Spanish scientists

José María Albareda Herrera (Caspe, 15 April 1902 - 26 February 1966, Madrid) was a Spanish soil scientist and science administrator. From its 1939 creation by Francoist Spain to his 1966 death, he was the secretary general and head of the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), the main Spanish scientific institution.
He was one of the first numerary members of the Opus Dei (from 1937) and was a close friend of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá. He was ordained a priest in 1959. In 1960, he was appointed the first president of the University of Navarra.

Manuel García Pelayo (May 23, 1909 – February 25, 1991), prominent Spanish political scientist and jurist. He was the founder of the modern Department of Political Science of the Central University of Venezuela and was elected President of the Constitutional Court of Spain in 1980.

Fausto de Elhuyar (11 October 1755 – 6 February 1833) was a Spanish chemist, and the first to isolate tungsten with his brother Juan José Elhuyar in 1783. He was in charge, under a King of Spain commission, of organizing the School of Mines in México City and so was responsible for building an architectural jewel known as the "Palacio de Minería". Elhuyar left Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence, when most of the Spanish residents in Mexico were expelled.

Francisco Javier de Balmis (2 December 1753 – 12 February 1819) was a Spanish physician best known for leading an 1803 expedition to Spanish America and the Philippines to vaccinate populations against smallpox. His expedition is considered the first international vaccination campaign in history and one of the most important events in the history of medicine. It inspired recent vaccination efforts such as that of Carlos Canseco, president of Rotary International, to start the worldwide program PolioPlus to eradicate polio.