Human and professional aspects of Mr. Pedro Cifuentes Díaz (1881–1960)

Abstract Objectives To reveal some outstanding aspects from the life of Pedro Cifuentes Diaz, a remarkable personality of Spanish Urology, who served the “Asociacion Espanola de Urologia” for 31 years. His personal documental iconographic legacy allows us to better recompose his life and human size. Materials and methods Written material and a collection of 64 personal documents that belonged to Pedro Cifuentes Diaz obtained from bibliophiles, 5 of which were not accepted as his property due to the absence of a compatible context, are analyzed. The content of the main publications of the author is contrasted with his cultural environment, and the graphic documents are related with the historical happenings. Results Being the son of a forensic doctor, good student and opponent. Pedro Cifuentes spent his entire urologic career heading the service of Urology of the Hospital de la Princesa in Madrid from 1910 to 1950. He acquired a solid formation in France and developed a long professional life with important charges and distinctions. Besides, he underwent great clinic and scientific activity as publicist, academic, docent and manager. He was an essential pillar in the “Asociacion Espanola de Urologia” since its foundation, and conducted its reorganization after the Spanish Civil War. He built one of the main urologic schools in Spain, where his son Luis Cifuentes Delatte stood out. Conclusions Pedro Cifuentes Diaz was a Castilian man, inexhaustible worker, liberal academic, good publicist, communicator and teacher outside the university environment. With excellent formation he acquired important international projection and professional acceptance; held many and important administrative charges, and received multiple awards. He was one of the most remarkable figures of Urology in Madrid and Spain during the first half of the 20th century.