Contributions to Science

Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

contents

Volume 7 Issue 2

December 2011

Gonzàlez i Sastre F, Serrat D

foreword

97

Commemoration of the Centenary of the Sciences Section, 1911–2011 The Nobel Prizes of 2009

101

Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack Szostak

Vallmitjana S

109

Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (I)

Herms A

117

The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (II)

Calisto BM, Fita I

125

The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome. On the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath

Siguan M

131

Writing with the eyes. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Herta Müller

Mena FX

141

Companies, markets, and management of common property. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson The Nobel Prizes Of 2010

149

Changing the perception of our own nature. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Robert G. Edwards

Marco J

155

The role of autobiography, biography and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa

Tugores Ques J

163

Unemployment and other challenges. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides focus

Giner S

171

Piedmont and Catalonia: the unification of Italy and Spain. Some comparative remarks

CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE Volume 7 Issue 2 December 2011

December 2011

Santaló J

Volume 7 Issue 2

Tusell L

CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE

CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE

forum Lleonart J, Olivar MP

175

The history of Scientia Marina

Bolufer P

185

Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003)

March Noguera J

191

Science on the Balearic Islands. A collection on the past that looks toward the future historical corner

Roca-Rosell A, Camarasa JM

195

The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years biography and bibliography

Luttikhuizen F

Cub. Contrib 7-2.indd 1

205

Barcelona • Catalonia

Professor Ignasi Ponsetí i Vives (1914–2009)

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CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE

Instructions to authors

Free online access via www.cat-science.cat http://revistes.iec.cat/contributions/

General Contributions to Science publishes two kinds of articles, specialized reviews and general articles on scientifical and technological research (see front cover).

In the text, the position for a table is to be marked by «Table...» in the middle of an extra line. The caption must explain in detail the contents of the table. As for the table itself, it must be written so that it can be read and understood without reference to the text.

References to a table are to be handled in the same way as references to the text (see References).

Submission of manuscripts

CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE The International Journal of the Biological Sciences Section and the Science and Tech­ nology Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC). http://www.iec.cat Contributions to Science is also available on­line at: www.cat-science.cat http://revistes.iec.cat/contributions/

Cover: All the participants and assistants to the inauguration of the Centenary of the Societat Catalana de Biologia (Catalan Society for Biology, SCB). The Society for Biology of Barcelona, the first affiliated society of the Institute for Catalan Studies, was initially presided by August Pi i Sunyer. In the beginning it was focused mainly in medicine, and after just a few years, gained a prominent role as a scientific institution. Through the Society passed some of Spain’s most outstanding scientists, including Severo Ochoa and Gregorio Marañón, and foreign scientists, such as J.J McLeod, Otto Meyerhof or Jean Perrin. Currently, the SCB is an affiliated society of the Biological Sciences Section of the IEC, is composed of more that fifteen hundred members, seven regional sections throughout the territories of Catalan language and culture, five transversal sections and fifteen thematic sections. In recent years, renowned personalities such as Lynn Margulis, Mariano Barbacid, Eudald Carbonell, John Ingraham, Stanley Miller, Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Valentí Fuster have been related to the SCB. Photo: Miquel Coll.

ISSN print edition: 1575-6343 ISSN electronic edition: 2013-410X Legal Deposit: B. 36385-1999

Cub. Contrib 7-2.indd 2

Contributions to Science is an open access journal that aims to promote the international dissemination of scientific research performed in Catalonia, in any of its branches, both pure and applied. Contributions to Science also publishes research performed in countries with linguistic, cultural and historic links with Catalonia. It also publishes scientific articles of international standing related with all such territories, especially considered as a whole. The journal also covers studies performed in all parts of the world by scientists from such countries.

Preference will be given to original articles in the form of critical reviews that deal with the present state of a scientific field of current interest, by one or several authors. Such articles should summarize the development, the present situation and, where possible, future perspectives of a research area in which the author or authors have participated directly.

The journal will also publish articles, short communications, notes and news items of international interest on historical, economic, social or political aspects of research in Catalonia and its areas of influence.

HANDLING OF MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts should be sent to the Editorial Office through the journal’s web site. Please read the Instructions to Authors on the back cover of each issue.

PUBLISHER AND ADVERTISEMENTS All business correspondence, reprint requests, requests for missing issues, per­ mission from the Publisher to reproduce published material and information on advertisements should be addressed to the Publishing De­part­ment.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Volume 7 (2 issues).

Subscription orders should be sent to the Publishing Departament.

The subscription fee for two issues (including handling charges) is 75 Euros (VAT not included).

Airmail charges are available on request.

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COPYRIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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This work including photographs and other illustrations, unless the contraty is indicated, is subjected to an Attribution—Non-Commercial—No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.

All contributions should be typed, double-spaced (including references, tables,...) on paper not exceeding 30 cm in height (standard A4 paper is appropriate), with wide margins and one side of the page only. It is the policy of the Journal to publish in English only (authors are recommended to have the manuscript thoroughly checked and corrected before submission). The Editors will warmy appreciate co-operation of authors in preparing papers in a manner that will facilitate the work of editing and publication. For research papers an abstract self-explanatory without reference to the text –in Catalan language, too– not exceeding 200 words should be provided. Authors must provide keywords.

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ADDRESSES Publishing Department: Servei Editorial Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701620 Fax +34 932701180 Email: piec@iec.cat Editorial Office: Nicole Skinner, Managing Editor Contributions to Science Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701629 Fax +34 932701180 Email: contributions@iec.cat Printed in Catalonia

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CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE Volume 7 Issue 2 December 2011

Barcelona • Catalonia

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CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE

Free online access via www.cat-science.cat http://revistes.iec.cat/contributions/

CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE The International Journal of the Biological Sciences Section and the Science and Tech­ nology Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC). http://www.iec.cat Contributions to Science is also available on­line at: www.cat-science.cat http://revistes.iec.cat/contributions/

Cover: All the participants and assistants to the inauguration of the Centenary of the Societat Catalana de Biologia (Catalan Society for Biology, SCB). The Society for Biology of Barcelona, the first affiliated society of the In­ stitute for Catalan Studies, was initially pre­ sided by August Pi i Sunyer. In the beginning it was focused mainly in medicine, and after just a few years, gained a prominent role as a scientific institution. Through the Society passed some of Spain’s most outstanding scientists, including Severo Ochoa and Gre­ gorio Marañón, and foreign scientists, such as J.J McLeod, Otto Meyerhof or Jean Per­ rin. Currently, the SCB is an affiliated society of the Biological Sciences Section of the IEC, is composed of more that fifteen hundred members, seven regional sections through­ out the territories of Catalan language and culture, five transversal sections and fifteen thematic sections. In recent years, renowned personalities such as Lynn Margulis, Mariano Barbacid, Eudald Carbonell, John Ingraham, Stanley Miller, Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Valentí Fuster have been related to the SCB. Photo: Miquel Coll.

Contributions to Science is an open access journal that aims to promote the international dissemination of scientific research per­ formed in Catalonia, in any of its branches, both pure and applied. Contributions to Science also publishes research performed in countries with linguistic, cultural and historic links with Catalonia. It also publishes scien­ tific articles of international standing related with all such territories, especially considered as a whole. The journal also covers studies performed in all parts of the world by scien­ tists from such countries.

Preference will be given to original articles in the form of critical reviews that deal with the present state of a scientific field of current in­ terest, by one or several authors. Such arti­ cles should summarize the development, the present situation and, where possible, future perspectives of a research area in which the author or authors have participated directly.

The journal will also publish articles, short communications, notes and news items of international interest on historical, economic, social or political aspects of research in Catalonia and its areas of influence.

HANDLING OF MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts should be sent to the Editorial Office through the journal’s web site. Please read the Instructions to Authors on the back cover of each issue.

PUBLISHER AND ADVERTISEMENTS All business correspondence, reprint re­ quests, requests for missing issues, per­ mission from the Publisher to reproduce published material and information on adver­ tisements should be addressed to the Pub­ lishing De­part­ment.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Volume 7 (2 issues).

Subscription orders should be sent to the Publishing Departament.

The subscription fee for two issues (including handling charges) is 75 Euros (VAT not included).

Airmail charges are available on request.

COPYRIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This work including photographs and other illustrations, unless the contraty is indicated, is subjected to an Attribution—Non-Com­ mercial—No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-com­ mercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.

ADDRESSES Publishing Department: Servei Editorial Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701620 Fax +34 932701180 Email: piec@iec.cat Editorial Office: Nicole Skinner, Managing Editor Contributions to Science Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701629 Fax +34 932701180 Email: contributions@iec.cat Printed in Catalonia

ISSN print edition: 1575-6343 ISSN electronic edition: 2013-410X Legal Deposit: B. 36385-1999

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CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE Volume 7 Issue 2 December 2011

Editor-in-chief Ricard Guerrero Department of Microbiology University of Barcelona

Associate Editor Salvador Alegret

Founder Editor Salvador Reguant

Department of Chemistry Autonomous University of Barcelona

Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology University of Barcelona

Editorial Board Joaquim Agulló, Technical University of Catalonia • Josep Amat, Technical University of Catalonia • Francesc Asensi, University of Valencia • Damià Barceló, Spanish National Research Council (Barcelona) • Carles Bas, Institute of Marine Sciences-CSIC (Barcelona) • Pilar Bayer, University of Barcelona • Xavier Bellés, Spanish National Research Council (Barcelona) • Jaume Bertranpetit, Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) • Eduard Bonet, ESADE (Barcelona) • Josep Carreras, University of Barcelona • Joaquim Casal, Technical University of Catalonia • Alícia Casals, Technical University of Catalonia • Oriol Casassas, Institute for Catalan Studies • Manuel Castellet, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Josep Castells, University of Barcelona • Jacint Corbella, University of Barcelona • Jordi Corominas, Technical University of Catalonia • Michel Delseny, University of Perpinyà (France) • Josep M. Domènech, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Mercè Durfort, University of Barcelona • Marta Estrada, Spanish National Research Council (Barcelona) • Gabriel Ferraté, Technical University of Catalonia • Ramon Folch, Institute for Catalan Studies • Màrius Foz, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Jesús A. García-Sevilla, University of the Balearic Islands • Lluís Garcia-Sevilla, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Joan Genescà, National Autonomous University of Mexico • Evarist Giné, University of Connecticut (USA) • Joan Girbau, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Pilar González-Duarte, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Francesc González-Sastre, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Joaquim Gosálbez, University of Barcelona • Albert Gras, University of Alacant • Gonzalo Halffter, National Polytechnic Institute (Mexico) • Lluís Jofre, Technical University of Catalonia • Joan Jofre, University of Barcelona • David Jou, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Ramon Lapiedra, University of Valencia • Àngel Llàcer, University Clinic Hospital of Valencia • Josep Enric Llebot, Auto­nomous University of Barcelona • Jordi Lleonart, Spanish National Research Council (Barcelona) • Xavier Llimona, University of Barcelona • Antoni Lloret, Institute for Catalan Studies • Abel Mariné, University of Barcelona • Federico Mayor-Zaragoza, Foundation for a Culture of Peace (Madrid) • Joan Massagué, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York (USA) • Adélio Machado, University of Porto (Portugal) • Gabriel Navarro, University of Valencia • Jaume Pagès, Technical University of Catalonia • Ramon Parés, University of Barcelona • Àngel Pellicer, New York University (USA) • Juli Peretó, University of Valencia • F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, Harvard University (USA) • Norberto Piccinini, Politecnico di Torino (Italy) • Jaume Porta, University of Lleida • Pere Puigdomènech, Spanish National Research Council (Barcelona) • Jorge-Óscar Rabassa, National University of La Plata (Argentina) • Manuel RibasPiera, Technical University of Catalonia • Pere Roca, University of Barcelona • Joan Rodés, University of Barcelona • Joandomènec Ros, University of Barcelona • Xavier Roselló, Technical University of Catalonia • Claude Roux, University of AixMarseille III (France) • Pere Santanach, University of Barcelona • Francesc Serra, Autonomous University of Barcelona • David Serrat, University of Barcelona • Boris P. Sobolev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russia) • Carles Solà, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Joan Anton Solans, Technical University of Catalonia • Rolf Tarrach, University of Luxembourg • Jaume Terradas, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Antoni Torre, Obra Cultural, L’Alguer (Sardinia) • Jaume Truyols, University of Oviedo • Josep Vaquer, University of Barcelona • Josep Vigo, University of Barcelona • Miquel Vilardell, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Jordi Vives, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

contents

Volume 7 Issue 2

December 2011

Gonzàlez i Sastre F, Serrat D

foreword

97

Commemoration of the Centenary of the Sciences Section, 1911–2011 The Nobel Prizes of 2009

Tusell L

101

Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack Szostak

Vallmitjana S

109

Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (I)

Herms A

117

The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (II)

Calisto BM, Fita I

125

The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome. On the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath

Siguan M

131

Writing with the eyes. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Herta Müller

Mena FX

141

Companies, markets, and management of common property. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson The Nobel Prizes Of 2010

Santaló J

149

Changing the perception of our own nature. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Robert G. Edwards

Marco J

155

The role of autobiography, biography and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa

Tugores Ques J

163

Unemployment and other challenges. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides focus

Giner S

171

Piedmont and Catalonia: the unification of Italy and Spain. Some comparative remarks forum

Lleonart J, Olivar MP

175

The history of Scientia Marina

Bolufer P

185

Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003)

March Noguera J

191

Science on the Balearic Islands. A collection on the past that looks toward the future historical corner

Roca-Rosell A, Camarasa JM

195

The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years biography and bibliography

Luttikhuizen F

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 95

205

Professor Ignasi Ponseti i Vives (1914–2009)

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 97–100 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

Pròleg

Foreword

Commemoració del centenari de la històrica Secció de Ciències, 1911–2011

Commemoration of the Centenary of the Sciences Section, 1911–2011

La Secció de Ciències de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), pri­ mer anomenada «Institut de Ciències», va néixer fa cent anys com a resultat d’una necessitat sentida per la societat de l’època. Antoni Rubió i Lluch, president de l’Acadèmia, el 9 de febrer de 1911 va comunicar al qui aleshores era president de la Diputació de Barcelona, Enric Prat de la Riba, que l’IEC s’ha­ via trobat amb infinitat de qüestions que no havia pogut aten­ dre, perquè no entraven dins el camp d’activitats que li havia assenyalat el dictamen acord fundacional. L’Institut va consi­ derar que s’havia arribat a la necessitat d’atendre «la filologia catalana i les ciències matemàtiques i d’observació». Prat de la Riba, que tres anys més tard va ser el primer president de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya, ja havia comunicat al Departa­ ment Central de la Diputació de Barcelona que l’estudi de «les ciències matemàtiques, físiques, biològiques, predilectes de la civilització contemporània, són indispensables per a l’assoliment de la majoritat intel·lectual i per al progrés material i la prosperi­ tat econòmica», per això va acollir i va donar suport a la creació d’una nova secció de ciències, perquè «ha de conduir-nos al nostre ple viure científic universal». A partir del 14 de febrer del mateix any, l’Institut va ser constituït per tres seccions: la His­ tòrico-Arqueològica, la Filològica i la de Ciències. De seguida, la nova secció va emprendre diverses publicacions: l’Arxiu de l’Institut de Ciències (després, de la Secció de Ciències), la Flora de Catalunya de J. Cadevall, la Fauna de Catalunya, les Notes de l’estudi del Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya de Font­ serè, els Treballs de l’Estació Aerològica de Barcelona i del Servei Tècnic de Paludisme, la Biblioteca Filosòfica, i d’altres.

Amb el temps, la Secció de Ciències va quedar massa peti­ ta per a incloure totes les ciències —exceptuant-ne, és clar, la història, l’arqueologia i la filologia, que ja tenien secció prò­ pia—, sobretot en un camp procliu a l’especialització, de ma­ nera que el 1968 es va crear la Secció de Filosofia i Ciències Socials i, finalment, el 1989 es van crear la de Ciències Bi­ ològiques i la de Ciència i Tecnologia, totes tres sorgides de la històrica Secció de Ciències.

El centenari de la històrica Secció de Ciències de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (com acabem de dir, actualment, la Secció de Ciències Biològiques i la Secció de Ciències i Tecnologia) ens ofereix l’oportunitat —a tots els membres de l’IEC, als membres de les societats filials i a totes les persones del nostre àmbit lingüístic interessades en les ciències— de rememorar les persones i les institucions que, en els primers decennis del segle xx, van contribuir des de Catalunya a la ciència i van mar­ car els camins d’estudi i de recerca. La seva labor va ser molt important, de la mateixa manera que ho és la seva memòria per a un país i una societat que va sofrir greus problemes, amb conseqüències de tot ordre, sobretot en el desenvolupament de la ciència i l’alta cultura. Hem de tenir presents Ramon Tur­

The Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC), which was originally called the Institute of Sciences, was founded 100 years ago as the solution to a need felt in the so­ ciety of the time. On 9 February 1911, Antoni Rubió i Lluch, the President of the Academy, notified the then-President of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Enric Prat de la Riba, that the IEC had received a host of questions which it was unable to answer because they were beyond the scope of the activities listed in the Institute’s founding order-agreement. The Institute deemed that it had become necessary to include “Catalan philology and the mathematical and observational sciences.” Prat de la Riba, who would become the first President of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya (Commonwealth of Catalonia) three years later, had already notified the Central Department of the Barcelona Pro­ vincial Council that the study of “the mathematical, physical, and biological sciences, the prime sciences of contemporary civilization, are indispensable for achieving intellectual maturity and for material progress and economic prosperity.” He thus welcomed and supported the creation of a new Sciences Sec­ tion because “it should lead us to fully participate in universal sciences.” As of 14 February of the same year, the Institute was made up of three Sections: the Historical-Archaeological Section, the Philological Section, and the Sciences Section.

Soon thereafter, the new Sciences Section embarked upon several new publications: the Arxiu de l’Institut de Ciències (Archive of the Institute of Sciences, which was later renamed the Archive of the Sciences Department), Flora de Catalunya (Flora of Catalonia) by J. Cadevall, Fauna de Catalunya (Fauna of Catalonia), Fontserè’s Notes de l’estudi del Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (Study Notes of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia), Treballs (Proceedings) of the Aerologic Station of Barcelona and the Technical Malaria Services, the Philosophi­ cal Library and others.

However, over time, the Sciences Section became too small to handle all the sciences—with the exception, obviously, of history, archaeology, and philology, which already had their own Sections—especially in a field so prone to specialization.

Thus, in 1968, the Philosophy and Social Sciences Section was founded, and finally in 1989 the Biological Sciences and the Science and Technology Sections. All three branches de­ rived from the traditional Sciences Section.

The centennial of the former Sciences Section of the Insti­ tute for Catalan Studies (as mentioned above, now split into the Biological Sciences Section and the Science and Technology Section) offers us—all IEC members, the members of its affili­ ate societies, and anyone within our linguistic domain interest­ ed in the sciences—the chance to commemorate the people and institutions that contributed to science in Catalonia in the first few decades of the 20th century and pointed to the path­

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98 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 

ró, Miquel A. Fargas, August Pi i Sunyer, Pere Coromines, Es­ teve Terradas, Josep M. Bofill i Pichot, Enric Prat de la Riba i els que els van seguir, Eduard Fontserè, Ramon Jardí, Jaume Serra i Húnter. Però també hem de recordar els que, influïts per les seves activitats i labors científiques, van desenvolupar unes molt remarcables carreres com a científics i innovadors i van aconseguir troballes importants, com Rossend Carrasco i For­ miguera, Francesc Duran i Reynals, Jordi Folch i Pi i Josep Tru­ eta, entre d’altres. Els membres de l’IEC, en aquell moment històric, van fer avançar la ciència en un país on les universitats encara no tenien un paper rellevant en la recerca i li van donar un caire de servei a la comunitat, creant i dirigint centres que van ser pioners, com el Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya i l’Observatori Fabra (Eduard Fontserè), l’Institut d’Electricitat i Mecànica Aplicades (Esteve Terradas), el Laboratori de Psico­ logia Experimental i l’Institut de Fisiologia (August Pi i Sunyer), entre d’altres.

