Eduardo A. Quisumbing on Stamps

Eduardo Quisumbíng y Argüelles (1895, Santa Cruz, Laguna–1986) was a leading authority of plants in the Philippines.

He earned his BSA at University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1918, his MS at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1921, and Ph. D. in Plant Taxonomy, Systematics and Morphology (biology) at the University of Chicago in 1923.

From 1920-26 he was attached to the College of Agriculture in U.P., and from 1926-28 to the University of California; in 1928 he was appointed Systematic Botanist and from February 1934 Acting Chief of the Natural Museum Division of the Bureau of Science, Manila, equivalent to the present Director of the National Museum. When assigned to the U.S. Navy in Guiuau, at the southern tip of Samar, he undertook collections in that region. He retired as Director in November 1961, and was for some years attached to the Araneta University. Dr. Quisumbing undertook restoration of the Herbarium which was completely destroyed during the war.

Dr. Quisumbing was the author of taxonomic and morphological papers, many of which dealt with orchids, including ‘Medicinal Plants in the Philippines’ (Manila 1951). Saccolabium quisumbingii was named in his honor. He was recipient of the Distinguished Service Star (1954) for outstanding contribution to the field of systematic botany; Diploma of Merit on Orchidology and Fellow Gold Medal, Malaysian Orchid Society (1966); Gold Medal, American Orchid Society and 1975 PhilAAS Most Outstanding Award.

The stamp above was issued on June 1, 1995.

Maria Ylagan-Orosa on Stamps

Maria Ylagan-Orosa (29 November 1893 – 13 February 1945) is a Filipino pioneer food technologist, pharmaceutical chemist, humanitarian and war heroine.

Orosa was born on 29 November 1893 in Taal, Batangas to Simplicio Orosa y Agoncillo and Juliana Ylagan. Her brothers and sisters were Simplicio Jr., Vicente, Sixto, Felisa, Jose, Nicolas, and Rafael. She went to elementary and high school in her province. In 1915, she took up a pharmacy course at the University of the Philippines. A year after, she left for the United States as a government scholar.

She enrolled at the University of Seattle as a partial government scholar and earned her degree of Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 1917; a bachelor's degree in Food Chemistry in 1918; a degree in Pharmacy in 1920; and a master's degree in Pharmacy in 1921. Orosa worked as an assistant to Dean Charles Johnson of Washington University in order to support her studies. Upon finishing her studies at the University of Seattle, she was appointed assistant chemist in the State of Washington.

In 1922, Orosa returned to the Philippines and worked as a teacher in Home Economics at the Centro Escolar University. After a year, she transferred to the Bureau of Science as a chemist and traveled throughout the country to promote public and private health through a nutrition program. In 1923, she helped organize the food preservation division under the Bureau of Science. Four years later, she became acting division head. In 1928, the government gave her a scholarship to various countries to specialize in food processing and canning. She returned to the Philippines in 1929 and was appointed head of the home economics division of the Bureau of Science.

On 1 January 1933, she became head of the food preservation division of the bureau. On 1 May 1933, Orosa served as head of the economics division of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce and established the Homemakers Association of the Philippines.

Orosa made many invaluable innovations and experiments in plant utilization, food preservation and canning. She developed the production of vinegar from pineapple. Her best-known invention, however, was the "magic food" Soyalac, a high-protein food derived from soybeans. Orosa is also credited with inventing recipes for banana ketchup, wines from native fruits, banana starch, soyamilk, banana flour, cassava flour, rice cookies from rice bran or darak to prevent beri-beri. Aside from the advances she made in food technology, Orosa also tried to improve household wares by inventing the “Orosa Palayok Oven” for cooking various dishes.

When World War II broke out, Orosa joined the Fil-American Irregular Troops under Brig. Gen. Agustin Marking and was designated captain. She fed and cared for allied prisoners in enemy concentration camps in Tarlac, Pampanga, Laguna, and at the campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Her invention, Soyalac, was instrumental in saving thousands of prisoners who would have otherwise died from hunger. While the fight was ongoing between the Japanese and the American forces in Manila, Orosa was hit by shrapnel while at the Bureau of Plant Industry building, located in Malate, Manila and was taken to the Malate Remedios Hospital for treatment. While she was there, however, the hospital was bombed causing her death on 13 February 1945. She was buried in the yard of Malate Catholic School.

