Juan Negrín López (1892-1956). His scientific and universitary contribution (1892-1936)

Abstract

Juan Negrin's political activities during and after the Spanish Civil War, that gave rise to much controversy, have unjustly overshadowed his valuable contribution as an organizer and reformer of the scientific institutions of his time. In his capacity of Head of the General Physiologic Laboratory of the Residence of Students in 1916, Negrin's links with the Board for the Development of Scientifical Studies and Research (J.A.E.) allowed him to make an outstanding contribution to a renewal and updating movement in the field of sciences. A modern «school» of experimental physiologists developed under his wing and was sponsored by thé Chair of Physiology of the Central University which Negrin held in 1922. Concomitantly, Negrin's access to executive posts (Secretary of the Faculty of Medicine and of the Governing Board of the University City), that enabled him to implement very healthy initiatives, drew him into an ever more active engagement in the Spanish political life of his time as a result of which he relinquished his promising scientifical career. The present work intends to redeem from undeserved oblivion the huge human and intellectual personality of a man who can unmistakably be qualified as one of the historical and scientifical leaders of the twentieth century.