Tots ells i llurs obres han de constituir un motiu de diàleg i de reflexió i, amb aquesta voluntat, el col·lectiu científic que actual­ ment constitueix les seccions de Ciències (incloent-hi les seves societats filials, que són una part especialment activa de l’IEC), organitza una sèrie d’activitats commemoratives o de revisió d’aquella feta històrica. La Institució Catalana d’Estudis Agraris (ICEA) va programar per al mes d’octubre una jornada sobre les aportacions cientificotècniques de l’agricultura a Catalunya en els darrers cent anys. La Institució Catalana d’Història Natural (ICHN) i la Societat Catalana de Biologia (SCB) van realitzar una sessió commemorativa conjunta. A més, la Societat Catalana de Biologia, el mes de novembre, va fer la presentació dels ac­ tes del seu centenari (que se celebra el 2012). També el mes de novembre, en la reunió conjunta de les seccions de Ciències de l’Institut, es va celebrar un acte públic en el qual es tracta la creació de la Secció de Ciències, dels components i de la seva obra, la importància que té en la ciència moderna i la seva con­ tribució decisiva en els cent anys de ciència en català. A més de les societats científiques acabades d’esmentar, també formen part de les seccions de Ciències les societats filials següents: l’Associació Catalana de Ciències de l’Alimentació (ACCA), la Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica (SCHCT), la Societat Catalana de Física (SCF), la Societat Cata­ lana de Matemàtiques (SCM), la Societat Catalana de Química (SCQ) i la Societat Catalana de Tecnologia (SCT).

D’altra banda, si bé és cert que cal mirar enrere per a reivin­ dicar els orígens i la incidència de l’Institut —i sobretot dels seus membres— en el desenvolupament del teixit científic i del progrés nacional, no és menys cert que les seccions de Ciènci­ es tenen un compromís actual amb la ciutadania i també amb el futur del país. Possiblement, el seu paper ha anat evolucio­ nant paral·lelament amb la societat i amb l’organització de l’Administració; no obstant això, són moltes les àrees i les ac­ tuacions que poden acomplir les dues seccions de Ciències per mitjà de l’Institut, com a institució independent que vetlla pel ple desenvolupament nacional.

En aquest sentit, una de les preocupacions de les seccions de Ciències és l’impacte que la internacionalització de la co­ municació científica té i ha de tenir en el futur. Moguts per aquesta inquietud, hem organitzat un simposi sobre llengua i

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ways that scientific study and research should pursue. Their efforts were extremely important, as is their memory for a country and a society that experienced serious problems with a host of consequences, especially in the development of sci­ ence and culture. We should commemorate Ramon Turró, Miquel A. Fargas, August Pi i Sunyer, Pere Coromines, Esteve Terradas, Josep M. Bofill i Pichot, Enric Prat de la Riba and those who followed them, including Eduard Fontserè, Ramon Jardí, and Jaume Serra i Húnter. However, we should also re­ call those who, influenced by their activities and scientific en­ deavors, developed remarkable careers as scientists and in­ novators and achieved major finds, such as Rossend Carrasco i Formiguera, Francesc Duran i Reynals, Jordi Folch i Pi, and Josep Trueta, among others. The IEC members at that time in history pushed science forward in a country where the universi­ ties did not yet play a paramount role in research, and they did so by providing a service to the community and by creating and operating centers that were directed by pioneers in their fields, such as the Meteorological Service of Catalonia and the Fabra Observatory (Eduard Fontserè), the Institute of Applied Elec­ tricity and Mechanics (Esteve Terradas), the Experimental Psy­ chology Laboratory and the Institute of Physiology (August Pi i Sunyer), and others.

All of them and their efforts should inspire dialogue and reflec­ tion. It is with this goal in mind that the members of the scientific community currently serving in the IEC’s Science Sections (in­ cluding their affiliate organizations, which are an especially active part of the IEC) are organizing a series of activities to commemo­ rate or reinvigorate that historical deed. For the month of Octo­ ber, the Catalan Institute of Agrarian Studies (ICEA) scheduled a workshop on the scientific and technical contributions of agricul­ ture in Catalonia over the past 100 years. The Catalan Institute of Natural History (ICHN) and the Catalan Society for Biology (SCB) held a joint commemorative session. In addition, in November, the Catalan Society for Biology hosted events to mark its cen­ tennial (which will be held in 2012). Also in November, during the joint meeting of the Institute’s Science Sections, a public event was held to discuss the creation of the original Science Section, its members and their work, their importance in modern science, and their decisive contribution to 100 years of Catalan science.

Besides the scientific societies mentioned above, the following affiliate societies are also members of the Science Sections: the Catalan Association of Food Sciences (ACCA), the Catalan Soci­ ety for the History of Science and Technology (SCHCT), the Catalan Physical Society (SCF), the Catalan Mathematical Soci­ ety (SCM), the Catalan Chemical Society (SCQ), and the Catalan Society for Technology (SCT).

While it is true that we should look to the past in order to re­ claim the origins and influence of the Institute—and especially its members—in the development of the scientific community and national progress, it is no less true that the Science Sec­ tions are also committed to the citizenry of today and to the fu­ ture of the country. The functions fulfilled by these departments have evolved in parallel with society and with the organization of the government, but there are also many areas where they can best perform through the Institute as an independent insti­ tution that advocates full national development.

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Foreword

ciència en què s’han intercanviat les experiències de països com Suècia, Flandes, Israel i Catalunya. Les conclusions són clares: tothom accepta que la difusió d’una lingua franca, actu­ alment l’anglès, facilita la difusió del coneixement científic, les col·laboracions entre científics i les accions mancomunades.

Dóna, per tant, visibilitat i presència en el món científic i sem­ bla, doncs, natural fomentar-ne el coneixement i l’ús. Ara bé, la promoció d’aquesta lingua franca no ha d’entrar en conflicte amb la llengua pròpia, que també ha de poder desenvolupar els continguts conceptuals i operacionals relatius al món de les ciències i la tecnologia.

Aquesta anàlisi ens ha de permetre elaborar les propostes estratègiques que el català, com a llengua mitjana, necessita.

L’IEC no es pot deslligar de la responsabilitat de salvaguardar la llengua en aquests camps i ha de crear i recomanar políti­ ques i estratègies que donin suport al desenvolupament cientí­ fic i tecnològic —i, per tant, al domini de l’anglès— i que, alho­ ra, reforcin la solidesa i la rellevància del català en aquests àmbits de gran importància per a la cultura i l’economia del país. En un altre àmbit d’actuació, des de la Secció de Ciènci­ es i Tecnologia hem obert un treball de recerca i debat sobre ètica, ciència i tecnologia, com a aportació de la nostra acadè­ mia a un entorn científic i tecnològic que, en plena recerca competitiva, ni té temps ni és meritat en les avaluacions; volem fer una reflexió pausada i profunda del que signifiquen les re­ cerques que es fan, des d’una perspectiva ètica i social. Atesa la transversalitat del treball, comptem no solament amb altres membres de l’IEC, sinó també amb pensadors externs que ens han d’ajudar en aquest important debat.

Del passat al present i del present novament als orígens; aquest és el balanceig que ens permet avançar amb fermesa.

No podem acabar, doncs, aquesta presentació sense fer no­ vament una mirada retrospectiva a aquests cent anys d’histò­ ria i constatar que, efectivament, tot ha evolucionat i creiem que ho ha fet en positiu. El país s’ha fet gran, no solament en població, sinó també en formació i en preparació de científics que han aconseguit renom internacional. Només cal veure que aquella primerenca Secció de Ciències, formada per set pio­ ners, s’ha transformat en dues seccions de més de setanta membres i amb una vintena de científics repartits arreu del món: els membres corresponents. També aquest col·lectiu humà representa les moltes i diverses àrees temàtiques que inclouen les ciències, des de les matemàtiques, la física o les diverses enginyeries fins a la bioquímica i la biologia molecular, la botànica i la zoologia o les diverses especialitats de la medi­ cina (per dir només algunes de les especialitats representades en aquestes seccions).

La nostra tasca científica continua en tots els vessants: el de la producció científica (per mitjà dels programes de recerca que impulsem, o mitjançant els centres de recerca, ja siguin propis, consorciats o participats); el de l’elaboració de diccio­ naris i nomenclàtors en català de les diferents especialitats ci­ entífiques i tecnològiques, en paper i en línia; el de la difusió de la ciència (per mitjà de les revistes científiques i les publicaci­ ons, que han esdevingut un puntal ple de vitalitat de la nostra institució), i el de la divulgació del coneixement científic (per mitjà dels cicles de conferències i, sobretot, i de manera fona­

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 99

In this sense, one of the concerns of the Science Sections is the impact of the internationalization of scientific communica­ tion now and in the future. Motivated by this concern, we or­ ganized a symposium on language and science in which par­ ticipants from countries including Sweden, Flanders, Israel, and Catalonia itself exchanged experiences. The conclusions were clear: it was unanimously agreed that the spread of a lin­ gua franca, currently English, facilitates the dissemination of scientific knowledge, partnerships among scientists, and col­ laborations. It enables visibility and presence in the world of the sciences, such that it seems natural to foster the knowledge and use of this lingua franca. However, this should not conflict with one’s own language, which must also be capable of ex­ pressing the conceptual and operational concepts related to the world of science and technology.

This analysis should enable us to draw up the strategic pro­ posals that Catalan needs as a language of communication.

The IEC cannot ignore its responsibility to safeguard the lan­ guage in these fields, and it must create and recommend poli­ cies and strategies that support scientific and technological development—and therefore mastery of English—while also reinforcing the solidity and prominence of Catalan in these realms that are so crucially important for the country’s culture and economy. In another sphere of action, the Science and Technology Section has embarked upon a research and de­ bate project on ‘Ethics, Science, and Technology.’ This is a subject that in today’s highly competitive scientific and techno­ logical environment is often given too little serious considera­ tion. The project strives for a careful, in-depth reflection on the meaning of the research that we, as scientists, conduct, from both an ethical and social perspective. Given the cross-cutting nature of this project, it will include not only other IEC members but also experts from outside the Institute, who will no doubt provide valuable input into this important matter.

From the past to the present and from the present back to our origins: this is the swinging pendulum that enables us to steadfastly move forward. Therefore, we cannot finish this in­ troduction without once again looking to the past, over these 100 years of history, and note the considerable evolution that has taken place, one that we believe has been positive. The country has grown not only in its population but also in the training and preparation of scientists, many of whom have achieved international renown. The perfect illustration is the fact that the early Sciences Section, made up of seven pio­ neers, now comprises two departments with more than 70 members and around 20 scientists working all over the world.

This human collective also represents the manifold and diverse thematic areas encompassed within the sciences, including, but not limited to, mathematics, physics, the different fields of engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, botany, zoology, and the different medical specialties.

Our scientific endeavors continue on all fronts: scientific pro­ duction (through the research programs that we spearhead, or through research centers, either our own, consortia, or those in which we participate); the development of Catalan dictionaries and nomenclatures in the different scientific and technological specialties, both in print and online; scientific dissemination

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100 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 

mental, mitjançant el treball extens de les societats filials). Tam­ bé continua la tasca de consultoria i assessorament en qüesti­ ons científiques i tecnològiques per a les entitats polítiques o per a altres institucions culturals o empreses privades, que ja es va iniciar en l’època de la primera Secció de Ciències. No­ més cal que us adreceu al nostre web (www.iec.cat) per a veu­ re la vitalitat de la institució i el volum de producció i de divulga­ ció científica. És molt, i és significatiu, el que s’ha fet en aquests cent pri­ mers anys d’història i això és el que ens empeny i ens estimula a continuar endavant i a superar-nos. Les circumstàncies soci­ als, polítiques, econòmiques, científiques i competitives d’avui són diferents, però ens hi hem adaptat. Tenim el talent, les ei­ nes, la motivació i la il·lusió.

Francesc Gonzàlez i Sastre President de la Secció de Ciències Biològiques, IEC

(through scientific journals and publications, which have be­ come a vital cornerstone of our institution); and the spread of scientific knowledge (through lecture series and, most impor­ tantly, through the extensive efforts of our affiliate institutions).

Our consulting and advisory work on scientific and technologi­ cal issues also continues for political organizations and other cultural institutions or private enterprises, an activity that has its origins in the early days of the Sciences Section. A quick look at our website (www.iec.cat) reveals the vitality of the institution and the volume of its scientific production and dissemination.

A great deal has been achieved in these first 100 years of history, and the accomplishments are significant. This is what drives and stimulates us to move ahead and to continue striv­ ing. The social, political, economic, scientific, and competitive circumstances are different today, but we have adapted to them because we have the talent, the tools, the motivation, and the enthusiasm to do so.

David Serrat President de la Secció de Ciències i Tecnologia, IEC

Francesc Gonzàlez i Sastre President of the Biological Sciences Section, IEC David Serrat President of the Science and Technology Section, IEC

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 101–107 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.114 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end . On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak* Laura Tusell Cellular Biology Unit, Department of Cellular Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra

Resum. El Premi Nobel de Fisiologia o Medicina 2009 ha guar­ donat Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Jack W. Szostak i Carol W. Grei­ der pels seus treballs en el camp dels telòmers i la telomerasa.

Els telòmers són formats per seqüències curtes de DNA repeti­ des en tàndem, a les quals s’associen diverses proteïnes.

Aquestes estructures nucleoproteiques es troben en els ex­ trems dels cromosomes i són vitals per a mantenir la integritat del genoma, ja que eviten que els cromosomes es fusionin els uns amb els altres. A més de la funció essencial de protecció, els telòmers també tenen un paper fonamental en la replicació completa dels extrems cromosòmics. La longitud telomèrica es manté gràcies a l’enzim telomerasa, un complex constituït per RNA i proteïna que és actiu en cèl·lules germinals i embrio­ nàries, però inactiu en la major part de cèl·lules somàtiques en humans. L’absència de telomerasa en cèl·lules proliferants provoca que els telòmers s’escurcin amb les divisions cel·lulars successives. Quan els telòmers s’escurcen per sota d’una lon­ gitud crítica, les cèl·lules aturen la proliferació i entren en una fase de senescència, estat irreversible d’aturada permanent, o bé activen mecanismes de mort cel·lular programada. Malgrat això, algunes cèl·lules poden ser capaces de continuar prolife­ rant, fet que produeix la desprotecció dels extrems cromosò­ mics. La inestabilitat cromosòmica massiva associada a aquest estat podria ser el mecanisme pel qual alguna cèl·lula adquireix determinades alteracions genètiques necessàries per a la transformació maligna.

Paraules clau: telòmers ∙ telomerasa ∙ Tetrahymena thermophila ∙ Saccharomyces cerevisiae ∙ progèria ∙ neoplàsia ∙ carcinogènesis

Abstract. The 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Jack W. Szostak, and Carol W. Greider for their work on telomeres and telomerase.

Telomeres are formed by short DNA sequences repeated in tandem and associated with different proteins. These struc­ tures, which are found at the ends of chromosomes, are crucial for maintaining genomic stability by preventing chromosomes from joining with one another. In addition to this essential pro­ tective function, telomeres play a vital role in complete DNA end replication. Telomere length is maintained by the enzyme telomerase—a complex made up of RNA and proteins that in humans is active is germinal and embryonic cells but inactive in somatic cells. The absence of telomerase in proliferating cells leads their telomeres to shorten with successive cell divisions.

Eventually, the telomeres reach a critically short length that in turn causes massive chromosome instability. This may be the mechanism through which a cell acquires the genetic alterna­ tions needed to become malignant. Normally, however, below this critical length, the cells stop dividing and either enter a phase of senescence or an irreversible state of arrest, or mech­ anisms are activated for programmed cell death. However, some cells that also carry alterations in cell cycle checkpoint proteins continue replicating, giving rise to uncapped chromo­ some ends and thus to a malignant potential.

Keywords: telomeres ∙ telomerase ∙ Tetrahymena thermophila ∙ Saccharomyces cerevisiae ∙ progeria ∙ neoplasia ∙ carcinogenesis

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 14 December 2009, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 20 January 2010 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: L. Tusell, Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisi­ ologia i d’Immunologia, Àrea de Biologia Cel·lular, Edifici C, Despatx C2/050, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-935811498. Fax +34-935812295.

E-mail: laura.tusell@uab.cat

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Tusell

Fig. 1. From left to right, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak. © The Nobel Foundation. Photos: Ulla Montan.

The 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Jack W. Szostak, and Carol W. Greider for their work on telomeres and telomerase (Fig. 1). In 1938, Herman Müller noted the existence of a specialized structure at the natural ends of chromosomes as he was analyzing the chromosomal anomalies induced by X-rays in the fly Drosophila. In this study, Müller found that the natural ends of the chromosomes were never involved in the chromosomal reorganizations that appeared, such as inversions, fusions, and translocations [16]. Based on these observations, Müller deduced that the ends of chromosomes must have a specialized structure that protected them from fusion phenomena. Around the same time, Barbara McClintock reached similar conclusions after analyzing the behavior of dicentric chromosomes in the corn plant Zea mays. During mitosis, the displacement of two centromeres from a single chromatid towards opposite poles leads to the formation of a structure known as an anaphase bridge. Finally, the tension triggered causes the bridge to break, and the chromosome ends generated tend to fuse once again, leading to a breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycle.

McClintock determined that the natural ends of the chromosomes never participated in the formation of these fusions [15].

Therefore, both observations evidenced the existence of structural and functional properties on the natural ends of chromosomes that were unlike the double-strand breaks of DNA and protected the structures from chrmosomal fusion, degradation, and recombination.

The structure of telomere However, telomeres were ignored until the 1970s, when Elisabeth Blackburn joined Joseph G. Gall’s research group at Yale University, New Haven, to sequence the ends of linear minichromosomes in the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila. In 1978, Blackburn and Gall published their findings that the telomeres of the protozoa were made up of G-rich DNA stretches repeated in tandem [2]. Since then, the telomeres of numerous species have been described, and it has become clear that telomere sequences are highly conserved in the different organisms studied. Telomere DNA in eukaryotic organisms consists of a double-strand region with a short sequence rich in G-C tandem repeats and a 3′ single-strand G-rich overhang. In vertebrates, these repeats consist of of six nucleotides (TTAGGG)‌n

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Fig. 2. Human chromosomes (blue) in metaphase hybridized with a centromere probe (green) and a telomere probe (red).

but the length of double-strand telomere DNA and of the 3′ single-strand overhang differ among different species. In Homo sapiens, telomere length fluctuates between 5 and 15 kb, while in Mus musculus it is 40–60 kb (Fig. 2).

Initially, the telomere was seen as a linear structure; this traditional view was abandoned in 1999, after studies by Griffith and collaborators [11], who showed in vitro that incubation of a telomeric DNA sequence with the telomere protein TRF2 (TTAGGG Repeat Factor 2) resulted in a change in its structure from linear to loop-shaped. This loop structure, which the authors named the t-loop, was produced through folding of the 3′ single-strand overhang over the double helix of telomere repetitions located further back, thus protecting the ends of the chromosomes. Since then numerous telomere-associated proteins have been described. The shelterin protein complex is made up of six proteins (TRF1, TRF2, POT1, TIN2, TPP1, and Rap1) that maintain telomeres during all phases of the cell cycle and serve no other function anywhere else inside the nucleus [18]. These proteins are extremely important in forming and preserving a sealed structure on the chromosome ends, in inhibiting DNA repair processes, and in regulating telomere length. Moreover, there is also a group of less abundant proteins in the telomere that contribute to protecting the chromosome ends, are only temporarily associated with the telomeres, and are known to carry out non-telomere functions both inside and outside the nucleus. Many of these proteins are involved in DNA-damage signaling, DNA repair and replication, and chromatin structure.

