In the 1880’s, nobody knew what caused malaria or yellow fever.  Many believed that the diseases were caused by invisible mists rising from the swampy water of the canal area, and even scientists were in wild disagreement about how these diseases spread.  But scientists and physicians around the world were working on the problem.  A French physician, Dr. Charles Alphonse, discovered Plasmodium, the tiny organism responsible for malaria.  And a Cuban Physician, Dr. Carlos Finlay, discovered the link between yellow fever and its carrier – a mosquito species, Aedes aegypti.

The work of these two spawned what would become one of the great early achievements of modern biology. Through science, immeasurable life was spared. And, today, Finlay is now memorialized as one of the early heroes of microbiology.

It is important to understand, Pastor, that biology is inseparable from evolution. You cannot have one without the other.   The foundation for modern biology, established in the nineteenth century, was a process of learning that organisms shared common traits.  Today, biology exists upon five unifying principles – cell theory, homeostasis, genetics, energy and evolution.

Today, Gamboa is quiet, and many of its buildings are empty.  The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is stationed here.  It is the only Smithsonian institution outside of the United States, and its purpose is in understanding biological diversity.  Dozens of greenhouses line the streets, research facilities are everywhere. Gamboa not only lies along the canal, but at the periphery of unimaginable diversity.

The Smithsonian staff is no recent collection to Panama.  They were brought here in 1910 to take an account of the biological diversity of the region.  The research they conduct here in Gamboa, and on Barro Colorado Island and in Panama’s Caribbean, is vital research.  Biologists come here from around the world.  Author Elizabeth Royte, who is now on the New York Times bestseller list for the book Bottlemania, worked alongside biologists on Barro Colorado Island.