Cuban physician Carlos Finlay celebrated in Google Doodle

TORONTO – Google celebrated the birthday of the late Carlos Finlay, a Cuban scientist and physician best known for his theory that yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes, with a Google Doodle on Tuesday.

Born Dec. 3, 1833 in Puerto Príncipe, now the Cuban city of Camagüey, Finlay spent the majority of his medical career studying the cause and origin of yellow fever – a disease that wreaked havoc on Cuba.

In 1879, he was appointed by the Cuban government to work with a North American team studying the causes of yellow fever. He would eventually conclude that the disease was spread by mosquitoes.

Finlay also studied the spread of cholera, eventually concluding that the disease was water-borne. Both of his theories were highly criticized.

But almost 20 years later, the Walter Reed Commission proved both theories to be true, paving the way for Finlay to become chief health officer of Cuba from 1902 to 1909.

In Tuesday’s Doodle, Finlay’s face is seen alongside three lily pads – one of which has a mosquito on it.

Finlay died in 1915 of a stroke.