The earliest studies While Elisabeth Blackburn was studying the ends of Tetrahymena chromosomes, Jack Szostak was studying gene re­ combination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where he had his own laboratory. In his studies, he observed that when circular plasmids were introduced inside yeast cells, instead of integrating

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Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end

inside the yeast chromosomes they basically remained extra­ chromosomal, leading to a low recombination frequency of the two genomes. However, if the plasmids were made linear by cutting them with a restriction enzyme, the frequency of re­ combination phenomena increased and the plasmids that did not integrate into the yeast genome become degraded.

Blackburn and Szostak met in 1980 at the Gordon Research Conference on Nucleic Acids, and decided then and there to embark upon a collaborative project with the goal of ascertaining whether the telomeres of Tetrahymena could stabilize the ends of linearized plasmids. After introducing these linear plasmids capped with Tetrahymena telomeres (TTGGGG)n into yeast cells, they found that the linear shape remained, without recom­ bining or degrading [22]. These experiments paved the way for artificial chromosomes and enabled the researchers to deter­ mine that telomeres operated in a variety of phylogenetic king­ doms. Subsequent studies led to the identification of the specific sequence of yeast telomeres. However, the most curious obser­ vation of all was that Tetrahymena telomeres placed inside yeast cells elongate and become more heterogeneous. An exhaustive study of these plasmids by Shampay and collaborators [20] de­ cisively revealed the mechanism underlying the elongation of the chromosomes ends. When linearized plasmids stabilized with the Tetrahymena telomeres (TTGGGG) were introduced into yeast, additional telomere repetitions took place. This addition was easy to detect since the new repetitions had the specific sequence of yeast telomeres (TG1–3). Two different models were proposed to explain this phenomenon. The first invoked the presence of a terminal transferase capable of adding new tel­ omere repetitions, and the second a gene recombination proc­ ess.

Maintenance of telomere length In 1984, Carol Greider joined the Blackburn laboratory and be­ gan to search for the cellular enzyme capable of adding tel­ omere repetitions to the ends of chromosomes. Her studies consisted of incubating synthetic oligonucleotides of different sequences with protein extracts from Tetrahymena. On Christ­ mas Eve 1984, these experiments finally revealed the existence of a specific enzyme responsible for maintaining telomere length. Only the oligonucleotides that had the Tetrahymena or the yeast telomere sequence were elongated; there was no new addition of telomeric sequences at the ends of DNA frag­ ments with other sequence compositions [8]. These results confirmed the existence of an enzyme capable of elongating the ends of chromosomes, which was named telomerase. Lat­ er, the same researchers determined that it was not a conven­ tional enzyme but a ribonucleoprotein [9]. Specifically, telomer­ ase consists of two main subunits, an RNA component (TERC) containing a sequence complementary to the telomeric over­ hang, and a protein component with reverse transcriptase ac­ tivity (TERT), as well as numerous additional proteins. Telomer­ ase promotes telomere elongation by copying the nucleotides of the template RNA at the overhanging 3' end of the chromo­ some, a function carried out by TERT, and afterwards the cell’s

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conventional replication machinery copies the nucleotides at the 5' end [10].

These discoveries were crucial in understanding the events occurring at the ends of chromosomes. Studies subsequent to the discovery of telomerase revealed the presence of mu­ tant yeast cells whose telomere length shortened with cell di­ visions, called EST1 (even shorter telomeres) [14]. These yeast cells showed an increased rate of chromosomal loss with successive generations; additionally, associated with progressive shortening of the telomeres was the gradual ap­ pearance of a senescent phenotype. Similar results were ob­ tained by the Blackburn group in Tetrahymena when muta­ tions were generated in the telomerase RNA template, suggesting that telomeres are important to genome stability and to cell viability [24].

In fact, back in 1973 Alexei Olovnikov had postulated that, given the characteristics of DNA replication, DNA polymerase was incapable of copying the 3' ends of linear DNA molecules, which led to shortening of the telomere in each cell division cy­ cle. DNA polymerase can only extend primers from their free 3' OH end, synthesizing DNA in the 5' to 3' direction. Given that DNA is made up of two anti-parallel strands, one of them, the leading strand, is synthesized continuously in the same direc­ tion as the replication fork proceeds, and the other, the lagging strand, discontinuously in the opposite direction through the extension of RNA primers (Okazaki fragments) by the action of DNA polymerase. The RNA primers are replaced by DNA as the Okazaki fragments grow, but elimination of the primer on the 5' end of the chromosome results in the shortening of the newly synthesized strand. Today we know that in addition to the phenomenon of the replication terminus, there is also ac­ tive deterioration of the chromosome ends to generate an overhang long enough to form the t-loop structure. In the ab­ sence of a compensatory mechanism, this results in a loss of 50–200 bp in the telomere track after each round of replication.

Therefore, when there is no telomerase activity in the cells, the chromosomes shorten their telomeres, as is the case in vitro or during the aging process of an organism. In humans, chromosomal shortening occurs in the majority of somatic cells, since the enzyme telomerase is inactive; by contrast, in germinal line cells, stem cells, proliferating somatic cells, and tumor cells the enzyme is active, compensating for the loss of nucleotides during DNA replication.

Telomeres and the potential of cell proliferation For many years it was thought that the cells of pluricellular organ­ isms had the capacity to proliferate indefinitely. However, this view changed radically in 1965, when Hayflick observed that hu­ man fibroblasts in culture underwent a finite number of divisions before entering a non-proliferative state. This state, known as replicative senescence or the Hayflick limit, is characterized by a permanent cellular arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, which enables cells to remain metabolically active and viable for long periods of time. These observations gave rise to the hypothesis of the existence of a biological clock that counts the number of

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divisions a cell is able to undergo, and is likewise capable of ar­ resting cell growth after a certain number of divisions.

It was not until the 1990s that replicative senescence was associated with telomeres, after Harley, Futcher, and Greider [12] demonstrated telomere shortening after each round of cell division that in human fibroblasts, as predicted in the DNA rep­ lication models proposed by Olovnikov [17] and Watson [23].

Therefore, it was confirmed that when telomeres shorten to a critical length, cells stop proliferating and become senescent.

Expression of the constitutive form human TERT (hTERT) in pre-senescent fibroblasts, lymphocytes, epithelial cells, and other cell types, by contrast, can extend the proliferative ca­ pacity of the cells, thus confirming the role of telomeres in the replicative senescence of cells [4]. We should point out that senescence can also be induced by factors other than telom­ eres, such as viral infection or oxidative stress.

Today we know that the true cause of the entry into senes­ cence is not the reaching of a critical telomere length but the loss of the t-loop. This vulnerability of the telomere occurs fol­ lowing the loss of repetitions of telomeric DNA or of proteins associated with the t-loop. Loss of the telomere’s structure eliminates the ability of the normal cellular repair machinery to distinguish between natural and broken chromosome ends. In­ deed, alterations in telomere structure following the overex­ pression of a negative dominant allele of TRF2 lead to the acti­ vation of ATM and ATR, two proteins that signal specifically damaged DNA, which in turn activate cellular repair enzymes.

This sequence of events is supported by the observation that proteins recognizing and/or repairing DNA damage accumu­ late in the vicinity of the excessively short telomeres of senes­ cent human fibroblasts [5]. These findings suggest that short or dysfunctional telomeres activate the same type of response as occurs when DNA is damaged directly, and that senescence involves mechanisms similar to those operating in response to DNA damage.

Therefore, the successive erosion of telomeres in each cell division cycle leads to the loss of the t-loop and consequently the capacity of the telomeres to protect the chromosome ends.

This eventually culminates in the loss of genetic material and an increase in chromosomal instability, unless a cellular response to the damaged DNA occurs, such as cell cycle arrest or pro­ grammed cell death, also known as apoptosis. For this reason, when telomeres reach a critical length after many rounds of di­ visions, the cells permanently arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle in response to several signals: the actions of DNA dam­ age repair proteins [21], activation of the cell cycle control pro­ teins Rb and p53, and the expression of the Cdk protein inhibi­ tors p16INK4a and p21. For the majority of cells, senescence represents an irreversible state of permanent arrest, but they are still both metabolically active and viable.

The aging organism Senescent cells are known to accumulate in the tissues of eld­ erly individuals. Thus, while definitive evidence is lacking, it ap­ pears that the accumulation of viable, non-proliferating cells

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compromises tissue functionality and contributes to the differ­ ent pathologies associated with aging. Indeed, the role of tel­ omere homeostasis and cell senescence in the aging organism is backed by studies relating donor age and shortened telom­ eres in highly proliferating tissues, such as lymphocytes, mus­ cle cells, endothelial cells, lenticular epithelial cells, and adreno­ cortical cells, and the lower in-vitro proliferative capacity of cells from patients with premature aging syndromes (progeria), in­ cluding Werner syndrome, Bloom syndrome, Down syndrome, and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Studies of those patients have provided the most convincing data relating hu­ man aging and telomere dysfunction. Surprisingly, the cells of these individuals show alterations in telomere metabolism and telomeres that are much shorter than those of cells from con­ trol populations. Many of the progeria syndromes are caused by mutations in the genes encoding TERT or TERC or in those encoding proteins that interact with telomeres. Congenital dys­ keratosis was the first human illness whose pathogenesis could be attributed to mutations in telomerase components. These patients suffer from alopecia (hair loss), premature gray hair, tooth loss, osteoporosis, ungual dystrophies, defective skin pig­ mentation, and deterioration of the immune system. These symptoms are similar to what occurs in the normal aging proc­ ess in humans and are also seen in mice deficient in telomerase.

The generation of mTerc-/- mice, deficient in telomerase RNA [3], enabled researchers to demonstrate the impact ex­ erted by a given telomere length on both the cellular level and the organism as a whole. The mutant mice exhibit a gradual reduction in the length of their telomeres during and over suc­ cessive rounds of cell division, as is the case in the somatic cells of aging humans. Early generations of these animals do not show an obviously pathological phenotype, most likely be­ cause their cells still have sufficiently long telomeres. However, in later generations there are defects in highly proliferative tis­ sues, such as the hematopoietic system, reproductive organs, and the intestinal epithelium, in addition to signs of premature aging. These observations imply that a minimum telomere length is needed to maintain the functional integrity of tissues and that the protection and maintenance of telomere length are important factors in controlling cell life-span; however, when discussing the aging process, we must also bear in mind that it is a highly complex process that is influenced not only by tel­ omere length but also by many other regulatory factors.

Telomeres, chromosomal instability, and carcinogenesis The loss of telomere function in mTerc-/- mice is also associat­ ed with the formation of chromosomal fusions and the genera­ tion of aneuploidy. Telomeres that have become dysfunctional because of excessive shortening are recognized by the same cell mechanisms that respond to DNA damage but are incor­ rectly repaired by these mechanisms, leading to chromosomes with two centromeres. These dicentric chromosomes, as Mc­ Clintock postulated, can give rise to an endless chain of BFB cycles, generating new chromosomal anomalies with each cell

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division. Thus, over time, cells with a high proliferative capacity will accumulate extensive chromosomal instability, thus acti­ vating p53, which triggers programmed cell death. In fact, the dysfunction of highly proliferative tissues in mTerc-/- mice is as­ sociated with high rates of apoptosis.

In contrast to the relationship between excessive telomere shortening and senescence or apoptosis, excessive telomer­ ase activity is related to malignancy. In fact, 85% of human cancers show telomerase activity. Given this fascinating con­ nection, telomerase-deficient mice would be a good model to determine the relationship between telomere length, telomer­ ase, and cancer. In fact, experiments in later generation (G4– G6) mTerc-/- mice have shown that the absence of telomerase suppresses tumor progression. This tumor-suppressing phe­ notype of excessively short telomeres is related to the activa­ tion of p53. In mTerc-/- mice in advanced generations, there is a decline in tumor formation due to the loss of cell viability—cou­ pled with a rise in p53-mediated apoptosis—which is associ­ ated with telomere dysfunction. Likewise, studies of mice defi­ cient in both telomerase and other cancer-related proteins, such as APCMIN, INK4a/Arf-/-, ATM-/-, and Alb-uPA-/-, also de­ tected a reduction in carcinogenesis in these animals.

Specifically, experiments conducted with double-mutant in mTerc-/-/ApcMIN mice enabled researchers to associate tel­ omere dysfunction with incipient stages of neoplasia. Even though the initial number of neoplastic lesions was higher in mTerc-/-/ApcMIN mice than in ApcMIN mice, the growth and pro­ gression of adenomas was significantly suppressed in the dou­ ble mutants. These studies showed that an initial telomere dys­ function is necessary to promote chromosomal instability capable of generating a preneoplastic lesion; however, later, to allow for tumor growth, telomerase must be reactivated in or­ der to stabilize the genome [19]. If this is not the case, then the chromosomal instability is unsustainable and most of the cells die through apoptosis. These results are consistent with very low or nonexistent telomerase activity in the majority of incipi­ ent neoplasias in humans, while the progression to a state of malignancy is associated with high telomerase activity.

Important insights into an association between telomere dysfunction and human epithelial carcinogenesis have come from studies in which mTerc-/- mice were crossed with mice deficient in p53 [1]. Telomere erosion triggers a damage signal in p53-dependent DNA; thus, in the presence of functional p53, short telomeres promote apoptosis or the G1-phase ar­ rest of cells. In later generations of mTerc-/-/p53-/- mice, the loss of p53 recapitulates many of the symptoms caused by telomere dysfunction, such as the apoptosis of germinal cells, even though they have short telomeres. The recovery of these cells with short telomeres and a higher proliferative activity re­ sults in greater genomic instability, the appearance of tumors at early ages, and a decline in animal survival. However, the most important observation in this study was the appearance of a small proportion of carcinomas, which had not been found in mTerc-/-/p53+/+ mice. These observations suggest that the premature death of mTerc-/-/p53+/+ mice from lymphoid or mesenchymal cancers masked the impact of telomere dys­ function on epithelial carcinogenesis. In p53 haploinsufficient

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mice, mTerc-/-/p53+/-, there was an increased incidence of tu­ mors and a radical change in their spectrum, evidenced by a shift from lymphoproliferative to carcinomas in old vs. young mice. Moreover, the murine carcinomas showed complex structural chromosomal anomalies similar to those found in human carcinomas. These results along with the fact that hu­ man neoplastic cells display short telomeres and complex chromosomal anomalies led to speculations that telomere dysfunction is a risk factor that contributes to tumorigenesis.

Accordingly, a model was proposed in which telomere dys­ function coupled with deficiencies in cell cycle checkpoints is responsible for the appearance of carcinomas in the adult hu­ man population [6].

Model of human epithelial carcinogenesis The majority of cancers in the adult human population are epi­ thelial in origin. Indeed, epithelial tumors account for 83.6% of adult neoplasias and the incidence rises with age. As dis­ cussed above, most carcinomas show chromosomal instabili­ ty, manifested as complex chromosomal anomalies. According to the epithelial carcinogenesis model, chromosomal instability in proliferative epithelial cells depends on the telomere shorten­ ing that occurs as cells divide, coupled with deficiencies in cell cycle checkpoints.

Epithelial cells proliferate throughout the human lifespan to regenerate the epithelium. However, these cells have no telom­ erase activity, such that their telomeres become shorter as the individual ages. When the telomeres reach a critically short length, mechanisms are activated to limit cell division, such that cell cycle progression is halted (replicative senescence). If these mechanisms are damaged, the cells may continue to proliferate, with even further shortening of their telomeres. This leads to a loss in telomere structure and thus of the cells’ ability to distinguish the natural chromosome ends from doublestrand breaks in DNA. Consequently, the cellular repair ma­ chinery is activated, and the unprotected chromosome ends are thereby fused. These telomere-telomere fusions give rise to dicentric chromosomes with two centromeres and thus poten­ tially to a genomic instability in successive cell divisions through the advent of BFB cycles. This massive chromosomal instabili­ ty ends in a phase of cell crisis, characterized by the presence of very short telomeres, telomere fusions, anaphase bridges, and a high rate of apoptosis. Even though most cells in this crisis stage will die, a very low percentage survive and become immortalized through the activation of mechanisms capable of maintaining telomere length, such as telomerase reactivation.

Chromosome stabilization through telomerase or the ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres) mechanism reduces chromosomal instability at the cost of providing the tumor with unlimited proliferative capacity. For all of these reasons, de­ spite the barriers to cell proliferation posed by the crisis stage and replicative senescence, the massive chromosomal insta­ bility associated with crisis might be the mechanism through which some cells acquire the genetic alterations needed to be­ come malignant [21].

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Tusell

Fig. 3. The relationship between telomeres and telomerase and aging and cancer depends on an environment that is, respectively, profi­ cient or deficient in cell cycle checkpoints.

Therefore, telomere shortening and the activation of telom­ erase can act as either tumor suppressors or oncogenes, de­ pending on when they take place and their genetic context. On the one hand, the loss in telomere repetitions in an intact cellu­ lar environment serves as a tumor-suppressing mechanism, limits cell proliferation, and causes senescence or apoptosis.

However, the loss in telomere structure in an environment defi­ cient in genes that act as cell cycle checkpoints leads to tel­ omere instability due to the absence of telomerase and fosters the onset of malignant transformation (Fig. 3).

Pro- and anti-telomerase treatments Given the close relationship between telomerase, aging, and cancer, a number of studies have recently been conducted to ascertain whether therapies directed at the overexpression or inhibition of telomerase have any effect on the regeneration of tissues damaged during aging or can prevent/inhibit tumor growth. The stimulation or reactivation of telomerase would be expected to prevent aging in addition to providing a therapeutic strategy for telomere phenotype syndromes. However, it is still not clear whether an increase in telomerase activity is sufficient to prevent symptoms of aging. An improvement in tissue gener­ ation has been shown in genetically modified K5-Tert mice, which overexpress telomere activity in basal keratinocytes and stem cells of stratified epithelia [7]. The increase in telomere ac­ tivity reduced both the rate of atrophy in the testicles, uterus, and ovaries of these mice, and renal dysfunctions in elderly mice.

Moreover, the life expectancy of the genetically modified mice was longer than that of the control group. By contrast, when K5Tert mice were treated with chemical carcinogens they had a higher mortality from cancer at advanced ages, suggesting the cooperation of other genetic anomalies over the lifetime of the mice, with an increase in telomerase playing a role in the genesis of neoplasia. These studies therefore suggest certain potential

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risks in gene therapies involving telomerase overexpression. At the same time, evidence that dysfunctional telomeres can acti­ vate both senescence and apoptosis, thus blocking tumorigen­ esis in different tissues, points to potential therapeutic applica­ tions of molecules with anti-telomerase capacity. Currently, several compounds have been shown to act on telomerase: those that directly inhibit the enzyme or target the proteins in the shelterin complex, and vaccines that stimulate the immune sys­ tem to attack cells expressing the telomerase antigen.

Numerous in vitro studies have demonstrated that the treat­ ment of different tumor cell lines with telomerase inhibitors leads to a shortening of the telomere and subsequently triggers inhibition of the cells’ proliferative potential. Furthermore, the treatment of tumor cells in immunocompromised mice inhibits tumor growth. Similarly, the administration of telomerase in­ hibitors to mice xenotransplanted with breast cancer cells was effective in preventing lung metastasis. These results with hu­ man cells in vitro and murine models in vivo show that such treatments can be highly effective in lowering tumor growth.

Today, numerous anti-telomerase treatments are currently be­ ing tested in clinical trials (phase I, II, and III). Given the preva­ lence of high telomerase activity and/or the presence of short telomeres in multiple types of tumors compared to normal tis­ sue, targeting telomerase would seem to be a reasonable ap­ proach to the treatment of a wide range of cancers.

Brief biography of the Nobel Prize winners Elizabeth H. Blackburn (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 1948) was born into a family of doctors. She moved from Tasmania to Melbourne (Victoria) in 1957, earning her Bachelor’s (1970) and her Master’s (1972) degrees from the University of Melbourne and her doctorate (1975) from Cambridge University (UK). After working as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale (1975–1977), she went to the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and has

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Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end

worked at the University of California at San Francisco since 1990. Although she is primarily known for her studies on telom­ eres and the role of telomerase, her name was also catapulted into the newspaper headlines in February 2004 when she was removed from the President’s Council on Bioethics, presuma­ bly due to disagreements with George W. Bush’s administra­ tion over the issue of research into totipotential cells derived from human embryos.

