We could say that selective memory is the ability of the human mind to select what matters to us and what does not. Memory is the basis of our identity. After all, we are a mixture of our genetics and the experiences we have lived, and the latter can only leave a mark on us through memory. Taking this idea to the plane of Argentine society, I wonder: why do it happen that personalities, that have proud and have demonstrated an indisputable worth, seem to have discarded from the collective memory of the Argentines? This story appeals to review the parameters for which the Argentines, we decided to place in the recycling bin to signal personality, which should look in the showcase of our memories or jealously saved in our memory.
In November 1970 and in the city of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, a ceremony was being held that the world observed carefully. It was the delivery of the Nobel awards, which mean much more than a diploma and that an important check to each winner. Currently, it is almost a million dollars.
The great expectation derived from the fact that he granted- and grants- a great international prestige.
They receive the Nobel Prize- it is known- the most outstanding figures worldwide for their contributions to the progress of physics, chemistry, literature, economy, medicine and the peace of the world.
There were six winners that day. They were sitting on stage.
In the first row of the stalls, King Gustavo de Sweden was observed, who would be the one who would deliver the valuable prize.
One of the six winners was a very thin man. His nationality?, Naturalized Argentine, that is, that it was by choice, that he made him even more Argentine.
He was born in France, in the city of Paris.
It was Dr. in Chemistry. He was 63 years old. His name: Luis Leloir.
He obtained, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in October 1970, that many years before the famous Madame Curie and that he also received in Medicine, 23 years before, another Argentine, from whom Leloir would not get tired of repeating that he was his teacher: Bernardo Houssay.
Later he would also win the Nobel Prize in Medicine, the Argentine, Dr. César Milstein.
Forced to speak, said Leloir:
-“I am a man of research, laboratory. That is, I love loneliness. And since I don’t feel it as such, I am never spiritually alone. Besides, the more isolated I am, the better and more clearly I can see the world.”
-Is it happy for this achievement? A Swedish journalist interrogated him.
-“My happiness does not derive from this distinction. But yes, it makes me happy, the recognition of my finding, which may play a role in the best knowledge of the human organism andposibilitar the cure of some diseases.”
I read readers, words such as functioning of carbohydrates, their metabolism, enzyme insulation, antibody creation. I confess that I did not understand it. But the Swedish scientists who rewarded Luis Leloir, this Argentine born in Paris, understood it very well.
And that Luis Leloir was born in France as Gardel, or Alfonsina Storni was born in Switzerland or Belgium, Cortázar. Alfredo Lepera and Olegario Víctor Andrade, in Brazil, none of them took Argentine. Because everyone chose to be Argentines.
One day in December 1987, Luis Leloir was sitting in an armchair, in the living room of his department.
He felt a lot of dream. He narrowed his eyes and fell asleep like many other nights in his long 81 years.
A while later, a myocardial infarction- there was another 6 or 7 months before- transformed his dream, into a definitive one.
Citizenship was shocked. Because the death of a great man is not an individual death.
He was a sober, mesurad, authentically modest, as immediately arose from his gray overalls, his jeans, his moccasins and his declared taste for Cow-Boys movies.
He had a lot of energy to defend his truth and very little to defend his person.
He died on December 2, 1987 at age 81. He was born in 1906.
His personality brought this aphorism to my mind
“Simplicity, it is not simplicity.”
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
