Region of Madrid to pay tribute in Metro underground to some of the most significant Spanish researchers of recent times

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The aim is to highlight the importance of science and research in times of pandemic. Commemorative posters will be put up to show the most important aspects of their work. Gregorio Marañón, Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Juan de la Cierva developed their respective fields of essential work to the benefit of society

The Region of Madrid will pay tribute in the Metro underground to some of the leading figures in the fields of science and research in Spain by putting up commemorative posters to highlight the most important aspects of their work.

Accordingly, Gregorio Marañón, Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Juan de la Cierva will shortly have their own space in several Metro stations to recall their most important works and their undisputed contribution to society.

By implementing this initiative, the Region of Madrid, as well as paying tribute to these vitally important figures, wishes to highlight the importance of science and research for the development of society, as recently demonstrated in the swift and effective response provided by research to the COVID-19 health crisis.

Gregorio Marañón was a Spanish internist, scientist, historian, writer and thinker, who belonged to the generation of 1914. His works in the fields of science and history were internationally renowned and he is considered to be the father of Spanish endocrinology.

In turn, Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a Spanish doctor and scientist, specialised in histology and pathological anatomy. He shared the 1906 Nobel Medicine Prize with Camillo Golgi in recognition of his work on the structure of the nervous system. He was a pioneer in the description of the ten synapses that make up the retina.

And Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu was a Spanish engineer, aviator and politician who invented the gyroplane – the forerunner of the helicopter. In 1926, with the financial backing of George Weir - a Scottish industrialist and aviator - he set up the company Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom to develop the gyroplane, producing various models in that country.

OTHER LEADING FIGURES IN THE METRO

The tributes to these three leading figures is in addition to the recent theming by Metro de Madrid of Manuela Malasaña station on line 12, with portraits and biographical reviews of 18 pioneering women in different disciplines and a variety of reasons.

Figures such as Hipatia de Alejandría, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Clara Campoamor, Rosalind Franklin and Margarita Salas accompany underground users during their journeys. They changed the world. Women who made history is the title of this mural display, which is a permanent exhibition.

As well as these names, many other Metro stations, through their informative posters, review the biographies of other significant figures whose names are given to the station itself, thus paying tribute to their personal contribution to the improvement and development of society.