Carol W. Greider (Davis, USA, 1961) graduated with a Bach­ elor’s degree in Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983. In 1984, she began her doctoral studies with Blackburn at Berkeley, in the field of telomere protection. Using the model ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena, Greider and Black­ burn identified the activity of the enzyme telomerase, directing the controlled regeneration of chromosome ends. After the pub­ lication of an important article [8] in the journal Cell (1985), she finished her thesis in 1987. After completing her postdoctoral fellowships, Greider joined the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Long Island, New York), with a joint appointment in 1997 at Johns Hopkins University. Her laboratory has primarily pursued avenues of research derived from her doctoral dissertation.

Jack W. Szostak (London, UK, 1952) graduated with a Bach­ elor’s degree in Biology from McGill University in 1971. He earned his doctorate at Cornell University and then permanently moved to Harvard Medical School. His laboratory is part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His career has been linked to the field of genetic recombination and to studies on the proc­ esses that govern eukaryotic chromosomes, such as telomere dynamics (shortening and elongation, protection, and destruc­ tion). These studies helped him to design the first yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs), which have become fundamental tools in the manipulation of long DNA fragments, used in the compre­ hensive human genome mapping project completed during last decade. More recently, Szostak, has pursued studies on artificial chromosomes with the intention of generating ‘artificial cells,’ a process that could provide information on how the first cells emerged from the first organic compounds on primeval Earth.

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

Artandi SE, Chang S, Lee SL, Alson S, Gottlieb GJ, Chin L, DePinho RA (2000) Telomere dysfunction promotes non-reciprocal translocations and epithelial cancers in mice. Nature 406:641-645 Blackburn EH, Gall JG (1978) A tandemly repeated se­ quence at the termini of the extrachromosomal ribosomal RNA genes in Tetrahymena. J Mol Biol 120:33-53 Blasco MA, Lee HW, Hande MP, Samper E, Lansdorp PM, DePinho RA, Greider CW (1977) Telomere shorten­ ing and tumor formation by mouse cells lacking telomer­ ase RNA. Cell 91:25-34 Bodnar AG, Ouellette M, Frolkis M, Holt SE, Chiu CP, Morin GB, Harley CB, Shay JW, Lichtsteiner S, Wright WE (1998) Extension of life-span by introduction of tel­

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 107

omerase into normal human cells. Science 279:349-352 5. D’Adda di Fagagna F, Reaper PM, Clay-Farrace L, Fie­ gler H, Carr P, Von Zglinicki T, Saretzki G, Carter NP, Jackson SP (2003) A DNA damage checkpoint response in telomere-initiated senescence. Nature 426:194-198 6. DePinho RA (2000) The age of cancer. Nature 408:248254 7. González-Suárez E, Geserick C, Flores JM, Blasco MA (2005) Antagonistic effects of telomerase on cancer and aging in K5-mTert transgenic mice. Oncogene 24:22562270 8. Greider CW, Blackburn EH (1985) Identification of a spe­ cific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts. Cell 43:405-413 9. Greider CW, Blackburn EH (1987) The telomere terminal transferase of Tetrahymena is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme with tFwo kinds of primer specificity. Cell 51:887-898 10. Greider CW, Blackburn EH (1989) A telomeric sequence in the RNA of Tetrahymena telomerase required for tel­ omere repeat synthesis. Nature 337:331-337 11. Griffith JD, Comeau L, Rosenfield S, Stansel RM, Bianchi A, Moss H, de Lange T (1999) Mammalian telomeres end in a large duplex loop. Cell 97:503-514 12. Harley CB, Futcher AB, Greider CW (1990) Telomeres shorten during aging of human fibroblasts. Nature 345:458-460 13. Hayflick L (1965) The limited in vitro lifetime of human dip­ loid cell strains. ExpCell Res 37:614-636 14. Lundblad V, Szostak JW (1989) A mutant with a defect in telomere elongation leads to senescence in yeast. Cell 57:633-643 15. McClintock B (1941) The stability of broken ends of chro­ mosomes in Zea mays. Genetics 26:234-282 16. Müller HJ (1938) The remaking of chromosomes. Collect­ ing Net 13:181-198 17. Olovnikov AM (1973) A theory of marginotomy. The in­ complete copying of template margin in enzymic synthe­ sis of polynucleotides and biological significance of the phenomenon. J Theor Biol 41:181-190 18. Palm W, de Lange T (2008) How shelterin protects mam­ malian telomeres. Annu Rev Genet 42:301-334 19. Rudolph KL, Millard M, Bosenberg MW, DePinho RA (2001) Telomere dysfunction and evolution of intestinal carcinoma in mice and humans. Nat Genet 28:155-159 20. Shampay J, Szostak JW, Blackburn EH (1984) DNA se­ quences of telomeres maintained in yeast. Nature 310:154-157 21. Stewart SA, Weinberg RA (2006) Telomeres: Cancer to human aging. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 22:531-557 22. Szostak JW, Blackburn EH (1982) Cloning yeast telom­ eres on linear plasmid vectors. Cell 29(1):245-255 23. Watson JD (1972) Origin of concatemeric T7 DNA. Nat New Biol 239:197-201 24. Yu GL, Bradley JD, Attardi LD, Blackburn EH (1990) In vivo alteration of telomere sequences and senescence caused by mutated Tetrahymena telomerase RNAs. Na­ ture 344:126-132

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 109–115 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.115 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication . On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (I)* Santiago Vallmitjana Department of Applied Physics and Optics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Resum. El Premi Nobel de Física 2009 va atorgar el guardó compartit a Charles Kuen Kao (a més de Willard S. Boyle i George E. Smith) pels assoliments innovadors relatius a la transmissió de llum en fibres per a les comunicacions òptiques. En aquest article es descriu el rerefons científic dels anys seixanta, els antecedents tecnològics i la manera com, l’any 1966, a partir d’una publicació de Kuen Kao, es formulen unes grans expectatives relatives a la possibilitat d’enviar informació, mitjançant la llum d’un làser, a través de les fibres òptiques. Es tracten, des d’un punt de vista bàsic, el funcionament de les fibres òptiques i la tecnologia associada, així com l’estudi de les diferents dificultats, que es van superar al llarg dels anys següents fins a arribar a sistemes de comunicació fiables i a ser com són actualment.

Abstract. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 was divided, one half awarded to Charles Kuen Kao for innovative achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communications (the other half was jointly awarded to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith). This article describes the scientific and technological background of the 1960s, and how, in 1966, from a publication from Kuen Kao, great expectations were made regarding the possibility of sending information with a laser through optical fibers. The basic functioning of optical fibers and their related technology is described, as well as the various difficulties that were overcome during the following years in order to attain reliable communication systems, such as the ones today.

Paraules clau: fibra òptica ∙ telecomunicació ∙ reflexió ∙ dispersió ∙ atenuació

Keywords: optical fibers ∙ telecommunications ∙ reflection ∙ dispersion ∙ attenuation

Throughout history, attempts have been made to use light as a means of communication; however, atmospheric absorption had always made this feat untenable. The idea was revived with the discovery of the laser in 1960; while this led to further progress, light as a means of communication was still not practically applicable because of the continued limitations posed by absorption and the difficulties in sending light directly. The idea was yet again revived with the development of fiberglass, but the problem of absorption, this time by the fibers, remained. In 1966, the work of Charles Kuen Kao renewed interest in the possibility of communication. Kao showed that the fiber-manufacturing process was the cause of the absorption problem and that under better technical conditions light could travel vast distances before being weakened by absorption. These findings unleashed an irrepressible series of technological improvements and advancements, launching the advent of a new

Fig. 1. Charles K. Kao. © The Nobel Foundation. Photo: Ulla Montan.

age in the history of telecommunications. For this reason, Charles Kao is regarded as the ‘father of fiber optic communication.’ (Fig. 1)

The physics of fiber optics * Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 15 December 2009, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 27 January 2010 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: S. Vallmitjana, Department of Applied Physics and Optics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 5th floor, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-934021202. Fax +34-934021142. E-mail: santi.vallmitjana@ub.edu

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An optical fiber acts like a tube that conducts light. To understand how it works, we must first explore the phenomenon of total reflection.

Total reflection. In a homogeneous and uniform medium, light is transmitted in a straight line at a speed of v. The refrac-

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Vallmitjana

Fig. 2(A). Snell’s Law of Refrac­ tion. (B) Refractions until they sur­ pass the critical angle. (C) Succes­ sive total reflections inside an optical fiber

tive index of the medium is defined as n = c/v, in which c is the speed of light in a vacuum. When the light passes from a me­ dium with a refractive index of n to another with an index of n', entering at an angle of ε (measured in relation to the direction perpendicular to the surface separating the media), it changes direction by forming an angle ε', such that there is a relation­ ship between the indexes and the angles (Fig. 2A) that obeys Snell’s Law of Refraction: Snell’s Law: n sin ε = n' sin ε'; per n > n' → ε < ε' In the event that the new medium has a lower refractive in­ dex, the exit angle will increase, yielding an angle of incidence in which the exit angle is 90°. This is an interesting feature of fiber, since when light travels at this so-called critical angle it is reflected back to the same medium at the same angle. This is known as total internal reflection.

tioned above, in addition to the two fiber layers that reflect (core and cladding), there are also protective layers. A submarine ca­ ble has seven such layers (plastic, aluminum, and metal), and only the center (layer eight) comprises the fiber bundle (Fig. 4).

Dispersion and solutions. Now we must briefly discuss mo­ dal dispersion and extra-modal or chromatic dispersion. a) Modal dispersion. Between the best and worst cases, the light that travels through the core and edges from the same light pulse expands over time, a phenomenon known as modal dispersion.

Depending on the amount of modal dispersion, there are three kinds of fibers:

1. Multimode fibers (Step index), which a higher capacity but permit greater dispersion. Their core measures sev­ eral dozens or hundreds of micrometers in diameter.

εlim: value in which ε' = 90°; total reflection: if ε > εlim Accordingly, light can give rise to total reflections without ever leaving the fiber (Fig. 2B,C).

Basic components and parameters. Optical fibers basically consist of two parts: the core (index n0) and the cladding (index nc), or external covering. There are also other, protective layers.

Let us assume that light enters the fiber at an angle of θ and is refracted at an angle of α. If the angle in the second refraction (Fig. 3) is the critical angle, then:

Fig. 3. Conditions for the first total reflection.

n0 sin (90 – r) = nC sin 90 nC = n0 cos r Likewise, if we consider the input refraction, then: 1sin θM = n0 sin r Accordingly, we define the acceptance angle as the maxi­ mum angle at which the following refraction hits the critical an­ gle r = εlim. The sine of this angle is known as the numerical ap­ erture (NA) of the fiber: N . A . = sin i M = n 0 1 —cos 2 r = n 0

1—

n 2C = n 20

n 20 —n C2

A large NA is not desirable because part of the light can trav­ el to the center while the rest may give rise to numerous reflec­ tions, which would lead to dispersion of the signal. As men­

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Fig. 4. Different layers of optical fiber and a submarine cable for optical communication. (1) Polyethylene; (2) mylar tape; (3) strand­ ed steel wires; (4) aluminum water barrier; (5) polycarbonate; (6) copper or aluminum tube; (7) petroleum jelly; (8) optical fibers.

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Fig. 5. Three types of fiber according to their geometry and refraction index.

2. GRIN (GRaded INdex) fibers, which are characterized by a gradual variation between the core and the clad­ ding, leading to compensation in the optical pathways (the product of the pathway times the index) and low­ er dispersion.

3. Singlemode fibers. They show lower modal disper­ sion because of their small diameter (< 10 µm) (Fig. 5).

b) Extra-modal or chromatic dispersion. Even though mo­ dal dispersion may be controlled, if signals of different wavelengths are sent, the signals can be separated or dispersed since the refraction index depends on the wavelength. This is called extra-modal or chromatic dis­ persion. The index usually decreases with increasing wavelengths; therefore, the signal is quicker at longer wavelengths.

Numerous solutions have been devised to resolve this problem:

1. Interspersing components with anomalous disper­ sion: These fibers consist of a material that has a re­ fractive index that increases with increasing wave­ length, thus counterbalancing dispersion.

2. Interspersing Bragg fibers: These are fibers with a core refractive index that shows periodic variation and a dielectric mirror on one end, so they act via reflec­ tion; with the proper interferences they counterbal­ ance dispersion.

3. Interspersing systems with diffraction networks: Since the longer the wavelength the greater the angle of dif­ fraction, they can travel further, thus counterbalancing their advance.

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 111

The problem of attenuation. As light is propagated through a fiber, it gradually loses intensity, leading to attenuation of the signals transmitted. That is due to two reasons. The first in­ volves intrinsic physical causes that can be attributed to the in­ teraction between electromagnetic waves and matter, which leads to absorption and dispersion, or scattering, depending on the material and the wavelength. The second is that attenu­ ation also derives from the manufacturing process, which can leave impurities or micro-flaws or even mechanical defects such as flexions and compressions, or from the technology un­ derlying the connections.

Figure 6 shows the dependence of absorption on wave­ length. There are three zones in which the absorption is lower.

These define the ‘three windows of communication via optical fiber,’ namely bands centered at 0.8 μm, 1.3 μm, and 1.5 μm (the third is subdivided into 1.55 and 1.65). The improvements made over the years are apparent, since the upper and middle zones correspond to the start and end of the 1980s, while the lower zone corresponds to more recent years.

Attenuation is measured using a logarithmic scale. If a pho­ tometric value of I is introduced at the input and a value of I' at the output, attenuation can be defined as the logarithm of the quotient of I'/I. Note that if output and input are inverted, the sign changes but the value does not. It is also interesting to note that attenuation is additive: by adding fibers, the number of decibels (dB), explained below, also rises. Attenuation is measured in units of decibels (dB), named in honor of Alexan­ der Graham Bell, and is usually expressed as decibels per kilo­ meter (dB/km). Table 1 shows the relationship between the quotient and the value as expressed in dB. For every three dB, transmission is halved. In fibers from 1966, the attenuation was 1 dB/m or 1000 dB/km, which translated into a reduction of

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Vallmitjana

Fig. 7. Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA).

Fig. 6. Attenuation curves according to wavelength in the early 1980s, in the late 1980s, and today.

physicist John Tyndall (1820–1893), who later became fa­ mous for his studies on colloidal solutions and light dispersion (known as the Tyndall effect), carried out a series of experi­ ments in which light was conducted through a jet of water that flowed from a container. There is also a patent dating from 1881, filed by the American scientist William Wheeler, who in­ vented a system of water pipes able to conduct light to the rooms of a house from an electrical arc located in the base­ ment (Fig. 8).

The first glass fibers were manufactured by the Owens Corning company in 1938, initially for thermal insulation appli­ cations. The medical fiberscope was invented in the 1950s by researchers Brian O’Brien, from the American Optical Compa­ ny, and Narinder Kapany, from the Imperial College of Science and Technology of London. Kapany was the first to coin the term ‘fiber optics,’ in 1956. In 1954, Abraham van Heel, from the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands, independ­ ently announced that orderly bundles of optical fibers could be used to form images. The first laser appeared in 1960 and de­ spite its considerable power the loss rates of the fibers were of the order of 100 dB/km (1/10,000,000,000, the attenuation of the signal from entry over the length of a kilometer), which es­ sentially ruled out its use for transmitting light at any distance.

In 1964, Charles K. Kao arrived at the conclusion that the high losses in the earlier fibers were due to impurities, not to the structure of glass itself. In their detailed analysis published in July 1966, Kao and his co-author George Hockham postulated that the fibers’ loss could be reduced to < 20 dB/km (1/100 attenuation over the length of a kilometer). This claim attracted the interest of the public at large, initially in Britain and later all over the world.

1/10,000,000,000 after 100 m; this explains why, before Kao’s study, communication via fiber was regarded as unfeasible.

Today, it is around 0.1dB/km (Table 1).

Despite improvements in fiber quality, over long distances the problem of a noticeable drop in the signal coupled with an increase in the noise remained. This problem was addressed by placing regeneration stations along the way in order to am­ plify the incoming signals, filter out the noise, and then forward the signals. In the early days, these devices were hybrid and had to convert the optical signals into electrical ones (with pho­ todiodes), then filter and amplify them, convert them back into optical signals using a laser, and, finally, forward them to the outgoing fiber. However, since the late 1980s optical regenera­ tors have been used, interspersing erbium-doped fiber amplifi­ ers (EDFAs), which use nonlinear optical effects and mixes of wavelengths to allow the incoming signals to be coupled with a laser, which amplifies them. Obviously, with improvements in attenuation, the distances between the regenerating stations have increased from dozens to hundreds of kilometers, which has fostered installations of optic communications via subma­ rine cabling (Fig. 7).

The history of optical fiber The earliest forerunner of optical communication dates back to the late 1790s, when the Chappe brothers, Claude (1763– 1805) and Ignace (1760–1829), invented the first optical tele­ graph in France. The device was based on the positioning of wooden arms according to an alphabetic code. In 1842, the Swiss physicist Daniel Colladon (1802–1893) published an ar­ ticle in which he claimed that light could be conducted along water jets; years later, he suggested several applications of this discovery for ornamental fountains. In 1854, the Irish

Charles Kao’s work Charles Kao and George Hockham, working at the Standard Telecom Laboratory in London, published the study they entitled

Table 1. Equivalence between attenuation expressed as a quotient and in dB

I'/I

1

0.95

0.91

0.79

1/2

1/5

1/10

1/20

1/50

1/100

1/200

1/500

10-3

dB

0

0.2

0.4

1

3

6.9

10

13

16.9

20

23

26.9

30

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 112

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Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication

Fig. 8. William Wheeler’s patent (1881).

‘Dielectric-fibre surface waveguides for optical frequencies’ in Proceedings of the IEE (issue 113, pp. 1151-1158) in 1966. The article was reissued by the same publication exactly 20 years later. George Hockham, who was the more theoretically inclined of the two, calculated the characteristics of radiation propaga­ tion through fibers, especially on curves. The study, which also included experimental tests, demonstrated that most of the losses occurring in optical fibers were the result of impurities in the glass rather than an intrinsic property of the material.

In short, these two scientists demonstrated that an optical fiber can transmit information equivalent to 200 television chan­ nels or more than 200,000 telephone channels, and they pre­ dicted that optical fibers would become capable of transmitting this information with losses of only 20 dB per kilometer. The specific claim they published was: “Conclusions are drawn as to the feasibility and the expected performance of such a waveguide for long-distance communication application,” proof of their vision of the potential of optical fibers.

Constant improvements in the ability to transmit information The claim can be made that Kao’s work marked the start of a race for better fiber optic techniques, which quickly succeeded each other. Just four years later, Kao’s predictions were sur­ passed. In the summer of 1970, Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz, all from Corning Glass, developed a glass fiber with an attenuation of 17 dB/km at 633 nm (it conveyed

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 113

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 113

65,000 times more information than achieved with copper wire). During the early 1970s, the United States Army installed a fiber optic telephone cable as part of a military program to develop communications via fiber optics. In June 1972, Maur­ er, Keck, and Schultz invented a multi-mode fiber doped with germanium, with a loss of 4 dB per kilometer.

In parallel with the advances in propagation, transmission speed was also improved, and in April 1977 General Telephone and Electronics installed a telephone line in Long Beach, Cali­ fornia that used a fiber optic system operating at 6 Mbps. In May of the same year, Bell Laboratories unveiled a fiber optics telephone communication system; it was installed in Chicago and covered a distance of 1.5 miles (2.4 km). Today, more than 80% of long-distance voice and data traffic in the world is trans­ mitted via fiber optic cables. And in late 1977, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone improved the third window to 1,550 nm, with a theoretical minimum optical loss of around 0.2 dB/km.

