Mario Emilio Dihigo Llanos

Cuban physician and pedagogue. He was a member of important institutions, such as the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of La Habana. He revealed a broad concept of teaching and pedagogical mastery.

He was born in Cidra, Matanzas, Cuba, on August 8, 1895.

He began his secondary education at the Instituto Segunda Enseñanza de Matanzas, continued it in Pinar del Río and completed it in La Habana, in 1912. He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of La Habana, in 1917 and practiced the profession of physician for 38 years. During this period he was president of the Association of Medical Students and Director of that association's journal.

In 1918 he moved to Matanzas and obtained, by competitive examination, in that same year, the chair of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene of the Normal School, which he held for forty-five years, and likewise served as director of that school. He was also Professor of Artistic Anatomy at the Provincial School of Fine Arts of Matanzas.

Because of his political ideas he was imprisoned during the government of Gerardo Machado, being suspended from his position and salary until the fall of that President, in 1933.

He died in the city of Matanzas on February 27, 1978.

Participation in Events
He participated in different events and congresses, such as the Ibero-American Regional Conference of Rotary International, in 1936, in the Cuban Constitutional Convention and in the Second World Peace Congress, in Warsaw, in 1950. Likewise, he was a member of important corporations, such as the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of La Habana, an institution which he entered as a Corresponding Academic, in 1942; his admission work was "Hereditary Deforming Chondrodysplasia". He received distinctions from foreign radiological societies.

After the Triumph of the Revolution, in 1959, he joined various activities, such as the Literacy Campaign, in 1961, teaching Rural Hygiene and First Aid, at the Varadero Camp.

Important Contributions
Among his greatest contributions are the textbooks he developed, related to the teaching of Health Education, Natural Sciences and Human Biology, as well as books of short stories, travels and notebooks, some made in collaboration with his daughter, and others with doctor José Francisco Wegener González. He revealed a broad concept of teaching and pedagogical mastery. In the latter, he had great mastery and possessed profound pedagogical knowledge and skills, in which he worked with extraordinary dedication.

Active Bibliography
Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene. Impresores P. Fernández y Cía. Habana, 1938
Artistic Anatomy. Matanzas, 1941 (unpublished); Health Education. Fourth Grade. Impresores P. Fernández y Cía., Habana, 1949
Health Education, Fifth Grade. Impresores P. Fernández y Cía., Habana, 1950
A Year Adrift. Impresores P. Fernández y Cía., Habana, 1957
Biological Sciences 1. Distribuidora Escolar, S.A., Caracas (Venezuela), 1960
Sciences. Distribuidora Escolar, S.A., Caracas, 1960 Human Biology. Editorial Nacional de Cuba, Habana, 1964
Guide to Practical Work in Biological Sciences. Third Grade. Distribuidora Escolar, S.A., Caracas, 1964
Natural Sciences. Fifth Grade. Distribuidora Escolar, S.A., Caracas, 1966
Natural Sciences. Sixth Grade. Distribuidora Escolar, S.A. Caracas, 1966
Memories of a Long Life. Notebooks of the History of Public Health. Editorial Orbe, Habana, 1974
Human Biology. Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene. Ediciones Escolares, La Escuela Nueva. Madrid, 1976
Autobiography (unpublished).

Passive Bibliography
Martínez Miranda, Caridad y Jorge L. Hernández Mujica: Four Lives Dedicated to the Teaching of Biology in Cuba: Mario Emilio Dihigo Llanos. In: Educación. No. 67, Year XVII, 1987, pp. 114-125
Martínez Miranda, Caridad y Jorge L. Hernández Mujica: A Life Dedicated to the Teaching of Biology in Cuba. In: Varona No.18, Year IX, 1987, pp. 2-14