[Dr. Luis Cifuentes Delatte. Memories and teaching].

OBJECTIVES

With the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Dr. Luis Cifuentes Delatte, due to his great scientific personality, we want to emphasize two features that, taken from his works and memories, we consider have not been emphasized enough: his role as historian of urology, both for the histories he narrated of his life experiences and the historical exposition of several pathologies, and also his teaching as professor of several generations of urologists, with the objective of trying to get to know his great human quality as he demonstrated over his life and showed in his writings.

METHODS

We review his books and works, lectures and published papers, in addition the news about his person we have collected from the media, and after analysis, mainly of his memories, we extract data reflecting his personality, and they way he thought and behaved.

RESULTS

Since he was young he went with his father to the international urology meetings where he met a great number of personalities in the World of Urology; he extended his training with them, and later on they got to have a great relationship. He travelled around Europe and United States before and after Second World War, respectively, with stays in the most prestigious centers, which he described meticulously. He also reported his activity during the first two years he directed the Department of Urology at the Hospital La Princesa in Madrid and cited the series of collaborators he had. In his research works he made an ample description of historical development as introduction to the various pathologies he analyzed in depth.

CONCLUSIONS

The reading of the narration of his trips, that he did in the convulse International time he lived, offers details which enable us to know firsthand the situation of urology and the human side of the actors he had relation with, and the social life they had, in addition to data about their families and daily life. As a researcher in transcendental chapters in urological pathology we emphasize his historical evolution. A great number of disciples benefited from his scientific quality and his great teaching vocation.