The first-generation systems were able to transmit light over a few kilometers without the need for repeating stations, with a loss of approximately 2 dB/km. These were quickly followed by second-generation systems, which used new InGaAsP lasers emitting at 1.3 µm and with a fiber attenuation as low as 0.5 dB/km and a dispersion under 850 nm. Optical images were first transmitted via fiber in 1980, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Later, at the 1994 Winter Olympics, in Lillehammer, Norway, optical fibers transmitted digital video signals for the first time, an application that continues to evolve.

Regarding the capacity to transmit many signals along the same fiber (multiplexing), this was initially done using the TDM (time division multiplexing) method, in which each set of bits from each signal is interspersed at shorter digitalization inter­ vals. Later, the WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) tech­ nique was developed, in which each set of bits is sent at a slightly different wavelength, thus significantly boosting trans­ mission capacity. David Payne, from Southampton University, and Emmanuel Desurvire, from Bell Laboratories, developed the first erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs); these were intro­ duced in 1986. EDFAs reduced the cost of long-distance fiber systems by eliminating the repeating mechanisms that convert­ ed optical signals to electronic ones, electronically amplified them, and then converted the amplified signals back to optical signals. EDFAs made it possible to transmit signals over a long­ er distance, enabling the launch of the first transatlantic tele­ phone cable, in 1988. They also provided the groundwork for the DWDM (dense wavelength-division multiplexing) technique.

In 1990, at Bell Laboratories, a 2.5 Gb/s signal was trans­ mitted 7,500 km without regeneration. In 1996, the first totally fiber optic cable, the TPC-5, which uses optical amplifiers, was laid across the Pacific Ocean. In 1998, using DWDM technolo­ gy a fiber could transmit 100 optical signals simultaneously, each at 10 Gbits/s at distances of 250 miles (400 km) for a total speed of 1 Tbit/s (one trillion bits per second). Around 1994, submarine cables were operating at 1.55 µm, with losses of 0.2-0.3 dB/km at speeds of 5 GBit/s. The distance between amplifiers was 50-80 km.

Telecommunications companies laid down approximately 523,000 km of submarine cabling between 1998 and 2002,

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Fig. 9. Map showing submarine cable lines laid down by Alcatel.

which made even higher volumes of simultaneous voice calls and data transfer possible via the Internet. In the UK, 3 million kilometers of fiber optic cabling have been laid since Kao’s original prediction. By 2005, half a billion (500 million) people regularly used the Internet and 40 million private homes were wired. By 2009, there were 1.734 billion Internet users (the one billion mark had been passed in 2008). Today, optical fibers transmit surprising volumes of data. After the summer of 2009, Bell Laboratories beat the optical transmission record by send­ ing the equivalent of 400 DVDs more than 7000 km/s, thus outstripping submarine cables by a factor of ten. Fiber optic cables are constantly connecting the world even further; a 17,000-km cable installed this past July links east Africa with Europe and India at speeds fast enough to transmit high-defini­ tion video (Fig. 9).

Over the past 40 years, technological developments associ­ ated with IT have also achieved major strides. While Moore’s Law posits that computers duplicate their power every 18 months, according to an interesting version of this law in the world of telecommunications known as ‘Moore’s law of optics’ the transmission capacity via fiber optics doubles in intervals of 4–12 months depending on the country’s infrastructure and the quality of the installations. To conclude this technical sur­ vey, let us compare telecommunications sent via copper wire with those sent via fiber optics. The advantages of optical com­ munication can be summarized as follows: as we have seen based on the figures above, multichannel capacity and band­ width have risen considerably at a lighter weight; furthermore, optical fibers are impervious to moisture and more resistant to certain gases and liquids. They are immune to electromagnetic fields and interferences, and they exhibit a high level of safety in terms of privacy (they cannot be breached through induction, and any deviation is detected). The disadvantages include at­ tenuation and the consequent need for regenerators-repeat­ ers, as well as fragility (protective plastic layers are always re­

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 114

quired) and the technical complexity of the connections. Finally, in addition to their aforementioned applications in telecommu­ nications, fiber optics are very important in medicine (in diag­ nostics and surgery, which rely on endoscopes to illuminate anatomic/surgical regions and to produce images from blood vessels or other anatomic structures), in the automotive indus­ try (to transmit signals inside automobiles), in architecture, and increasingly in many other technologies.

Brief biography of the Nobel Prize winner Charles Kuen Kao was born in Jiangsu, a district of Shang­ hai, on 4 November 1933. In 1948, his family moved to Hong Kong, and in 1952 he graduated from secondary school at St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong. After studying electrical engi­ neering at Woolwich Polytechnic (now the University of Green­ wich), where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science, he undertook graduate studies at University College London, receiving his Doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 1965. While pursuing his doctorate, he worked as an engineer at Standard Telephones and Cables (STC, later Nortel Networks) and at the Standard Telecommunications Laboratories (STL) research center in Harlow, England. At STL, he conducted the research that led to the famous 1966 publication (Fig. 10), co-authored with his colleague, George Hockham. In 1970, he was hired by the Chi­ nese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he founded the Department of Electronics (later renamed the Department of Electronic Engineering). In 1974, he moved to the United States to work at ITT (associated with STC). He then moved to the company’s facilities in Roanoke, Virginia, where he was Chief Scientist and then Director of Engineering. In 1982, he was named ITT Executive Scientist, at the Advanced Technol­ ogy Center in Connecticut. He also worked as an adjunct pro­ fessor at Trumbull College, part of Yale University.

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Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 115

He married M.Y. Huang, a Chinese British citizen, in 1959 in London. They have two children, a son and a daughter, who live and work in Silicon Valley, California. Today he resides in Hong Kong and although he is suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, he was able to receive his Nobel Prize on 10 December 2009.

To learn more Fiber optics in general http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=170740 http://www.fiber-optics.info http://www.lanshack.com/fiber-optic-tutorial-basics.aspx http://www.networktutorials.info/tutorials.html Single-mode and multi-mode fibers http://www.arcelect.com/fibercable.htm Transoceanic fibers http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Cables/CableTimeLine/in­ dex1850.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_submarine_ communications_cables http://www.networktutorials.info/submarine_cable.html Timeline http://www.sff.net/people/jeff.hecht/chron.html

Fig. 10. Charles Kao in the 1960s and an excerpt from the first page of his published study.

He is the recipient of numerous academic awards and hon­ orary doctorates, and has served in many administrative uni­ versity posts. Between 1987 and 1996, he was the Vice-Chan­ cellor of the CUHK. He was also the Chairman and CEO at Transtech (advanced materials and ceramics) in Massachu­ setts and Chairman and CEO of ITX Services (Information Technology Experts Inc.). He also founded the Independent School Foundation Academy (ISF) within the Cyberport com­ plex (Hong Kong’s counterpart to Silicon Valley). On 6 October 2009, he was awarded the Nobel Prize “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.”

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 115

Charles Kao http://bibliotecaetsitupm.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/charleskuen-kao-premio-nobel-de-fisica-2009-en-biblioteca-etsit http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Charles_ Kao http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/ kao.html

Bibliography 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Hecht J (1999) City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics.

Oxford University Press, New York Hecht J (2005) Understanding Fiber Optics, 5th ed. Pren­ tice Hall, New Jersey Hecht E (2001) Optics, 4th ed. Addison Wesley, UK Sivalingam KM, Subramaniam S (eds) (2002) Optical WDM networks: Principles and practice. Kluwer Aca­ demic Publishers, Norwell, Massachusetts Young M (1993) Optics and lasers: Including fibers and optical waveguides. Springer, Berlin

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 117–124 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.116 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images . On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (II)* Atilà Herms Department of Electronics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Resum. El Premi Nobel de Física 2009 va atorgar el guardó compartit a dos científics (a més de Charles Kuen Kao): Willard S. Boyle i George E. Smith, ambdós dels laboratoris Bell de Murray Hill, a Nova Jersey, per haver inventat, el 1969, un dispositiu electrònic, el sensor CCD (charge-coupled device o ‘dispositiu de càrrega acoblada’), que ha permès un desenvolupament important de les càmeres digitals, tant de fotografia com de vídeo. Només un any més tard, els laboratoris Bell ja tenien en funcionament la primera videocàmera basada en CCD. En càmeres comercials està essent substituït per sensors CMOS, però en certs sistemes de captura encara és el més important, especialment pel baix nivell de soroll. En aquest article s’analitza el funcionament del dispositiu i l’evolució que té.

Paraules clau: sensor CCD ∙ fotografia i vídeo digitals ∙ xarxes òptiques ∙ laboratoris Bell ∙ matrius d’estat sòlid ∙ fotodetecció ∙ transferència de càrrega

Abstract. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 was jointly awarded to two scientists (in addition to Charles Kuen Kao): Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, both of Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, for having invented, in 1969, an imaging semiconductor circuit, the CCD (charge-coupled device), an electronic device which allowed an important development of digital cameras, both photography and video. A year later, Bell Labs already had the first CCD-based camcorder. In commercial cameras it is being replaced by CMOS sensors, but in some capture systems it is still the most important component, especially because of its low levels of noise. This article examines the functioning and evolution of the device.

Keywords: CCD sensor ∙ digital photography and video ∙ optical networks ∙ Bell Labs ∙ solid state arrays ∙ photodetection ∙ charge transfer

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 was jointly awarded to two scientists (in addition to Charles Kuen Kao): Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, both of Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, for having invented, in 1969, an imaging semiconductor circuit, the charge-coupled device or CCD (Fig. 1.)

Applications of the CCD sensor The most important aspect in the development of the CCD sensor is the device’s applications in image capture. The CCD has fostered the advent of digital photography and video, with major advances for professional and amateur use, including the availability of image capture systems with features and at prices that would have been unimaginable in the not-too-distant past. Ever since its invention, the CCD has generated important new in-

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 15 December 2009 for the Nobel Prize Cycle at the IEC. Correspondence: A. Herms, Department of Electronics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-934029068. Fax +34-934021148. E-mail: a.herms@ub.edu

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 117

Fig. 1. Left to right, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith. © The Nobel Foundation. Photos: Ulla Montan.

dustries and markets, ushering in a wide range of products, including digital cameras, camcorders, high-definition television, security monitoring, medical endoscopy, and equipment for use in modern astronomy. The underlying principles of the CCD have also proven to be crucial in the advent of optical networks, which comprise the transport technology underlying communication networks. Since 1983, telescopes have been equipped with solid state CCD cameras that enable astronomers to study objects that are thousands of times fainter than those studied with the most sensitive photography plates. Today, the majority of optical observatories, including the Hubble space telescope, are based upon CCD camera systems.

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Fig. 2. (A) One of the earliest CCD devices from Bell Labs. (B) Kodak camera. (C) Sony Mavica camera.

When Boyle and Smith envisioned the design of what they called “charge ‘bubble’ devices,” the essence of these devic­ es was the possibility of transferring a charge along the sur­ face of a semiconductor, with the main application and goal being the capacity to store the charge, that is, the informa­ tion. The first CCD was initially invented as a memory device, and it worked by injecting the charge through an input regis­ ter. It soon became clear that a CCD could accumulate charges using the photoelectric effect, allowing electronic im­ ages to be created, stored, and then extracted for viewing or processing.

In 1971, M.F. Thompsett and other researchers at Bell Labs captured images using simple linear devices, and thus the CCD image capture device was born. Soon several compa­ nies, including Fairchild Semiconductor, RCA, and Texas In­ struments, seized on the promising future of the device and began to develop research programs around it. For example, Fairchild, with G. Amelio (former Bell Labs researcher) at the helm, unveiled the first commercial image capture device, and in 1974 it commercially sold two-dimensional matrices with 100 × 100 pixels. In 1975, Kodak’s Steve Sasson manufac­ tured a camera with a CCD sensor from Fairchild. It weighed four kilos. The sensor was black and white and had 0.01 meg­ apixels (Mp). The results were not totally convincing, but it was an encouraging first step (Fig. 2A,B).

Sony, led by Kazuo Iwama, also made major efforts and in­ vestments in developing CCDs for its cameras. When Iwama died, in 1982, a CCD sensor was placed in his grave in recog­ nition of his role as a driving force behind the use of CCDs. In 1981, the Sony Mavica was brought to market, the first com­ mercially sold camera with a 570 × 490 (0.280 Mp) CCD sen­ sor. The Mavica captured black and white analogue images and saved them onto magnetic disks, while color images had to be viewed on a television monitor (Fig. 2C).

Since then CCDs have become the leading sensor technol­ ogy for camcorders, and more recently for cameras. The first digital camcorder appeared in 1991, the Logitech Dycam 376 × 240, followed in 1992 by the first digital reflex camera, the Kodak DCS 200, with 1.5 megapixels. The first color dig­ ital camera, the Apple Quicktake, was launched in 1994, and the first mobile telephone with a built-in digital camera in 2000, by Sharp. Since then, the development of features and resolution has been spectacular. Today, household cameras use 12-megapixel sensors, and high-end professional camer­ as are equipped with a 50-megapixel CCD. A 196-megapixel CCD, for use in aerial photometry, was recently announced.

In image sensors, we can primarily distinguish between two groups of applications. The first includes those that seek to

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 118

Fig. 3. Evolution of the market for image capture devices [Source: Theuwissen A (2005)].

imitate the workings of the human eye (cameras, photography, video, etc.), while the second includes applications that out­ strip the human eye (high-speed, metrology, and extended wavelength, operating conditions, sizing, etc.). Analogous to the attempts to develop computers mimicking the human brain, solid-state image sensors have both advantages and limitations compared to the human eye. Lately, CCD sensors are being replaced in consumer applications by CMOS (com­ plementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors, but the CCD is still the leader in the professional and scientific sectors. Fig­ ure 3 shows the approximate evolution in the use of CCD sen­ sors and the recent growth in CMOS sensors.

In both fields of application, CCD sensors are the main de­ vice used to capture images. Let us examine the schema of a digital reflex camera as a paradigm for the image capture sys­ tem (Fig. 4). The figure shows the sensor (CCD or CMOS) and the electronic processing circuits: (i) The first circuit includes the noise elimination methods and the adjustment of the gain from the amplifiers preceding the converter, simulating the behavior of the ISO/ASA sensitivity scale in the first film cam­ eras, followed by the analogue/digital converters, which digi­ talize the signal of each pixel with a number of bits that de­ pends on the pre-established precision of each camera. (ii) The second step consists of a circuit for white balance com­ pensation, tone adjustments, contrast, color saturation, and other image processing features that depend on the charac­ teristics of each camera, and the compression to JPEG for­ mat, with differing levels of quality. In CCD sensors, these cir­ cuits are distinct from the sensor in other chips; if the sensor uses CMOS technology, both the sensor and the processor may be integrated into a single chip, given that this technolo­ gy is the same as integrated circuit manufacturing (one of the advantages of CMOS circuits). Generally speaking, in these cases the sensor and first processing circuit are usually inte­ grated into the chip, but the second processing circuit is not, although, in the future, the development of 3-D integration technologies might enable the integration of all the process­ ing electronics.

Like the reflex camera (or SLR camera), CCD sensors and processors electronics have replaced the film used in the past.

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The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 119

Fig. 4. Schema of an SLR (reflex) camera [Source: Bosch J (2009)].

As mentioned above, the earliest cameras contain sensors ranging from 3 Mp to more than 60 Mp and for all sorts of ap­ plications. The ideal number of pixels in a sensor compared to photographic film has yet to be defined. There are studies sug­ gesting that 100 megapixels is needed to achieve the resolu­ tion of the human eye; yet according to some estimates a reso­ lution equivalent to more fine-tuned photographic film can be reached with 18-megapixel sensors. In practice, results equal to film are achieved with 8- to 10-Mp sensors. However, other factors play a crucial role, such as the light conditions and sen­ sitivity. The number of pixels is mainly important if the goal is to print large-sized photographs. The table below shows the maxi­ mum size of a printed photograph as a function of the number of megapixels of the original (Table 1). The size of the sensor is im­ portant in determining the resolution of the image captured. The larger the sensor, the higher the quality of light received per pixel, but the signal/noise ratio also increases, just as with pho­ tographic film.

Table 1. Relationship between the number of megapixels and the maximum size of a photograph

Megapixels

Without interpolation (cm)

With interpolation (cm)

3

12.7 × 17.8

28 × 36

4

15.2 × 20.3

33 × 48

5

15.2 × 22.9

33 × 48

6

17.8 × 25.4

41 × 61

8

20.3 × 30.5

46 × 71

11

22.9 × 35.6

51 × 76

14

25.4 × 38.1

61 × 91

16

27.9 × 43.2

76 × 101

22

33.0 × 48.3

101 × 152

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 119

Solid state matrices The image capture sensor is made up of a solid state matrix.

The acronym CCD (charge-coupled device) refers to an archi­ tecture of semiconductor photodetectors that generate a charge according to the incident light. This charge is then transferred through storage areas. CCD architecture has three basic purposes: (a) to generate and collect the charge, (b) to transfer the charge, and (c) to convert the charge into meas­ ureable resistance. The device that makes up each of the pix­ els in the matrix is a silicon MOS device. The light charge gen­ erated in each pixel is proportional to the amount of incident light. The aggregate effect of all the pixels produces a spatial representation of a scene or image.

Photodetection To understand how a CCD sensor works, we must first exam­ ine the physical process of photodetection by the semiconduc­ tor material. The most appropriate semiconductor for capturing images, as explained below, is silicon. Silicon is a semiconduc­ tor with a gap, meaning the area where energy cannot exist, in this case measuring 1.12 eV in width (Fig. 5A). It is the energy separation between the valence and conduction bands; in oth­ er words, the energy that must be supplied to a valence elec­ tron such that it is able to free itself and move along the con­ duction band within an electrical field. In its place, the gap that the electron leaves in the valence band can be moved under the effects of the electrical field (actually, another bonded elec­ tron occupies the vacant position, but the effect is as if a posi­ tively charged particle, called a hole, has moved in the opposite direction) (Fig. 5B).

The relative concentration of electrons and holes in each band depends on the temperature. A rise in the semiconduc­ tor’s temperature leads to a vibration in the crystal structure that causes the release of some electrons, by providing them

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Herms

with sufficient kinetic energy than the gap. We thus talk about thermally generated electron-hole pairs. The distribution func­ tion of these electrons is explained by the Fermi function: F (E) =

1 E —E f o —1 exp e kT

However, the energy needed to release an electron can be supplied by a photon. A photon with energy higher than the forbidden band causes an electron to leap from the valence to the conduction band and generates an electron-hole pair. Of all the semiconductor materials, silicon is the best for capturing light in the visible spectrum (Fig. 5A). The minimum energy needed for a photon to release an electron is E = 1.12 eV, and the corresponding wavelength is: m = ch E in which c is the speed of light and h the Planck constant.

Therefore, the maximum wavelength that an electron can re­ lease is 1.110 nm, which corresponds to the infrared region, such that wavelengths in the visible spectrum produce electronhole pairs. As the radiation begins to approach the ultraviolet spectrum, the light’s penetration of the silicon also drops signifi­ cantly, rendering it impossible for pairs to form. These factors

Fig. 6. Absorption and light penetration spectrum according to the wavelength of silicon and other semiconductors.

account for silicon being the most appropriate material for visible light detectors. Figure 6 illustrates why other semiconductor ma­ terials are better for detecting light in the infrared zone.

Generation-collection of photogenerated charges Once electron-hole pairs have been generated, they must be separated in order to prevent them from recombining again.

This is achieved through the electrical field applied via a struc­ ture or device that enables the accumulation of the generated charge. The structure or device used in CCDs is the MOS con­ denser. When positive resistance is applied to the gate or met­ al, the electrons are attracted to the oxide, where they are con­ fronted with the potential barrier made up of the oxide, and they accumulate there. The holes migrate to the substrate, as shown in the figure. The effect is like creating a potential well where the charge accumulates, namely, the electrons pro­ duced by light in this case, while some electrons are thermally generated, which correspond to noise. In low lighting condi­ tions, the proportion of thermally generated electrons can be large, and the noise therefore more prominent.

