Every January 15, Cuba honors its scientists, innovators, and researchers on Cuban Science Day. The date was instituted in 1990, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of our Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, defining the role of science in the development of the country and outlining the bases of the policy of human training and professional and scientific development of the Revolution.
"The future of our homeland must necessarily be a future of men of science, it must be a future of men of thought (...)", Fidel foresaw in 1960, during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Speleological Society of Cuba, in the auditorium of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana.
Etymologically, the word science comes from the Latin Scientia, from "scire", which means to know, that is, the basic definition of science is knowledge, or more precisely, human knowledge; in other words, it is the set of systematically structured knowledge obtained through the observation of regular patterns, reasoning and experimentation in specific fields, from which questions are generated, hypotheses are built, principles are deduced and general laws and methodically organized schemes are prepared.
"Science and technique mean preparing a country, creating a country," Fidel emphasized and later, at the end of the 1960s, he said, "when I speak to you of science and technique, I speak to you of the need to create the conditions that will allow us to live from our sweat and our intelligence."
Cuba exhibits important scientific achievements in different branches, among which the health sector stands out. Many of our country's advances in this regard are due to the scientific-technical development achieved, which has also made it possible to offer high-value medical services, such as unique oncology treatments with immune therapy, comprehensive neurological restoration, treatment for retinitis pigmentosa y and Parkinson's disease as well as therapeutics for diabetic foot, wounds and ulcers that are difficult to heal, among others.
Cuban science has been an essential element in the possibility that today the largest of the Antilles has of integrally articulating all the health potential of a country, built over many years of training and professional practice, to provide the best service in terms of healing and offering the highest quality of life to human beings.
Cuba's future is already a present that has "a brilliant constellation of men of ideas, researchers, and scientists", the scientific community is growing and the path to intelligence and knowledge continues to be cultivated.
By: MSc. Dra. Patricia Alonso Galbán
Communication Specialist of CSMC, S.A.