The History of Science and Technology in the Cuban Context: Institutionalization and Development

International knowledge and transparency of the process of foundation and development of science in Cuba has not received enough visibility due to historical conditions; three centuries of Spanish colonization and then controlled by the United States, delayed Cuba’s full participation in the concert of Latin American nations and the world. In this essay, without attempting to present an exhaustive study or a strictly chronological account, the authors, using documentary sources, have wanted to reflect the emergence of genuinely Cuban scientific activity. Scientists, professionals and intellectuals, from different professions, at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, felt urged to reason on the future of science in Cuba. The main purpose of this essay is to show, in bold strokes, the process of organization, association and institutionalization of the history of science and the emergence of historians of science and technology in the Cuban context as well as their main contributions and works.