Operating the CCD: Charge transfer

Fig. 5. (A) Energy bands in a semiconductor (silicon). (B) Distribution of electrons according to the temperature of silicon.

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Once the charge has accumulated in each pixel, it is trans­ ferred to the output, which is the characteristic feature of the CCD. As mentioned above, the CCD was initially designed to be used as memory; however, it actually provides a record of displacement, in which the charge is transferred to a neighbor­ ing pixel at each clock signal, until the entire charge has been extracted. It should be borne in mind that when the CCD was developed, microelectronic processors were not as advanced as they are today, and it was impossible to establish connec­ tions for each pixel in order to extract the signal from every one.

Therefore, designing a device that would continuously transfer the charge to its neighbor was a logical solution.

The CCD sensor is made up of a matrix of MOS condens­ ers, in which the gate tensions are controlled appropriately and

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The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images

sequentially by transferring the charges horizontally and verti­ cally. Each gate or metal has its own control signal (clock).

When the correct positive resistance is applied to the gate of a MOS condenser, a potential well is created in which the photo­ generated charge is stored. If resistance is applied to two neighboring condensers, the two potential wells overlap in one of them and the charge is redistributed.

As shown in Fig. 7, if the resistance drops in one of the MOS condensers, the well becomes smaller and the charge moves on to the second well. When the resistance in the first con­ denser is 0, the entire charge has been shifted to the neighbor­ ing well. The process is similar to the transfer of water in com­ municating vessels by raising one container over the other. The movement of the electrons is caused by: (a) thermal diffusion, (b) self-induced electrical fields, and (c) lateral electrical fields caused by the resistance applied to the gate. In this case, the latter is what triggers the electrons’ movement from one well to the other. In reality, a CCD pixel is made up of three MOS con­ densers. The one in the center is the condenser that actually receives the light, while the other two serve to avoid interfer­ ences between neighboring pixels and to transfer the charge.

These two condensers must be properly screened to prevent them from continuing to generate a charge after the capture.

Fig. 7. Movement of the charge (electrons) between neighboring wells by applying a sequence of tensions at the gates.

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The control signals at the gate of MOS condensers are laid out in different phases that show a drop in the resistance on the descending slope of each pulse, which causes the well to drop and the charge to move to the neighboring condenser.

This is an example of three-phase charge transfer. There are also other transfer schemas, such as two-phase, four-phase, and virtual phase. For equal pixel sizes, the four-phase transfer system is the one with the highest well capacity. In today’s CCDs, the channel where the charge accumulates and which is used to transfer the charge to neighboring wells is buried so as to lower the noise from the charge capture by the surface states of the Si-SiO2 interface. To bury the channel, there is an n-type layer just under the oxide which causes the well to be slightly displaced towards the interior of the substrate. As men­ tioned above, in order to prevent the image from deteriorating during the charge transfer to the outside, the registers where the charge is generated differ from the transfer registers in that the latter are protected from light.

Images are transferred vertically; when one row has moved to the serial read-out register the charges are serially trans­ ferred to the charge-resistance amplifier/converter, which is directly connected to the analogue/digital (A/D) converter and which in turn transfers the corresponding digital value to each pixel in the memory. The transfer speed depends directly on the bandwidth of the amplifier and the capacity of the A/D con­ verter. In the case of a high number of pixels, the transfer speed is boosted by dividing the matrices into submatrices, each of which has its own amplifier and A/D convertor.

There are different CCD architectures in relation to the trans­ fer process. The most common ones are the interline-transfer CCD and the frame-transfer CCD. Interline architecture tends to be used in consumer CCDs, while the frame architecture is more common in CCDs for scientific applications. In interlinetransfer architecture, columns are interspersed with sensors, which are clad in a metal layer to transfer the image crosswise.

After the light is captured, the photogenerated charge is trans­ ferred to the vertical registers in less than 1 μs; this transfer is so quick that no shutter is needed. Each row is then transferred to the horizontal register, which quickly transfers the row seri­ ally to the amplifier; the next row is then transferred, and the following one, until the last row. In this case, the fill-factor (per­ centage of the light detection area with respect to the total chip size) is not very high, but it can be slightly improved by using microlenses to concentrate the light on the detecting surface.

In frame-transfer architecture, the chip contains two virtually identical matrices, one for detecting light and the other for stor­ age. The storage cells are protected with a metal layer. After the capture cycle or integration, the charge is quickly trans­ ferred to the storage cells; the transfer time to the covered ma­ trix is approximately 500 μs. Once the image has been trans­ ferred to the storage matrix, it is moved row by row to the horizontal read-out register. The fill-factor in this case is very large.

The output amplifier converts the charge transferred to the well of the last MOS condenser into a resistance proportional to the charge. The resistance value is then digitalized by the A/D converter.

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Herms

Fig. 8. Left, Bayer mask. Right, Generation of the color components in each pixel with a Bayer mask.

Generating color

Improvements in CCD detection

In the aforementioned process, a charge proportional to the light intensity is collected, but there is no chromatic informa­ tion. To generate color, a system of basic color filters is ap­ plied: red (R), green (G), and blue (B). Each pixel has to have the basic color components. One solution is to use three sen­ sors with one filter in each sensor corresponding to each component. This system is employed in professional cam­ corders, but in photography it is neither practical nor eco­ nomical.

In household camcorders and cameras, a sun sensor is used, and the information in three color components from each pixel is obtained via RGB filters, in which there is a filter for one given component on each pixel. There are different ways to distribute the filters, including primary colors, com­ plementary colors, color bands, and mosaics. The most widely used filter is called the Bayer mask (Kodak), in which the green is repeated to emulate the behavior of the human eye, which is more sensitive to this color (Fig. 8). When the filter is applied, each pixel only receives one color compo­ nent; it obtains the other two via interpolation. Figure 8 pro­ vides a simple example of how the red components are ob­ tained in the pixels that do not receive this color (Ra, Rb, Rc, Rd, and Re), i.e., through the interpolation of the red compo­ nent of neighboring pixels (R1, R2, R3, and R4), which have a red filter on them.

The other two colors are generated in the same way, by in­ terpolating information from neighboring pixels. Each camera manufacturer uses its own interpolation algorithms. Since the interpolation process can lead to poor image-quality optical ef­ fects, generally on the edges, each manufacturer tries to adjust its algorithms as much as possible. In many cases, depending on the transference architecture of the CDD, the fill-factor is less than 100%, primarily due to the restrictions on integration, especially in interline-transfer architecture, in which the fill-fac­ tor can be as low as 20%. Placing microlenses on top of each detector considerably boosts the fill-factor. The output of each pixel is directly proportional to the area of the detector. The use of microlenses raises the effective size of the detector and therefore the output resistance.

One of the improvements applied to CCDs to boost their quan­ tum efficiency is back-illuminating the device via the substrate.

The front produces absorptions, interferences, and multiple re­ flections from the contacts, the polycrystalline-Si gates, and sili­ con oxide, and the transmittance of polycrystalline-Si drops starting at 600 nm and becomes opaque at 400 nm. All of these effects lead to a diminution in the detector’s spectral response.

The capture of light from the back eliminates all of these ef­ fects and improves the efficiency for wavelengths under 600 nm. The problem in this case is the thickness of the substrate (>250 μm). The light penetration by silicon is drastically re­ duced at wavelengths close to 400 nm (blue tones), so the photons are absorbed and generate electron-holes far re­ moved from the draining zone where the well is formed, and they are recombined without producing a response. Accord­ ingly, the substrate must be made thinner, reduced to a thick­ ness of 10 μm. Thus, thin devices illuminated via the substrate avoid the effects of the interferences triggered by the upper lay­ ers of the MOS condensers. Moreover, quantum efficiency lev­ els of around 85% can be achieved with an appropriate antireflection layer. The substrates are thinned using a chemical

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Fig. 9. Quantum efficiency of a front-illuminated and back-illuminated detector [7].

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The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images

process after the device is manufactured, which makes them considerably more expensive. Consequently, back-illuminated CCD’s are primarily used in scientific applications or high-end cameras (Fig. 9).

One of the main problems that must be eliminated in light detectors is noise. There are different sources of noise in CCDs, such as photon shot noise, dark current noise, fixedpattern noise, reset noise, amplifier noise, and quantification noise. A variety of techniques can be used in processor elec­ tronics to lower the noise, such as correlated double sampling; alternatively, the device can be cooled, since dark current noise mainly arises from the thermal generation of electrons, which are coupled with photogenerated electrons that in turn depend directly on the temperature. Table 2 shows the drop in dark current according to the temperature.

Table 2. Dependence of dark current on temperature [7]

Temperature (°C)

Dark current (pA/cm2)

60 40 20 0 −20 −40 −60 −80

1136 276 55.8 9.02 1.11 9.58 × 10−2 5.53 × 10−3 1.66 × 10−4

The cooling technique is based on a thermoelectric cooler, i.e., a Peltier device that extracts heat from the CCD. Cooling is also used in scientific applications (mainly in astronomy) and in high-end cameras. As shown above, the spectrum detected by silicon detectors is limited to between 400 and 1100 nm; therefore, X-rays are completely out of their range. A layer of shiny material over the CCD absorbs the radiation of X-rays at energies of around 10 KeV and results in the production of lu­ minescence at a peak of 550 nm, which can easily be detected by a silicon CCD.

Brief biography of the Nobel Prize winners Willard S. Boyle (Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1924) earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1948 and his PhD in 1950 from McGill University. He spent two years as a Physics Pro­ fessor at the Royal Military College of Canada. In 1953, he joined Bell Labs, where together with Don Nelson he invented the first continuously operating ruby laser (1962). That same year, he was appointed Director of the Space Science and Exploratory Studies, which supported the Apollo space pro­ gram and contributed to choosing lunar landing sites. He re­ turned to Bell Labs in 1964, where he worked on developing integrated circuits. In 1969, he and George E. Smith invented the CCD, for which they were awarded numerous prizes. In 1975, he was appointed Executive Director of Research at Bell Labs, where he remained until he retired in 1979. Since then he has moved to Wallace, Nova Scotia (Canada). He is

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married and has four children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

George E. Smith (White Plains, New York, USA, 1930) earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 and his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1959 (with a three-page dissertation). From 1959 until his retirement, he worked at Bell Labs, where he coordinated research on new lasers and semiconductor devices. He also directed Bell Labs’ VLSI Department. He and Willard S. Boyle invented the CCD in 1969. Upon retiring, he and his wife Janet spent 5 years sailing around the world. He now lives in Waretown, New Jersey.

To learn more www.dalsa.com/sensors/Products/ccd.aspx www.dpreview.com [Digital Photography Review] www.harvestimaging.com www.advancedimagingpro.com/publication/pub.jsp [Advanced Imaging Magazine] www.outbackphoto.com/dp_essentials [Photography using digital SLR] www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Photography/ci/989/ N/4294538916 www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:George_E._ Smith [Interview with G.E. Smith] http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/CCD.htm http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/ press.html

Bibliography 1.

2.

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4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Amelio GF, Tompsett M, Smith GE (1970) Experimental Verifications of the Charge Couple Concept. Bell Sys­ tems Technical Journal 49:593-600 Bockaert V (2007) The 123 of Digital Imaging. Interactive e-book [www.123di.com] Bosch J (2009) Curs de fo­ tografia digital. UB, Barcelona Bossiers JT et al. (2006) Technical challenges and recent progress in CCD imagers. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A565:148-156 Bota S (2009) Curs ‘Ulls de silici’. Universitat de les Illes Balears, Mallorca Boyle WS, Smith GE (1970) Charge Coupled Semicon­ ductor Devices. Bell Systems Technical Journal 49:587593 Boyle WS, Smith GE (1971) Charge-coupled devices-A Bs new approach to MIS device structures. IEEE Spec­ trum 71:18-27 (IC09) Holst GC (1998) CCD Arrays Cameras and Displays, 2nd ed. JCD Publishing, Winter Park, FL Janesick J (2000) Scientific Charge-Coupled Devices.

SPIE Press Monograph, vol. PM83 Theuwissen A (1995) Solid-State Imaging with ChargeCoupled Devices. Series: Solid-State Science and Tech­

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nology Library, vol. 1. Kluber Academic Publishers, Dor­ drecht, The Netherlands 10. Theuwissen A (2005) CMOS Image Devices. FSRM Course on Training on Microsystems 11. Theuwissen A (2009) The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics: W. Boyle and G. Smith for the CCD. Europhysics News 40(6)

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12. Tompsett MF, Amelio GF, Bertram Jr WJ, Buckley RR, Mc­ Namara WJ, Mikkelsen Jr JC, Sealer DA (1971) Chargecoupled imaging devices: Experimental results. IEEE Trans­ actions on Electron Devices 18(11):992-996

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 125–130 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.117 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome . On the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath* Bárbara M. Calisto, Ignacio Fita Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona-Spanish National Research Council (IBMB-CSIC), Barcelona Science Park, Barcelona

Resum. El Premi Nobel de Química 2009 va ser atorgat a tres científics, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, i a Ada E. Yonath, per les investigacions sobre l’estructura i el fun­ cionament dels ribosomes. Els ribosomes són les partícules cel·lulars complexes en què es produeix la descodificació de la informació genètica i la síntesi de proteïnes i, consegüentment, tenen un paper central en la biologia de tots els éssers vius.

Tots els ribosomes es componen de dues subunitats, la petita i la gran, que en procariotes s’especifiquen com la subunitat 30S i la 50S, respectivament, segons les seves propietats de sedimentació. Aproximadament, dos terços de la massa de cada subunitat correspon a RNA ribosòmic (rRNA) i la resta, a proteïnes diferents. Atesa la rellevància biològica que tenen, i el fet que siguin dianes d’una gran varietat d’antibiòtics d’ús clí­ nic, els ribosomes han estat l’objectiu d’una recerca intensa i contínua des dels anys seixanta, quan va ser desxifrat el codi genètic. Aquestes investigacions han conduït, i en cert sentit culminat, als resultats publicats l’any 2000 (annus mirabilis per al món del ribosoma) sobre la determinació de les estructures cristal·lines de la subunitat ribosomal 50S de Haloarcula marismortui a una resolució de 2.4 Å i, unes setmanes més tard, de la subunitat 30S de Thermus thermophilus a una resolució de 3.3 i 3.0 Å, pels equips que dirigien els premiats amb el Premi Nobel de Química 2009. Aquests resultats estan essent instru­ mentals per a la comprensió, atòmicament, del funcionament del ribosoma. Tanmateix, encara es necessiten anys de treball per a contestar les moltes preguntes obertes que romanen so­ bre els ribosomes, entre les quals cal ressaltar les referents a l’estructura del ribosoma eucariòtic.

Abstract. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 was awarded to three scientists, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath, for their investigations into the struc­ ture and functioning of ribosomes. These complex cellular par­ ticles are where genetic information is decoded and proteins are synthesized. Consequently, ribosomes play a central role in the biology of all living organisms. Ribosomes are composed of one small and one large subunit, which in prokaryotes are re­ spectively referred to as 30S and 50S according to their sedi­ mentation properties. In both subunits, about two thirds of the mass corresponds to ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and the rest to dif­ ferent proteins. Given their biological relevance and the fact that they are the target of a large variety of clinically relevant antibiot­ ics, ribosomes have been the subject of intense and continuous research since the 1960s, when the genetic code was un­ raveled. These investigations led, and to some extent culmi­ nated, with the results published in 2000 (annus mirabilis for ri­ bosomes), reporting the crystal structures of the 50S ribosomal subunit from Haloarcula marismortui at 2.4Å resolution and, a few weeks later, of the 30S subunit from Thermus thermophilus at 3.3Å and 3.0Å resolution, by teams led by the three laure­ ates. These results have been instrumental in understanding ribosome function at the atomic level. However, there are many years of work ahead, as much remains to be learned about ri­ bosomes; in particular the structure of the eukaryotic ribosome has yet to be elucidated.

Keywords: ribosome ∙ X-ray crystallography ∙ protein synthesis ∙ genetic code

Paraules clau: ribosoma ∙ cristal·lografia de raigs X ∙ síntesi proteica ∙ codi genètic

* Based on the lecture given by I. Fita at the Institute for Catalan Stud­ ies, Barcelona, on 16 December 2009, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 13 January 2010 for the Nobel Prize Cycle. A previous version of this article was published by the au­ thors in An Quím (2009) 105:286-289.

Correspondence: I. Fita, Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), Parc Científic de Barcelona, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, Torre R, 3era Planta, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-934034668.

Fax +34-934020893. Email: ifrcri@ibmb.csic.es

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Calisto, Fita

The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences distinguished the work of Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath (Fig. 1) by awarding these scientists the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for their investigations on the structure and functioning of the ribosome. In particular, the three laureates led research teams that, working for the most part independently from one another, succeeded in determining at atomic resolution the structures of the two subunits that form the ribosome. The work of all three groups mainly relied on data obtained from X-ray crystallography studies.

Fig. 1. From left to right, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, Ada E. Yonath. © The Nobel Foundation. Photos: Ulla Montan.

Ribosomes are complex cellular particles that are the site of protein synthesis, which accounts for their central role in the biology of all living organisms. This process of protein synthesis is called translation because the genetic information encoded in the sequence of nucleic acids by the four letters of the nucleotide alphabet is converted into the language of proteins, expressed in the twenty letters of the amino-acid alphabet (Fig. 2). Ribosomes catalyze the formation of peptide bonds between amino acids. They also participate in the decoding of the genetic information by contributing the molecular machinery required for the specific recognition of messenger RNA (mRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, which underlies the fidelity of the translation process. All ribosomes consist of two subunits, one small and one large. In prokaryotes, they are referred to, respectively, as 30S and 50S (Fig. 3) according to their sedimentation properties. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) accounts for roughly two thirds of the weight of each subunit, while the remainder is made up of proteins. The architecture and essential aspects of ribosome function have been conserved throughout evolution. Eukaryotic ribosomes differ from their prokaryotic counterparts in that they are larger and contain more components, consistent with the higher complexity of the processes that have to be performed, including regulatory functions and interactions with cellular membranes.

Ribosomes have three binding sites for tRNA molecules, designated A (for acceptor- or aminoacyl-), P (peptidyl-) and E (exit-). The three binding sites are located on both ribosomal subunits, with the aminoacyl stem regions of the tRNAs (Fig. 2B) binding to the large subunit while the corresponding anticodon stem loops bind to the small subunit. The small subunit is also responsible for binding to the mRNA molecule (Fig. 2). The two subunits act in concert during the subsequent process of translocation, involving the concerted movement and replace-

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 126

Fig. 2. The flow of genetic information and the role of ribosomes. (A) Genetic information in the form of DNA is converted into proteins in a process that involves two major steps. In transcription, the sequence of DNA nucleotides is transcribed into mRNA. During translation, mRNA is decoded to yield amino acids for the synthesis of proteins. (B) Structure of a tRNA molecule. The anticodon stem (blue) contains the three contiguous nucleotides of the anticodon (gray), which confer specificity to the tRNA. The aminoacyl stem (purple) contains the CCA 3′ tail (orange) where, according to the specificity of the tRNA, the corresponding amino acid binds.

Fig. 3. Comparative overview of the components of prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes.

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The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 127

Fig. 4. ‘Normal’ working cycles in the prokaryotic ribosome. (Adapted directly from [10]).

ment of the three tRNAs molecules by precisely three nucle­ otides (comprising one codon) while the mRNA molecule moves forward with respect to the ribosome each time an amino acid is added to the nascent protein. The entire cycle requires energy, which is provided by the hydrolysis of several molecules of gua­ nidine triphosphate (GTP), as well as several protein factors that interact transiently with the ribosome (Fig. 4).

