José Leandro Montalvo Guenard
José Leandro Montalvo Guenard was a Puerto Rican physician, inventor, anthropologist and historian. He is known for his "Rectificaciones Históricas: El Descubrimiento de Boriquén", published by Editorial del Llano, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1933.Montalvo Guenard was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. After graduating from high school, he attended the Deichmann Institute where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1907, and then studied medicine at the University of Maryland graduating with a Medical Degree in 1911.Professional life and inventor
From 1911 to 1914, he was the Public Health officer for the municipality of Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico. From 1922 to 1933, he was Public Health Officer for the Municipality of Ponce. During 1934-35, he was a tisiologist at the now-defunct Ponce Hospital for Tuberculosis, and starting in 1935 he was Director of the Ponce Asylum for the Blind. In 1939, Dr. Montalvo Guenard invented an instrument that allowed eye surgeons to securely hold and readily manipulate the eye lens in operations of cataracts. He was issued US Patent 2,224,575.Archeologist, memberships and interests
From 1925-35, Montalvo Guenard also acted as the municipal archeologist for the city of Ponce. Due to the diversified nature of his interests, Montalvo held memberships in the Archeological Institute of America, the Puerto Rican Academy of History, and the Puerto Rico Medical Association. Montalvo Guenard's interest laid in anthropology, especially archeology and ethnology, in Puerto Rican prehistory and protohistory and in internal medicine.Death and legacy
He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, USA. He is recognized at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens.
