peptide
  •     Helen Rodríguez Trías (1929–2001), pediatrician, early advocate for women's reproductive rights
  •     Francisco Rubio (astronaut) (born 1975), NASA astronaut
  •   Oscar Sala (1922–2010), nuclear physicist and important scientific leader
  •   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
  •   Wilfredo Santa-Gómez (born 1949), psychiatrist
  •   José Santana (economist) (born 1962), specialist in technology and development
  •   Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873–1932), aviation inventor
  •   Nise da Silveira (1905–1999), psychiatrist and mental health reformer
  •     Sarah Stewart (cancer researcher) (1905–1976), microbiologist, discovered Polyomavirus
  •   Klaus von Storch (born 1962), aerospace engineer
  •   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.
  •   Pablo DT Valenzuela (born 1941), biotechnologist, co-founder of Chiron Corporation and Fundación Ciencias Para la Vida
  •   Francisco Varela (1946–2001), biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis
  •     Lydia Villa-Komaroff (born 1947), biologist, early Mexican American PhD in the sciences
  •   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
  •   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
  •   Bob Burnquist (born 1976), better known as Bob is the most medalist in X Games history, with a total of 30 medals
  •   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).

Others

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Lists by nationality

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See also

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