The stamp above was issued on June 1, 1993.

Casimiro del Rosario on Stamps

Casimiro V. del Rosario (June 13, 1896-September 15, 1982) is a foremost Filipino physicist, meteorologist, and astronomer.

Dr. del Rosario is known for his researches on ultraviolet light of different wavelengths, effect of radioactive radiation on Euglena, high voltage electrical discharges in a vacuum, and many others. His works have been published in international journals such as the American Physics Review and the Journal of Franklin Institute.

He is the co-founder of the Bartol Research Foundation in Philadelphia, an institution which did pioneering researches in physics.

Dr. del Rosario was the recipient of a Presidential Award in 1965 for his contributions to physics. He was made Director of the Philippine Weather Bureau for 11 years, and the first vice-chairman of the National Science Development Board in 1958. He was conferred as a National Scientist in 1984.

Dr. Casimiro del Rosario was born on June 13, 1896 in Bantayan, Cebu to Pantaleon del Rosario, a farmer who had served once as the town’s justice of the peace and Benita Villacin. For his elementary education, he attended the Mandaue primary school and the Cebu intermediate school. Thereafter, he studied at the Cebu high school and, upon graduating, enrolled at the University of the Philippines, taking up chemical engineering. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1918, and began teaching at the university the following year. Later, he went to the United States to study physics at Yale University, where he was given a Sterling fellowship, and from which he obtained a master’s degree in physics. He also became a member of the Sigma Xi. Together with other scientists, he established the Bartol Research Foundation in Philadelphia, whose main objective was to essay serious researches on nuclear physics. He worked there for several years.

Meanwhile, he pursued postgraduates studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was granted a fellowship on cancer research. In 1932, he finally acquired his doctorate in physics. Upon his return to the Philippines, he resumed his teaching career at the University of the Philippines. Later, he headed the university’s department of physics. He was designated director of the Weather Bureau in 1946, and served in this position for about 12 years. During his term, he headed at one time the National Committee of the International Geophysical Year. Subsequently, he was named chairman of the division of physical sciences of the National Research Council of the Philippines. He also served as president of Regional Association V, encompassing the Western Pacific area, of the World Meteorological Organization.

Dr. Del Rosario traveled to the United States, at one time, to observe several atomic energy centers and absorb the latest development in the field of nuclear energy. He joined other Filipino scientists in representing the country at the world’s first conference on nuclear energy and its peaceful utilization, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955.

In 1965, he was given the presidential award for his outstanding accomplishments in physics and meteorology. He was likewise conferred the UP alumni award. When his term as director of the Weather Bureau ended, he was named the first vice-chairman of the National Science and Development Board. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he gained recognition, not only for himself but for his country as well, for his in-depth researches on such subjects as “ultra-violet light and its different wavelengths,” “radioactive radiation and its effects on euglena,” “high voltage electrical discharges in high vacuum,” and others. His articles were published in various local and international scientific publications.

In July 1982, during the nationwide Science and Technology Week, Del Rosario, along with Drs. Geminiano de Ocampo and Gregorio Velasquez, was invested as National Scientist by President Ferdinand Marcos. However, he did not have much time left to savor this personal great triumph. On September 15 of the same year, he passed away, and was buried in Cebu the next day. He left behind his wife, Esperanza Ouano, and family.

In April 1983, as a fitting tribute to him, the National Academy of Science and Technology, of which he had been a member since 1979, and the PAGASA, sponsored and held the Casimiro del Rosario Memorial lecture on meteorology at the UP Research Center.

Candido M. Africa on Stamps

Dr. Candido Macasaet Africa (1895-1945) was a doctor of medicine, scholar and researcher. His contributions to medical science made him internationally known and won “for the first time recognition of the Filipino scientist abroad, thus reflecting glory and honor upon calling and country.”

