Carmen Pujals (January 13, 1916 – October 24, 2003) was an Argentine botanist. She was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina and moved to

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at the age of five. Pujals began studying biology at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

in 1935, but soon after, her father moved the family back to Buenos Aires fearing the start of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. In 1936 she continued her studies at the University of Buenos Aires and obtained a degree in Natural Sciences.

Work

In 1947 Pujals began working as a researcher in the marine phycology laboratories at the

Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum () is a public museum located in the Caballito neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The museum owes its existence to a proposal made by Bernardino Rivadavia before the Fi ...

where she worked for 52 years. Pujals was part of a group of four women scientists from Argentina to travel to Antarctica in November 1968. She, along with marine biologist Irene Bernasconi, microbiologist Maria Adela Caria and marine biologist Elena Martinez Fontes, were the first women from Argentina to travel to the continent. During her stay she studied the flora along the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers ...

and collected Antarctic marine algae that are preserved at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum. She made a second trip to Antarctica in 1971. In 1971 Pujals also spent a month collecting seaweed specimens on the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

at the request of the British Embassy. During her career, Pujals described two new genera '' Medeolthamnion'' and '' Camontagne''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pujals, Carmen 20th-century Argentine botanists 1916 births 2003 deaths Argentine women botanists 20th-century Argentine women scientists Women Antarctic scientists University of Buenos Aires alumni