Luis Felipe Le Roy Gálves

His contribution to scientific endeavor was framed within three fundamental areas: research (both chemical and historical), teaching, and his work as a national promoter and ambassador of our science in the world, through his active participation in relevant institutions of that time, such as: the Universidad de La Habana, the Academia de la Historia, and the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana.

He was born in La Habana, his father was the distinguished surgeon Jorge Le Roy y Casas and his mother was Mrs. María Gálvez Guillén. He studied through the fifth grade at Colegio la Salle in his native city and through the seventh grade at St. Paul's College in Cavington Louisiana. Subsequently, he completed his bachelor's degree in Sciences and Letters at the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana in 1927, the year he entered the Universidad de la Habana to study Electrical Engineering—which he left unfinished in 1930—and Physical-Chemical Sciences, which he completed in 1933.

That year he worked as Full Professor of Physics at the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de Pinar del Río. When professors at institutes throughout the island were laid off in 1934, he withdrew from teaching and continued his scientific preparation in a self-taught manner until, when the University reopened in 1937, he was appointed Associate Professor of Chemical Analysis at the School of Sciences and earned the degrees of Doctor in Physical-Mathematical Sciences and in Natural Sciences.

In 1938 he moved to New York as a member of a Special Scientific Commission of an Honorary Nature to study the methods and organization of chemical analysis laboratories at various universities in that city and took a course on the subject at Columbia University.

Upon his return to the country in 1943, at the Universidad de La Habana he obtained through competitive examination a position as Assistant Professor of Chemical Analysis, served as laboratory director, was appointed professor for the Summer School (1947), served as vice secretary of the Municipal College of Doctors in Sciences and in Philosophy and Letters (1947-49), was delegate to the Governing Board of the Section of Physical-Chemical Sciences (1948), and was granted the rank of Full Professor of the Faculty of Sciences (1954).

Between 1945 and 1956 he was a regular member of the Sociedad Cubana de Botánica (1945), of the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana (1951), member of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, vice president of the Asociación Nacional de Identificados and secretary of its Section of Literature, History and Fine Arts (1952), as well as member of the Academia de Historia de Cuba (1953) and founder of the Sociedad Cubana de Historia de la medicina (1956).

During the I Exposición Nacional de Química in 1947, he received First Prize in the Educational Section, the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de la Habana awarded him, in 1950, the Premio Conde de San Esteban de Cañongo and in 1954 he was decorated with the Orden Carlos J. Finlay.

Throughout those years he collaborated in Vida Universitaria, Revista de la Sociedad Cubana de Historia Nacional, Revista de la Sociedad Cubana de Botánica, Universidad de la Habana—whose editorial committee he later served on—Revista de Medicina y Cirugía de la Habana, Revista Agrotecnia, Revista Bimestre Cubana, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional, Patria, Boletín del Archivo Nacional, Humanismo (México), and Journal of Chemical Education (Estados Unidos).

From 1956 until his retirement in 1978, he worked as Historical Advisor and Researcher at the Universidad de La Habana and its Archive. Also during this period he was appointed member of the Commission on Regulations and Statutes of the universities of La Habana, Las Villas, and Oriente and received the Orden Nacional Frank País (1971). He also collaborated in Mar y Pesca, Verde Olivo, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, and Santiago (Santiago de Cuba). Marta Lesmes Albis.

He published numerous essays and articles in various scientific publications and newspapers, such as: the journals Universidad de La Habana, Vida Universitaria, Bimestre Cubana, and Criminalística; the Anales de la Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana; the Revista de la Sociedad Cubana de Botánica and the Revista de la Sociedad Cubana de la Historia de la Medicina; the Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional; the Boletín del Archivo Nacional de Cuba; and the Journal of Chemical Education of the U.S.A.

On July 21, 1977, he took retirement upon his own request, thereby leaving to the country more than four decades of a fruitful professional life. Among the principal scientific distinctions awarded to him were: first prize at the First National Congress of Chemistry, held in La Habana in 1947, and the prize "Conde de San Esteban de Cañongo," awarded by the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana in 1950.