Due to its biological relevance, the ribosome has been ex­ ploited as the target of a wide spectrum of clinically relevant antibiotics. The development of these drugs represents the in­ tense and continuous investigations into the functional aspects of ribosomes using all available biochemical and biophysical techniques, based on the unraveling of the genetic code in the 1960s. These efforts led, and in many ways culminated, in the year 2000—the annus mirabilis for the ribosome world—with the determination of the crystal structures of the 50S subunit from Haloarcula marismortui at 2.4Å resolution [2] by Steitz and coworkers (Fig. 5A) and, just a few weeks later, of the 30S sub­ unit from Thermus thermophilus, published independently at 3.3Å and 3.0Å resolution [9,15] (Fig. 5B) by the groups headed by the laureates Yonath and Ramakrishnan.

The race to obtain the high-resolution structures Solving the structures of the large and small subunits of the prokaryotic ribosome was accomplished using X-ray crystal­ lography, as cited in the communication of the Swedish Royal

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 127

Fig. 5. (A)Structure of the 50S ribosomal subunit. On the right, the structure of ribosomal RNA (shown in gray) from Haloarcula marismortui, as reported in [2], and the associated proteins (shown in yellow). A-, P-, and E-tRNA binding sites are indicated on the left. (B) Structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit from Thermus thermophilus. On the right, the structure of ribosomal RNA (shown in gray) and the associated pro­ teins (light purple) (adapted from [15]). A-, P-, and E-tRNA binding sites are indicated on the left.

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Fig. 6. Crystals of the 30S, 50S, and 70S ribosomal subunits.

Academy of Sciences. This technique provides structural infor­ mation at the atomic or quasi-atomic level (i.e., resolutions greater than 3.5Å). However, there are two essential prerequi­ sites for its success: the availability of suitable crystals (Fig. 6) and the ability to solve the phase problem for the diffractions obtained from the crystals. Given the size and complexity of the ribosomal subunits, it took decades to overcome these two re­ quirements. The intense competition between several research groups no doubt resulted in important methodological progress and, eventually, scientific success.

Calisto, Fita

Yonath, Wittmann and colleagues published the first crys­ tals of the large ribosomal subunit (50S), from Bacillus stearothermophilus, in 1980 [16]. Five years later, the same group obtained, after numerous trials, better and more stable crystals of the 50S subunit, this time from a microorganism found in the extremely salty environments of the Dead Sea: Haloarcula marismortui [13]. Crystals optimized from these starting condi­ tions finally allowed Steitz’s group to determine the structure of the 50S subunit at atomic resolution, in August 2000 [2]. Sur­ prisingly, although it was research from Yonath’s group—es­ pecially the use of H. marismortui as a suitable source of the ri­ bosomal samples—that produced the methodology needed to obtain crystals of the 50S subunit, Yonath is not a co-author of the papers reporting its three-dimensional structure.

The first crystals of the 30S ribosomal subunits, from Thermus thermohilus, were produced in 1987 in the USSR, by Ser­ gei Trakhanov, Marat Yusupov, and colleagues [14]. However, later that same year, Yonath published similar crystals from the same thermophilic organism [6]. Those preliminary crystals, af­

Fig. 7. Structure of the whole 70S ribosome particle from Thermus thermophilus. The rRNA of the 30S ribosomal subunit is shown in light blue, the associated proteins in dark blue, the rRNA of the 50S ribosomal subunit in gray, and the associated proteins in purple. Three tRNA molecules occu­ pying the A-, P-, and E-tRNA binding sites are shown in a color range from red to yellow (adapted from [17]).

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The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome

ter many improvements, allowed the laureates Yonath and Ra­ makrishnan to solve the structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit at atomic resolution [9,15]. Crystals from the complete ribos­ ome (the 70S particles), formed by the interaction of the 30S and 50S subunits, were also presented in the two resulting ar­ ticles. Harry Noller (USA), in collaboration with Yusupov, solved the structures of the 70S particle and its complexes with tRNA and mRNA at about 5Å resolution (Fig. 7) between 1999 and 2001 [3,17]. It is difficult to avoid the polemics with respect to the importance and merits of the different findings and to the contributions of the scientists involved. It seems paradoxical that Yonath and Ramakrishnan independently and almost si­ multaneously solved the 30S subunit while working from the same microorganism, T. thermophilus. But perhaps the greater mystery is that elucidation of the complete ribosomal particle (70S), also from T. thermophilus, with a much higher complex­ ity than the individual subunits and with important biological and functional implications, was not included in the work distin­ guished by the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A possible ex­ planation is that the resolution for the complete particle could not be considered as truly (quasi-) atomic. If it is indeed the case that the difference in resolution between 3.5Å and 5Å is critical to obtaining interpretable structures at the atomic level, then one could say that Noller and Yusupov were less than 2Å away from becoming Nobel laureates.

In 1998, Frank, Moore, and Steitz obtained the first convinc­ ing evidence that the phase problem could be solved for crys­ tals from the ribosomal subunits. An electron-density map at 9Å resolution was obtained for crystals of the H. marismortui 50S ribosomal subunit in which fragments of the right-handed rRNA double helices could be recognized [1]. The decisive step in this work was the cryo-electron microscopy information pro­ vided by the laboratory of Dr. Frank, a co-author of the publica­ tion. Until then, electron microscopy had been the technique used to obtain the most important findings and contributions to the structural study of ribosomes, mainly due to methodologi­ cal advances and the results of Drs. Frank (USA) and van Heel (Europe). Indeed, structural information at high resolution for particles as large as ribosomes can be obtained only with elec­ tron microscopy and X-ray crystallography. Electron micros­ copy has two main advantages over X-ray crystallography, both related to the above-mentioned requirements of the latter: in electron microscopy, crystals are not needed and the phase problem is solved experimentally by using electromagnetic lenses. However, electron microscopy also has a very impor­ tant practical limitation, which is that only in the most favorable cases is it possible to attain quasi-atomic resolution; in studies of the ribosome particle, the best resolution has been about 6Å. Thus, despite its very important contributions, i.e., the ver­ satility in sample selection and the speed of data analysis, elec­ tron microscopy has ceded ground to X-ray crystallography, also because structural information at atomic resolution is pos­ sible only with the latter technique.

To solve the phase problem in crystals of the ribosomal subu­ nits, extended versions of classical protein crystallography meth­ ods were employed, including isomorphous replacement and anomalous diffraction. Improvements also followed from the use

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of compounds made up of clusters of heavy atoms, mainly tan­ talum and tungsten, such as Ta6Br122+ or (K6[P2W18O62]·nH2O), and by taking advantage of the strong anomalous diffraction from lanthanide ions and other elements, such as osmium and iridium [4]. The three laureates, especially Ramakrishnan and his group, contributed to these crucial technical advances.

Nonetheless, ribosome crystallography also presented a se­ ries of problems at the level of data collection and computa­ tion, neither of which could be addressed with the methodolo­ gy available in 1980. However, in the mid-1990s, technological advances in bi-dimensional detectors, the availability of much more powerful computers, and the development of graphic systems, and elaborate crystallographic programs had opened the door to allowing structures as complex as ribosome parti­ cles to be solved. Other important methodological advances, in part propelled by the needs of ribosome crystallography, were the development of synchrotron light sources with adjust­ able wavelengths and cryo-crystallography, in which Yonath was a pioneer.

The ribosome at high resolution The number of RNA structures known at the atomic level multi­ plied by a factor of 10 when the structures of ribosome were published in 2000. A similar breakthrough occurred regarding protein-RNA complexes. The huge amount of information ob­ tained based on the structures solved by the three laureates has had important conceptual and practical implications. Here we limit our discussion to just a few aspects, concerning the biochemistry and structure of ribosomes.

The ribosome active site, where the peptide bond is formed, is the peptidyl transferase center (PTC). It is located in a region highly conserved in all ribosomes and it is exclusively formed by ribosomal RNA. Consequently, at the PTC, the ribosome acts as a ribozyme: an RNA enzyme. This mechanism presents a biological paradox in that proteins, responsible for essentially all enzymatic reactions that take place in living beings, depend on RNA as a catalyst for their own synthesis. The universality of the organization of the PTC in ribosomes, notably including the conserved presence of an internal two-fold symmetry, implies the existence of this catalytic center independently of environ­ mental conditions . Accordingly, the PTC may well correspond to the remains of a primitive synthetic machinery, a proto-ribos­ ome, capable of producing non-coded oligopeptides. This an­ cient organization recalls the existence of an ‘RNA-world’ dur­ ing the initial stages of the evolution of life.

Since 2000, the three laureates, and many other investiga­ tors, have continued to use X-ray crystallography to investigate the structures of several ribosomal complexes and ribosomal variants [5,7,11,12]; but despite the enormous amount of infor­ mation derived from those structures, now interpreted at atomic resolution, many of the details of ribosome functioning are still unknown. During protein synthesis, the ribosome performs very complex processes, including its displacement along the mRNA molecule and its use of amino acids that arrive with their corre­ sponding tRNAs to build up the nascent polypeptide chain (Fig.

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4). Besides this regular activity of protein synthesis, the ribos­ ome is essential to error correction, interactions with regulatory factors and newly synthesized proteins, and the control of pro­ tein folding. However, thus far, the lack of a complete view of the functioning of the ribosome in all those processes, including the corresponding conformations and interactions, can be compared to seeking to make a movie but forced, at least for the time being, to accept a limited number of snapshots, in this case provided by the crystal structures. A persisting, if not im­ possible challenge is the difficulty in obtaining crystals suitable for high-resolution X-ray diffraction studies and representing many of the states through which the ribosome passes. At the same time, electron microscopy has gained renewed interest due to its enormous experimental possibilities and the use of the atomic information that is now available, It has therefore al­ lowed significant advances to be made in achieving an integrat­ ed view of ribosome functioning [5,8,10]. Currently, the combi­ nation of X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy seems to be the most fruitful approach to the study of large macromo­ lecular complexes such as the ribosome.

Conclusions The results achieved by the three Nobel laureates were deci­ sive in understanding ribosome functioning at the atomic level.

Still, the answers to many of the remaining questions will re­ quire years of work. One of the most challenging problems is the high-resolution structural determination of the eukaryotic ribosome. The importance and singularity of the contributions of Ramakrishnan, Steitz, and Yonath, and the broad implica­ tions of their results, are beyond doubt. However, we must not forget the many other researchers whose investigations creat­ ed the necessary framework. Their findings, in their originality and importance, are in some cases (Frank, Noller, Yusupov, Moore) as valuable as those of the 2009 laureates in Chemis­ try. It should also be noted that Ada Yonath is only the fourth woman, and the second who was not a Curie, to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The previous female laureate in Chemistry, Dorothy Hodgkin, was awarded the Prize in 1964 “for her de­ terminations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.” A considerable amount of time has elapsed between the two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry awarded to women but, interestingly, both women were recognized for their research on major biological structures, accomplished us­ ing X-ray crystallography. The awarding of Nobel Prizes to Xray crystallographers clearly reflects the fundamental knowl­ edge gained by elucidating the atomic structure of complex molecular systems in order to achieve an in-depth understand­ ing of their function.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 awarded to Ram­ akrishnan, Steitz, and Yonath for “their studies on the structure

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Calisto, Fita

and function of the ribosome” extends the already long list of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry that have distinguished research on biological systems. Overall, these prizes serve to remind us that biology, with its versatility, complexity, and possibilities, is what we would today refer to as ‘extreme chemistry’ and as such will continue to be a source of inspiration.

References 1. Ban N, Freeborn B, Nissen P, Penczek P, Grassucci RA, Sweet R, Frank J, Moore PB, Steitz TA (1998) Cell 93:1105-1115 2. Ban N, Nissen P, Hansen J, Moore PB, Steitz TA (2000) Science 289:905-920 3. Cate JH, Yusupov MM, Yusupova GZ, Earnest TN, Noller HF (1999) Science 285:2095-2104 4. Clemons Jr. WM, Brodersen DE, McCutcheon JP, May JLC, Carter AP, Morgan-Warren RJ, Wimberly BT, Ram­ akrishnan V (2001) J Mol Biol 310:827-843 5. Gao YG, Selmer M, Dunham CM, Weixlbaumer A, Kelley AC, Ramakrishnan V (2009) Science 326:694-699 6. Glotz C, Mussing J, Gewitz HS, Makowski I, Aradm T, Yonath A, Wittmann HG (1987) Biochem Int 15:953-960 7. Laurberg M, Asahara H, Korostelev A, Zhu J, Trakhanov S, Noller HF (2008) Nature 454:852-857 8. Mitra K, Schaffitzel C, Shaikh T, Tama F, Jenni S, Brooks III CL, Ban N, Frank J (2005) Nature 438:318-324 9. Schluenzen F, Tocilj A, Zarivach R, Harms J, Gluehmann M, Janell D, Bashan A, Bartels H, Gmon I, Franceschi F, Yonath A (2000) Cell 102:615-623 10. Schmeing TM, Ramakrishnan V (2009) Nature 461:12341242 11. Schmeing TM, Voorhees RW, Kelley AC, Gao YG, Mur­ phy IV FV, Weir JR, Ramakrishnan V (2009) Science 326:688-694 12. Schuwirth BS, Borovinskaya MA, Hau CW, Zhang W, Vi­ la-Sanjurjo A, Holton JM, Cate HHD (2005) Science 310:827-834 13. Shevack A, Gewitz HS, Hennemann B, Yonath A, Witt­ mann HG (1985) FEBS Lett 184:68-71 14. Trakhanov SD, Yusupov MM, Agalarov SC, Garber MB, Ryazantsev SN, Tischenko SV, Shirokov VA (1987) FEBS Lett 220:319-322 15. Wimberly BT, Brodersen DE, Clemons WMJ, MorganWarren R, von Rhein C, Hartsch T, Ramakrishnan V (2000) Nature 407:327-339 16. Yonath A, Mussig J, Tesche B, Lorenz S, Erdmann VA, Wittmann HG (1980) Biochem Int 1:428-435 17. Yusupov MM, Yusupova GZ, Baucom A, Lieberman K, Earnest TN, Cate JH, Noller HF (2001) Science 292:883896

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 131–139 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.118 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

Writing with the eyes . On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Herta Müller* Marisa Siguan Department of English and German Philology, Faculty of Philology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Resum. Amb Herta Müller, el Premi Nobel de Literatura 2009 va ser atorgat a una escriptora que prové de la minoria de llen­ gua alemanya localitzada a la regió de Banat, a Romania. Mü­ ller va començar a escriure en clara oposició a la “identitat ale­ manya” de la minoria a Banat, que evocava, entre altres coses, el passat nazi del seu pare, però també en oposició a un estil oficial basat en una identitat romanesa monolítica i a un realis­ me social que no deixava espai per a l’expressió individual. Els enfrontaments amb la policia secreta es van desenvolupar gai­ rebé immediatament. El 1987 se’n va anar a Alemanya, on ha viscut des de llavors. Ha publicat nombroses obres de ficció i d’assaig, i també ha rebut molts premis literaris. El Comitè del Premi Nobel va citar la sobrietat i l’objectivisme de la seva pro­ sa, que representa els impressionants paisatges dels despos­ seïts, i va elogiar la intensitat del seu llenguatge poètic. Les obres de Herta Müller es basen sistemàticament en l’autobio­ grafia i, per tant, en la memòria. La seva escriptura és plena de frases curtes que se succeeixen inexorablement i no tenen cap subordinació. La trama de la història es teixeix per mitjà d’imat­ ges que a poc a poc s’omplen de significat a mesura que es desenvolupa la història. Al meu entendre, aquesta és la carac­ terística més espectacular de l’escriptura d’aquesta autora, en la qual es reconeix el poder del llenguatge per a desemmasca­ rar una terrible realitat. Un llenguatge desolat, provocador, magnífic... i que és extraordinàriament difícil de traduir. Potser per això l’autora és tan poc coneguda a Catalunya.

Paraules clau: minoria alemanya a Romania · autobiografia · llenguatge visual · paisatge dels desposseïts

“Do you have a handkerchief?” The speech that Herta Müller delivered at the Nobel Prize awards ceremony began with this

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 18 December 2009, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 1 February 2010 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: M. Siguan, Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Ale­ manya, Facultat de Filologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Edifici Històric, 2a Planta, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 585, E-08071 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-934035690. Fax +34-933171249. E-mail: marisasiguan@ub.edu

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Abstract. With Herta Müller, the 2009 Nobel Prize for Litera­ ture was awarded to a writer who comes from the Germanspeaking minority in the region of Banat, Romania. Müller be­ gan to write in clear opposition to the ‘German identity’ of the minority in Banat, which evoked among other things her fa­ ther’s Nazi past, but also in opposition to an official style based on a supposed monolithic Romanian identity and a social real­ ism that left no room for individual expression. Confrontations with the secret police developed almost immediately. In 1987 she left for Germany, where she has lived ever since. She has published numerous works of fiction as well as essays, and is the recipient of many literary prizes. The Nobel Prize committee cited the sobriety and objectivism of her prose, which depicts impressive landscapes of the dispossessed, and praised the intensity of her poetic language. Herta Müller’s works are sys­ tematically based on autobiography, and therefore on memory.

Her writing is full of short sentences that succeed each other inexorably and lack any subordination. The plot of the story is woven through images that gradually fill with meaning as the story develops. In my opinion, this is the most spectacular characteristic of this author’s writing, in which the power of lan­ guage to unmask an appalling reality is acknowledged. A des­ olate, provocative, magnificent language... and one that is ex­ traordinarily difficult to translate. Perhaps this is why the author is so little known in Catalonia.

Keywords: German-minority in Romania · autobiography · visual language · landscape of the disposed

question, which her mother asked her every morning before leaving home. The image of the handkerchief is the common thread in her speech; the handkerchief accompanies the au­ thor in a wide variety of life experiences, such as when she is dismissed from the factory office where she had worked as a translator. She continues working seated on the staircase on top of the handkerchief that her mother always made her carry.

The poet Oskar Pastior, a friend of the author who was de­ ported to Russia, receives a finely embroidered handkerchief from a Russian woman who has no word of her son and hopes that, wherever he might be, another woman will also provide him with a handkerchief and food. Throughout Müller’s speech,

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Siguan 

the handkerchief becomes a metaphor of solidarity between people.

The speech is a perfect example of how Herta Müller’s [1] eminently poetic writing style is constructed. Her language is extremely visual; she constantly uses metaphors and fills them with meaning throughout the story, conferring upon them a logic of their own. Her language is also highly lyrical, precisely because of her predominant use of metaphors, of images constructed throughout the story. Herta Müller’s literature is always based on her own biography; it is intensely biographical and personal. This is also the case in Atemschaukel (Everything I Possess I Carry with Me), her latest novel, which recounts the lives of the German Romanians deported to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union based on the stories of poet Oskar Pastior and Müller’s mother.

With Herta Müller, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to a writer from the German-speaking minority in Banat, Romania, a region that borders on Hungary and Serbia (Fig. 1). Banat is populated by German emigrants who moved there in the 18th century, when Empress Maria Theresa promoted colonization of the depopulated lands to the east of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of the early settlers were farmers, and they kept their own language, traditional dress, and customs. Herta Müller’s grandfather owned land and a grocery store, both of which were later confiscated by the Communists. Her father, who participated in the war as a member of the Waffen SS, earned a living as a truck driver after he returned home. After the war, her mother was deported to a forced labor camp in the Ukraine, Soviet Union, as were the majority of men and women from the German minority—even those that were too young or too old to have participated in the war. The deportations were regarded as punishment and they were exploited in the reconstruction of the Soviet Union; however, since they started in January 1945, before the war had ended, the deportees were precisely those people who were not participants in the war.

Fig. 1. Herta Müller. © The Nobel Foundation. Photo: Ulla Montan.

Herta Müller was born in 1953 in Nitzkydorf, a Germanspeaking town where she was thus educated in German. She learned Romanian in secondary school at the age of 12 or 13.

