Josefina Castellví Piulachs (born in Barcelona, 1 July 1935) is a Spanish oceanographer, biologist and writer. Castellvi Peak on Hurd Peninsula, on Livingston Island in Antarctica is named in her honour. In 1984 she was the first Spaniard to participate in an international expedition to Antarctica. She received her bachelor's degree in 1957 and a PhD in biological sciences at the University of Barcelona in 1969. In 1960 she started working for the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona. In addition, she conducted research at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and was a delegate in Catalonia for two years (1984-1986).
Starting in 1984, she participated in the Organization of Research in Antarctica and assisted with the installation of the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base on Livingston Island, of which she was the lead oceanographer from 1989 to 1997, replacing . From 1989 to 1995 she directed Madrid's National Program of Antarctic Research, and later, from 1994 to 1995, she directed the Institute of Marine Sciences.
She has been awarded, among other prizes like the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia in 1994, the Creu de Sant Jordi Award in 2003, the IEC Environment Prize in 2006 and the CONCA National Award in 2013.
Biography
Josefina Castellví was born the daughter of a doctor and housewife in Barcelona during the last few months of the Spanish Republic before the explosive outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). She studied at the Montserrat Institute and in 1957 graduated with a degree in biology from the University of Barcelona. In 1960 she specialized in oceanography from the Sorbonne. In 1969, Josefina got a doctorate in science from the University of Barcelona.
Josefina and her older sister attended school at an exceptionally young age near Eixample, where their family began. Later, they were transferred to a convent school, where they studied until their second year of high school. Ultimately, they completed their basic studies at the Institute Monsterrat, in the neighborhood of Sant Gervasi, where Josefina prepared to enter university. In spite of living in a postwar period and the immense poverty the country suffered, Josefina's childhood and adolescence were normal; she lived alternately in Barcelona and Castelldefels, where her parents had a house.
In 1953, around the age of 18, Josefina began studying biology at the University of Barcelona. She completed two tracks in one and graduated in 1957, when she was 22 years old. Only two people finished the degree that year: Josefina and a nun. She continued her studies in order to engage more deeply with her research.
After finishing her degree Josefina Castellví traveled to France to study for two years. By 1960, when she specialized and received her PhD in oceanography at the age of 25, she participated in her first oceanographic expeditions on French ships and taught at the Sorbonne. Also starting that year, she began work at the Institute of Marine Sciences as Council Superior of Scientific Research, where she would later assume the role of director from 1994 to 1995 whilst also being a delegate to Catalonia. In 1984 she was the first Spanish woman to participate in an international expedition in Antarctica; it ought to be noted that she contributed mainly to those expeditions’ research, for which she was awarded recognition alongside Antonio Ballester i Nolla. Ballester was recognized as well for his intervention in the installation of the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base on Island Livingston, of which Josefina was chief director from 1989 to 1993, allowing Spain for the first time to become a member of the Antarctic Treaty System (1988).
When she returned to Barcelona, Josefina continued her research at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). First, by experimenting in the laboratory, since at that time Spain lacked oceanographic vessels and bathyscaphes with which to feasibly and directly explore the seas. When, in 1971, scientists provided the first Spanish oceanographic vessel for use in investigations Josefina Castellví was able to do her work from within the environment of her scientific subjects and could analyze how those subjects behaved in the midst of the sea currents.