Early life and education Finlay was born Juan Carlos Finlay y de Barrés in
Puerto Príncipe (now Camagüey), Cuba to Scottish-born Dr. Edward (Eduardo) Finlay and French-born Elisa (Isabel) de Barrés. At that time Cuba was part of the Kingdom of Spain. He reversed the order of his given names to "Carlos Juan" later in his life. His father was a physician who had fought alongside
Simón Bolívar, and his family owned a coffee plantation in
Alquízar. He attended school in France in 1844, but was forced to return to Cuba after two years because he contracted
chorea. After recovering, he returned to Europe in 1848, but became stuck in England for another two years due to political turmoil, and after arriving in France to continue his education, he contracted
typhoid fever and again returned to Cuba. He presented this theory at the 1881
International Sanitary Conference, where it was not well-received, and in fact made him subject to ridicule and mockery. A year later Finlay identified a mosquito of the
genus Aedes as the organism transmitting yellow fever. In the words of General
Leonard Wood, a physician and
U.S. military governor of Cuba in 1900: This discovery helped
William C. Gorgas reduce the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases in
Panama during the American campaign, from 1903 onwards, to construct the
Panama Canal. Prior to this, about 10% of the workforce had died each year from
malaria and yellow fever. Finlay was a member of Havana's Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences. He was fluent in
French,
German,
Spanish, and
English and could read
Latin. His interests were widespread and he wrote articles on subjects as varied as
leprosy,
cholera,
gravity, and
plant diseases. His main interest, however, was yellow fever, and he was the author of 40 articles on this disease. His theory that an intermediary host was responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule for years. A humane man, he often took on patients who could not afford medical care. As a result of his work, Finlay was nominated seven times for the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, although he was never awarded the prize. He received the National Order of the
Legion of Honour of France in 1908. Finlay died from a
stroke, caused by severe brain seizures, at his house in Havana on August 20, 1915. == Legacy ==