He was born in Lipa, Batangas on October 2, 1895. After graduation from the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines, he taught at the Department of Parasitology, School of Hygiene and Public Health of the same college. He became associate professor and head of the department in 1932.

It was while teaching at the state university that he became involved in scientific research. In all, he wrote 69 scientific articles, some of which he co-authored with his colleagues Walfrido de Leon, E.Y. Garcia, P.G. Refuezo, F.J. Dy, J. Soriano, J.O. Nolasco, S.F. Sta. Cruz and A.V. Vasquez Colet. Among his important works were “ The Progress of Medical Science In The Philippines,” “An Anthropod Associated with Chronic Dermatitis Involving The Face,” “Three Cases of Insect Bites Involving Triatoma Rubrofasciata,” and “The Occurrence of Bartiella in Man, Monkey and Dog in the Philippines.” Much of his researches dealt with parasites that caused heart failure. He also worked on their effects on the other parts of human body. Finally, he undertook research on the causes and prevention of malaria.

In the course of his researches, he discovered four human flukes that attach themselves to the heart, resulting in disease and eventually death. This discovery was hailed as a significant contribution to medical science as it greatly benefited heart patients.

To improve his scientific skills, Dr. Africa at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and graduated with the Degree of Tropical Medicine in 1929. That same year he became a Fellow in the Tropen Institute of Humburg, Germany. A year later, he received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. It allowed him to attend the Harvard Medical School at Cambridge, Massachusetts and John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 1930-1931.

In recognition of his extensive contributions to scientific research, his works were compiled in special books and were exhibited in 1937, during the silver jubilee of Dr. Sadao Yosida of the Institute for Research in Microbic Diseases of the Osaka Imperial University of Japan. In the same year, his works were also exhibited at the silver jubilee of Professor Sadamu Yokogawa of the Taihoku Imperial University in Formosa (now Taiwan) and in the 30th year of the professorship of Dr. K.J. Skrajabin of the All-Union Institute of Helminthology in Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, In 1938, in the silver jubilee of the professorship of Dr. Lauro Travassos of the Institute of Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his works were also displayed.

Dr. Africa was known all over the world all over the works for his researches. This allowed him to visit leading laboratories undertaking experiments in parasitology in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Paris, Utrecht, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and in other cities in Europe. He represented the Philippine Commonwealth at the Third International Congress of Microbiologist held in New York City, U.S.A., on September 1939. At this international gathering of well-known scientist, he read a monograph entitled, “Visceral Complications in Intestinal Heterophydiasis of Man.”

His other valuable works include “Certain Developmental Stages of Ascaris Lumbriocoides Ova in Live Tissue,” “Prelimanary Reports in Cystercerous Cellulose in Man,” “Notes on Malaria,”.

Dr. Africa’s activities, however, were not only confined to laboratory work. He was also an active member of scientific and technical organizations, Like the American Society of Parasitologists, the Philippine Scientific Society and the National Research Council of which he was a charter member. He was also a member of the Association of Tropical Medicine, the Philippine Medical Association, The Phi Kappa Phi , the Society For The Advancement of Research, and the Manila Medical Society.

As an authority on heart disease, he was written up in the 1938 editions of American Men of Science and in Who’s Who among Physicians and Surgeons. As an outstanding alumnus of the University of the Philippines, he was acclaimed one of the best scientists the state university had ever produced. In accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Citizens and the Board of Directors of the U.P. Alumni Association, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit and was conferred a Diploma of Honor for distinguished achievements in the field of parasitology.

He continued to serve in the government until the war broke out in 1941. He was a known figure among the Japanese military officers during the occupation of Manila but unfortunately he was one of those civilians who died in the battle of the liberation of Manila on February 12, 1945. His colleagues did not forget him. In the General Session of the Philippine Medical Association held in Manila on May 8, 1946, Doctor Africa was honored with a citation naming him a great doctor and scientist.

The stamp above was issued on June 1, 1995.