Whether in literature, economics, humanitarianism, or the sciences, the Nobel Prize is an international hallmark of excellence. Although both the Peace and Literature Prizes have been earned by many individuals throughout the developing world, the award in the sciences (physics, chemistry, and medicine) have remained largely the domain of scientists from Western Europe and the United States. This may seem understandable for several reasons, including the cutting-edge technology, abundant funding, and established scientific institutions in these regions.

Since the introduction...

Specific local circumstances often have a decisive role in shaping a nation's scientific specializations. To list just a few examples: Brazilian public health officials in the early twentieth century were expert in fighting tropical diseases, sixteenth century Mexicans were at the forefront of new mining techniques, twentieth century Peruvian physicians studied the effects of high altitude on human health, and Caribbean agriculturalists perfected how sugar was grown and refined. All of these reflect the Latin American preference for the useful arts, applied sciences (medicine,...

In the summer of 1914, the first ship steamed between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over a fifty mile stretch that had been terra firma a mere ten years earlier. The Panama Canal was a marvel of modern engineering that fulfilled a dream as old as the Age of Discovery, a convenient inter-oceanic waterway that avoided the dangerous and lengthy passage around Cape Horn. After years of futile voyages in search of the Northwest Passage, capitalists, engineers, and politicians from Europe and the United States, inspired by ideals of progress and modernity, decided to carve a marine path...

Why is the list of countries renowned for their scientific advancements and achievements so short? Despite the racist theories of Social Darwinists and others, Western Europe, the United States, and Japan do not have a disproportionate number of natural-born geniuses compared to the rest of the world. They do, however, have very well developed infrastructures for the production and promulgation of scientific knowledge, systems that have proven decisive in their ability to dominate--politically, economically, and culturally--other nations. The conquests facilitated by these...

Since the mid nineteenth century, social scientists have attempted to use scientific methodology to discover empirically-derived truths about the human world. Demography, economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, and psychology are just some of the disciplines that seek to elucidate various aspects of the human world. There is no way that the history of each of these fields in Latin America can be explored in depth in this topic, but touching on case studies within each of these fields will help to draw out some of the most important themes in the Latin American social...

Most discussions of the scientific aspects of the Enlightenment (the eighteenth century movement emphasizing reason) are dominated by figures like Newton, Lavoisier, and Linnaeus, world-changing scientists who worked from centers like London, Paris, and Stockholm. Less often heard, though, are names like Caldas, Alzate, and Camara, men who actualized the experimental and philosophical aspects of the Enlightenment throughout the Iberian Atlantic. Although these men and others made impressive advancements in natural history, it cannot be said that they...

Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world. By 1990, over one-third of the area's population lived in forty-one cities of one million or more people each and, on average, the metropolises in Latin America are the largest on earth. Whereas the mean population for large cities in the U.S. and Canada is about 2.7 million, Latin American urban centers average about 3.6 million. Four of the world's fifteen largest cities are in Latin America, including two--Mexico City and Sao Paulo--that are among the world's five most populous urban centers. Despite U.S. stereotypes...