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He was born in 1904 in El Viso del Alcor. Since he was little, he had concerns about inventing devices that could make life easier. One of his first inventions was a meter to sell liquid products (such as oil) in stores, a device that he created when he was a 12-year-old intern at the Salesians of Utrera. Méndez studied Chemical Sciences in Seville and finished these studies at the Central University of Madrid.
As a teacher, Carlos began his activity at El Viso del Alcor, took a competitive exam with the Ministry of Education and obtained a position as a Science teacher in Manzanares. He also competed against the Ministry of Agriculture – he obtained the post of wine inspector – and was a quality inspector in the wineries of Jerez de la Frontera. Not being able to carry out both positions, he opted for that of professor and left the other on leave of absence.
Méndez León married Blanca Cuesta Vélez-Bracho and resided in Madrid. He was a pioneer in hydrogenating fats, creating machinery to obtain them. What is most impressive about him is that he created the first translation machine in the world. Having to read numerous foreign magazines (he constantly used the dictionary to check their meaning) Carlos invented a machine that, by typing the word in the known language on his keyboard, it would write it in another or several languages. This invention was patented on May 26, 1934.
This illustrious visionary also developed his theories in the field of Cybernetics. Guillermo Marconi wanted me to work with him, opposed by Carlos’s family.
In 1936 Méndez worked as a professor in Baracaldo. That year, the Civil War surprised him in Madrid, where he was preparing his opposition to the Chair of Organic Chemistry. The situation forced him to work in Barcelona in technical-scientific positions and then in France where he met Salvador de Madariaga, who did not convince Carlos to work in the US.
Carlos Méndez returned to Spain, was interned in a concentration camp, dispossessed of his Chair and the title of overseer of him, later replaced. In the 1950s, he directed important oil hydrogenerating facilities in Ecuador.
Madariaga regretted that Méndez did not follow his advice, since he would have had a chance of getting the Nobel Prize in Science. Carlos Méndez died in Seville in 1979.
Biography
Magazine of the Festivities of the Holy Cross. Cultural Association “Friends of El Viso”. No. 6, May 1994.