Today, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (Institute of Marine Sciences - CSIC) celebrates a tribute to Pepita Castellví, one of her most projected and pioneer researchers in Antarctica, coinciding with her 84th anniversary. A pioneer of Spanish research in Antarctica, she led the installation of the Spanish Antarctic Base and was its first director.
Today, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (Institute of Marine Sciences - CSIC) celebrates a tribute to Pepita Castellví, one of her most projected and pioneer researchers in Antarctica, coinciding with her 84th anniversary. A pioneer of Spanish research in Antarctica, she led the installation of the Spanish Antarctic Base and was its first director.
Josefina Castellvi Piulachs (Barcelona, 1935) is a pioneer in the Spanish participation in Antarctic research and led, in its day, the installation of the Spanish Antarctic Base. She was one of the pioneers of Antarctic research at a time when women hardly had a presence in the laboratories if they were not, as Castellví herself has explained, as "secretaries or assistants". In the act, Josefina Castellví has been accompanied by research colleagues, friends and family.
During the event, a debate on gender and oceanography was held, with women in different stages of their research career, and a video about the scientific career of Castellví was screened. Castellví herself, visibly moved, expressed her gratitude and recalled some moments of her scientific career.
The event finished with a commemorative plaque at "Pepita Castellví" room, and a small concert by the Mar de Leva women's group.
Josefina Castellvi Piulachs started working at the ICM in 1960, then known as the Fisheries Research Institute, and was its director in 1994-1995. Specialist in marine bacteriology, his passion for the study of bacteria in extreme environments led her to the white continent. There she participated in the organization of Spanish research in Antarctica, in 1984, and in the installation of the Spanish Antarctic Base Joan Carles I on Livingston Island, which she lead from 1989 to 1993.
She has published more than seventy scientific papers and has participated in 36 oceanographic campaigns. In addition to her scientific talent, Castellví soon showed excellent qualities as a research manager, which allowed her to be Delegate of the CSIC in Catalonia, in 1984, and Coordination Manager of the CSIC Presidency, in 1986.
After serving as director of the Spanish Antarctic Base, she lead the National Antarctic Research Program (CICYT), responsible for the coordination of international scientific projects carried out in that territory.
Among other distinctions, she has received the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit of the Barcelona City Council (1996), the "Narcís Monturiol" Medal for Scientific and Technological Merit of the Generalitat de Catalunya (1996), the Creu de Sant Jordi de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2003), Esteva Bassols Prize: "Senyora de Barcelona" (2005), Environment Prize of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2006), the National Culture Prize of the Generalitat of Catalonia (2013), Catalan Prize of 'Any of The newspaper (2013).
Retired since 2000, she has still been linked to dissemination, research and environment defense at the Antarctic continent. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Spanish Antarctic Base, Castellví was the protagonist of the documentary "Los recuerdos de hielo", by Albert Solé. Both traveled to the white continent, a trip that is reflected in the film, an emotional tribute to the scientific team and the works of those years.