Inventing in the desert

In Piedrabuena (Ciudad Real), a hundred or so years ago, very strange things were happening: a man named Sánchez went to the United States and, upon his return, set up a revolutionary factory in the town (because he made a device to see people from the inside and because he paid fair wages; one of these two things is still revolutionary today). During those years, the monomania for designing and building the perfect submarine also spread: with or without a periscope, propeller or arm, to recover the empire or to harvest shellfish. In the case of Peral, Monturiol, and others, it ended in shipwreck, even though they had Jules Verne on their side. We mustn’t forget a wise man named Cervera who, as far as we know, may have invented the radio. And while we’re talking about innovation, nothing beats that priest from Segorbe (Castellón) who made electronic music and designed synthesizers while Franco was roaming around under a canopy.

Neither saints, nor visionaries, nor madmen: Spanish geniuses. In the middle of nowhere, or in a country that greeted them like kings and forgot them like beggars. With a story that deserves to be told and read… for the sake of understanding the past and repeating it a little less.