After finishing high school, she attended the University of Timisoara, the capital of the region of Banat, between 1972 and 1976 to study Germanic and Romanian philology. Following her graduation, she worked as a translator in an industrial machinery factory, but she lost her job when she refused to collaborate

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with the Romanian secret service. She then earned a living teaching private German classes and occasional classes at schools and nursery schools. She was friends with the members of a small group of writers who opposed the Ceaucescu regime, the Aktionsgruppe Banat, which was dissolved in 1975.

Publications and prizes Her first published work, a collection of stories entitled Niederungen (Nadir) appeared in heavily censured form in 1982, after having been held back for 4 years. In 1984, the collection was published in Germany to widespread acclaim. The stories are set in the village where the main character lived as a child, and they depict a harsh, desolate environment. Perhaps for this reason the stories were not very well received by her fellow countrymen. Herta Müller began to write in clear opposition both to the ‘German identity’ of the Banat minority, which evoked for her among other things her father’s Nazi past, yet also to an official style based on a supposed monolithic Romanian identity and a social realism that brooked no individual expression, which left no room for subjectivity. Her oeuvre always portrays the social reality from an individual perspective in which subjectivity is defended.

In 1986, she published Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt (published in English as The Passport), which tells the story of a family awaiting permits to leave Romania. In 1987, she immigrated to Germany along with her then-husband, Richard Wagner, and her mother. From then on she published a spate of short stories and novels, of which here I shall only mention a few. Barfüßiger Februar (Barefoot February), stories about life in the villages of Banat, was published in 1987; Reisende auf einem Bein (Travelling on One Leg), set in Berlin, in 1989; and Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger (Even Back Then, the Fox Was the Hunter), in 1992. In 1994, Müller published the novel that made her famous, Herztier (The Land of Green Plums), an autobiographical work about the Aktionsgruppe Banat told through the lives of three students who were friends in Romania during the repressive dictatorship. The novel earned her the Kleist Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In 1997, she published Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet (The Appointment); in 1999, Der fremde Blick oder das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne (The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern); and in 2003, a volume of essays, Der König verneigt sich und tötet (The King Bows and Kills). Her volumes of poetry include Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame (A Lady Lives in the Hair Knot), from 2000, and Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen (The Pale Gentlemen with their Espresso Cups), in 2005. Her latest novel, Atemschaukel (Everything I Possess I Carry with Me), was published in 2009.

Herta Müller has been writer in residence at numerous institutions (Universities of Paderborn, Bochum, and Wales-Swansea, and Dickinson College in Carlisle) and a guest professor, holding the Brothers’ Grimm Chair at the University of Kassel, in 1998, and the Heiner Müller Chair at the University of Berlin, the city where she lives, in 2005. She has received numerous literary prizes, including the Würth Prize for European literature,

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Writing with the eyes

the aforementioned Kleist Prize, the Aspekte Prize, and the Joseph Breitbach Prize. She is a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. She is an extraordinarily active writer, the author of not only works of fiction but also es­ says on literature.

Müller’s poetic language In awarding Herta Müller the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature, the awards committee cited the sobriety and objectivism of her prose, which depicts impressive landscapes of the dispos­ sessed, and it praised the intensity of her poetic language. I shall discuss this language based primarily on two novels, The Land of Green Plums, in my opinion the most impressive of her works, and Everything I Possess I Carry with Me, her latest novel, which I have tentatively translated into Catalan as Balancí d’alè. The publication of the translation has been an­ nounced for the spring and the Catalan title has not yet been decided on, so the book is still being advertised under its Ger­ man title.

I shall begin by talking about the language of Herta Müller. It is extraordinarily poetic, as I have said, yet also desolate. She appeals not just to the sense of sight, but to all the senses in order to reveal but also unmask reality, to make hidden as­ pects visible and to trigger unexpected interpretations, that is, to encourage a new look at reality, as strived for in the lan­ guage of all good writers. The speech that Müller delivered to thank the Würth Foundation for the 2006 European Literature Prize began with an explanation of a sentence in one of her stories, in which she describes the hairstyles of the women in her village, who wore braids gathered to the head and secured with tall combs.

The women’s hairdos were seated cats seen from behind.

What should I speak about seated cats to describe their hair?

Everything always became something different. First dis­ creetly, if you only looked at it for yourself. But then it be­ came clear, if you had to find words to describe it because it was being talked about. To be precise in your descriptions, you have to find something in the sentence that is totally dif­ ferent in order to be precise.

In this example, just like in her Nobel lecture in which she discussed the handkerchief, we can see that the comparisons and images that Herta Müller creates always have a logic, a truly visual basis that can be interpreted. This is also the case for the metaphors that she constructs in her stories, which are often based on the German language’s extraordinary capacity to build compound words. The titles Herztier (literally the HeartBeast) and Atemschaukel (literally The Rocking Chair of Breath) are good examples. But this possibility is precisely one of the greatest difficulties in translating her works.

The richness of her language is also due to another factor she regards as extremely important: her life in two languages.

To Herta Müller, the experience of living with two languages

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has been very positive. Her mother tongue is German; it was only as an adolescent that learned Romanian, which was diffi­ cult for her because at that time she was preparing to leave her native city to attend secondary school, and the entire process of acquiring a second language was complicated. Her written language is German, and she says that it never would occur to her to write in Romanian, yet it is always on her mind. For her, having two languages in her head means that the two are inde­ pendent, yet they question each other, illuminate each other, operate in parallel. This makes it possible to better appreciate the beauty of a given image or a joke in each language; it makes new images and unusual constructions possible; and it adds richness. Müller offers the example of the German pheas­ ant compared to the Romanian pheasant.

The German pheasant is presumptuous, a personage sure of itself and arrogant; the Romanian pheasant is the loser, the one who is not quite equipped for life, the bird that does not know how to fly, and since it is relatively large and heavy it is the target of the hunter’s bullet. One language only looks at the appearance of the bird, its feathers, and it categorizes it based on that; the other one categorizes its existence and sees the danger it faces. I was convinced by this image of the loser, not the image I have in my language. In this sense, this language has always taught me that things might be different from the way in which I see them in my mother tongue. [2] According to Müller herself, the best thing that could hap­ pen to a writer is to have two languages, and it is even better if they are different, as hers are. The volume The King Bows and Kills includes an essay entitled “Different eyes sit in every lan­ guage.” The examples she provides are comparable to the pheasant. For example, she speaks about how in the dialect in her village they said ‘the wind walks, goes’ (geht), while in the educated German spoken at school they said ‘the wind blows’ (weht). Both words sound quite similar, but Herta Müller the child associated weht with Weh, ‘pain’, so she felt that the wind blowing bore some relationship to pain. In Romanian ‘the wind beats’ (vîntul bate), and thus the relationship with pain was cemented on an intimate, creative level.

Other examples cited by the author refer to the fact that a given word is masculine in one language and feminine in an­ other, such as ‘the lily,’ which is feminine in German and mas­ culine in Romanian. What happens with the ‘lily’ in two lan­ guages that operate in parallel? “A woman’s nose on a masculine face, a long, green palate, a white glove or a white neck:” all of this is possible ([3], p.25). With the concurrence of another language, things that seemed obvious become chance; they could be otherwise. The word in the mother tongue is no longer the sole measure of things. “I have not writ­ ten a single sentence in Romanian in my books,” says Herta Müller. “But Romanian is naturally always in my writing because it has penetrated my worldview.” ([3], p.27) In her case, having two languages fosters her linguistic aware­ ness, and therefore her creativity. However, Herta Müller’s writ­ ing starts with an awareness of the fraught relationship be­ tween language and reality, which has been deeply rooted in

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the German literary and philosophical tradition since the early 20th century. In the same essay I just cited, the writer describes how as a girl she wondered whether the names truly corre­ sponded to the plants in the meadow where the cows were kept, and she recounts how she gave them alternate names to see if they were a better fit.

It is not true that there are words for everything. Nor is it true that a person always thinks in words. Even today I think about many things beyond words; I haven’t found them in village German, in city German, in Romanian, in East or West German. Or in any book. Internal spaces are not cov­ ered with language; they drag us to where words cannot be. [...] What is the power of words? When most of life does not work, words also fall to the bottom. [...] And despite every­ thing, the desire: to be able to utter them. ([3], p14–15) This desire is what drives her entire oeuvre, which seeks a language to narrate the suffering of characters who are almost always the victims of the reality of the dictatorship.

Biographical works and ‘self-fiction’ Herta Müller’s works are very systematically based on autobi­ ography, and therefore on memory. In this sense, she says that her model has always been authors in which biography was visible and determinant. In an interview from 1997, she men­ tions Primo Levi, Jorge Semprún, Ruth Klüger, Alexander Sols­ chenizyn, Imre Kertesz, and Paul Celan. She says that they had no choice in their biographies. The weight of everything that had happened to them determined their persona so clearly that their first need had been to gain clarity about what had hap­ pened. The state power imposed its subjects on them, and she says the same happened to her. She was unable to choose.

But what she writes is not autobiography; she prefers the term ‘auto-fictionality.’ Her writing is based on her experiences but highly crafted, converted into literature, into fiction. She ex­ plains it this way: “I had to go through 20 interrogations in order to invent just one.” A perfect example of this self-fiction can be found in Herztier (The Land of Green Plums), in which there is also a precise example of this use of language that I mentioned above with the quote on the cat-shaped hairstyles of the village ladies.

The novel narrates, with many retroactive incursions into the narrator’s childhood, the life of young people living under the Ceaucescu dictatorship. Most of them end up dead. The book was inspired by the members of her group in Banat, and the author’s autobiographical references are clear. The novel be­ gins with the memory of Lola, the young girl who leaves the country for the city with aspirations of improving her social standing through the party, her sexuality, or both, but who ends up killing herself, the victim of both, more specifically of the double morality of the party leader who got her pregnant and who denounced her. After her suicide, Lola, who the nar­ rator has always regarded somewhat disdainfully, turns into an important character in her own right thanks to her diary, which

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she has hidden inside the narrator’s suitcase. This diary, covert and secret, becomes the link between the narrator and her friends Edgar, Georg, and Kurt, who, like her, study, finish their degrees, and begin to work at various places, where they do not fit in and where they refuse to collaborate on certain activi­ ties, until they end up being pursued by the secret police. One of them commits suicide, and the other meets a mysterious death. Along with her empathetic, posthumous friendship with Lola, the narrator befriends Teresa, and a close friendship be­ tween two women from very different backgrounds develops, although this does not stop Teresa from turning in her friend to the secret police. Suicide, a probable murder, death from can­ cer, madness, flight, and emigration all make an appearance in The Land of Green Plums as the last stations in life in totalitari­ an Romania.

The novel’s introduction is in the guise of a dialog, a conver­ sation between the narrator and her friend Edgar. This dialogue is a concentrated glimpse of the subject and intent of the no­ vella, which is the difficulty, the aporia, of speaking about the victims of a dictatorship: “When we shut up we become un­ pleasant, said Edgar, when we speak we become ridiculous.”

In German, the word ‘wenn’ which introduces the sentences means both ‘when’ and ‘if’, that is, we could also translate it as “If we shut up we become unpleasant, said Edgar, if we speak we become ridiculous.”

This same sentence is also the last one in the novel, its end, so we have to wonder whether and how the novel has achieved this talk, whether it has spotlighted the conditions under which aporia develops. Silence is passive; speaking is active. If both acting and not acting have negative consequences, the indi­ vidual has no chance to act properly, in a way that is neither uncomfortable nor ridiculous, for example. Yet nor can he or she fail to act. This dilemma frames the entire story, and it also determines the search for the language to narrate the lives of these young people.

The symbolism of objects In Herta Müller’s writing, the style is eminently concise, the sen­ tences short and they succeed each other inexorably, through parataxis and a lack of subordination. If there is virtually no sub­ ordination, how does she manage to link things, to create cau­ salities, to weave the web of the narration? Fundamentally through the use of metaphors, of images that gradually fill with meaning as the story develops. I think that this is the most spectacular characteristic of the author’s writing. Thus, in the dialog that introduces the novel, the narrator says: Even today I can’t imagine a tomb. Only a belt, a window, a nut and a rope. Each death is like a satchel to me.

If someone hears that, said Edgar, they’d think you’re crazy.

And if I think about it, then it seems to me that each dead person leaves behind a satchel of words. I always think about the hairdresser and nail scissors, because dead peo­ ple no longer need them. And that dead people can never again lose a button.

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Writing with the eyes

Maybe they felt in a different way than us that the dictator is a mistake, said Edgar.

They had the proof, because we were an error for ourselves, too. Because we had to walk, eat, sleep, and love someone in fear, until we once again needed the hairdresser and the nail scissors. [4] This beginning mentions a series of objects which will prove crucial to the development of the novel. For the time being, the images seem incongruent, almost surreal. But as the novel goes on these objects will gradually fill with meaning. The belt, the window, the nut, and the rope in fact evoke four deaths.

The death of Lola, who hangs herself with the main character’s belt in the student residence; the death of one of their friends, Georg, who throws himself out of a window; Teresa’s death by cancer, as a nut under her arm grows bigger and bigger; and the possible murder of Kurt, the other friend, who officially hanged himself with a rope. That is, all the objects evoke forms of death that we shall see throughout the story.

Every death is like a satchel to the narrator. A satchel is a coarse item, used to carry all sorts of things, but its association with deaths is the polar opposite of the classic journey in Cha­ ron’s boat. However, the negative, sordid image changes tone when we are told that each dead person leaves behind a satchel of words. Behind each death, therefore, is a legacy, documents, words, which might be all that remains between the uncomfortable silence and the ridiculous speaking referred to in the first and last sentences of the novel. In fact, each death leaves documents: Lola’s diary, the documents that Kurt had been gathering on repression, the letters the friends had writ­ ten to each other using a code to report on whether they are the victims of interrogations, inspections, or recorded conver­ sations. All of these documents are evoked by the narrator and make up a kind of polyphonic voice of the novel, building the narrative proposition of trying to reveal the victims’ lives without the speaking being ridiculous.

On the other hand, the figures of the hairdresser and nail scis­ sors also appear in this first paragraph. While they may seem arbitrary or even outlandish now, they fill with meaning as the narration progresses. Both the hairdresser and the nail scissors work as images of socialization, of ordering the individual. The only people who do not need them are the dead, we are told; they are the only ones who do not have to keep watch over trim­ ming and tidying the disorderly growth of their bodies. The living do need them: long hair and long nails are paradigmatic signs of a lack of order and socialization. A 19th century children’s book that all German children, at least until my generation, read (and which can still be found in bookshops) is Struwwelpeter, which tells the stories of children who suffer from outrageous and ex­ tremely violent punishments for relatively innocent infractions, such as sucking their thumb or refusing to eat their soup, walk­ ing without looking at the ground or flying away with an umbrella.

The child who lends his name to the title of the book, Struwwel­ peter, is drawn on the cover with extremely long, messy hair and fingernails that almost reach the ground.

Both hairdressers and nail scissors are part of the order and regularization of the living. Both appear repeatedly throughout

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the text. They do so during the narrator’s childhood, in the first stage of her socialization: “Hair has to be cut; if it is not cut, the head becomes a mess of thickets,” says her grandfather’s bar­ ber to the girl. The heading turning into a jungle implies two things: first, that the hair becomes knotted, yet also that the contents of the head do, too, because the head can refer to both the container and the contents. The girl hears this utter­ ance from the barber when she has been tied to a chair as a way of overcoming her resistance to having her nails cut. She fantasizes and turns the scene into a nightmare. She dreamed that her mother did not actually cut her nails but her fingers, to eat them later. In doing so, blood flows over the green grass belt tying her down, and the girl knows that when a person bleeds, she dies. We should recall that later in the story Lola hangs herself with the narrator’s belt. Therefore, both the bar­ ber and the scissors and belt are items that refer to the individ­ ual’s place in society, in the established order. And to the fact that non-adaptation, rebellion, is rewarded with death. In one of the essays compiled in The King Bows and Kills, Herta Müller comments that all the people whom the state had taken under its watch had their hair shorn extremely short: the soldiers, the prisoners, and the children in the hospices. And at both school and the university, one’s hair had to be cut the official length.

The color green is also part of this set of symbolic references that constructs the text on repression. The belt is green, and af­ ter Lola’s suicide the police use a poisonous green powder to look for and investigate clues. Nail-cutting, the belt, and the color green are associated with determining the individual’s place in society. Later, when the friends invent a code to include in their letters information on the repression they are suffering from, they decide that a phrase containing nail scissors will mean that they have been interrogated. This affirms the repressive nature of the order connoted with the image of the scissors.

The only character who seems to escape this order of scis­ sors is Lola, who always cuts her nails on the tram with bor­ rowed scissors, thus showing a kind of bohemian, vagabond order. But Lola pays for her lack of order with death. Both the hairdresser and the nail-cutting reveal the deformations that permeate the private spheres of life, which apparently remain outside of politics, under a totalitarian regime. In this way, the hairdresser becomes part of the executive violence of the dic­ tatorship and turns into a symbol of it. In dictatorships, the indi­ vidual pays for his place with a brutal limitation on any show of individuality, with a strict ordering of all the levels of his or her personal life. That is what these images represent.

The country and the city Another important group of objects in the novel that are filled with symbolic personality are products from the country. The young people move from the country to the city to study and work. In Herta Müller’s work, the country is always shown as an extremely harsh, desolate environment that devours those living there. The author perceives the nature of the vast corn­ fields of her childhood, where sometimes she had to work to help her mother, as an immense organism that swallows life:

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I hated the stubborn countryside, which devours wild plants and animals to feed domesticated plants and animals. Every field as an infinite panoptic spattered with forms of death, a flowery funeral banquet. Each landscape exercised death. [...] I always saw that the country only fed me just to feed on me later. [5] The city represents an alternative to the country, and there­ fore its connotations are positive, in theory. People flee from the country to build a new life in the city. This is the case of both Lola and the narrator. The dreams and wishes of the immi­ grants from the country come to the city. They are present in the novel with the image of the mulberry trees that people bring from the village to plant in the yards of their new homes. These mulberry trees are a recurring theme throughout the entire sto­ ry, and they, too, gradually fill with meaning. They are vestiges of the country in the city, remnants of the wishes that came with them. Yet there they remain as testimonies: they wither; they never actually grow.

Based on Lola’s diary and her description of the dry and castigated country where the drought has devoured everything “except the sheep, the melons, and the mulberry trees” ([6], p.

9), the sheep and melons become metaphors for poverty in the novel. Mulberry trees are metaphors for the dreams of a better life that are transported from the country to the city and end up marking the faces of people: “In Lola’s diary I read later: what one takes from the region one wears on one’s face” ([6], p. 10).

The old folks have brought mulberry trees from the country to the city, and now they sit alone in the shade of the mulberry trees in their yards. The men who made love with Lola under the trees in the park at night were country folk who had set out for the city to work in the factories: “No more sheep ever, they had said, no more melons either” ([6], p. 36). However, the sto­ ry reveals this hope as a failed illusion: The men know that their iron, their wood, their washing pow­ der did not count. That’s why their hands remained rough; they made bricks and globs instead of industry. Everything that should be large and angular became, in their hands, brass sheep. What should have been small and rounded be­ came, in their hands, wooden melons ([6], p. 37).

When Edgar is sent to work in an industrial city, the narrator describes the city with the comment that “everyone in this city made brass sheep and called it metallurgy” ([6], p. 93), and she especially tells us that the industrial city where Georg works as a teacher is a city “where everyone made wooden melons. The wooden melons were called the woodworking industry” ([6], p.

97). With these images, the story builds metaphors to present a fundamentally agrarian society where industrialization has failed, a degraded society where industrialization cannot be seen as progress. Instead of sheep, now brass sheep are man­ ufactured; instead of real melons, wooden melons. This does not seem like a major step forward.

The cityscape is dominated by factories and workers. How­ ever, they appear as a mass; individuals are not differentiated.

They are utterly functional, extensions of their respective

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trades, which have come to dominate all spheres of their lives.

They live off of the factory, and given the precariousness of ob­ jects that they can buy to make their homes inhabitable, they use what they scrounge from the factory to set them up. Those working in leather have houses filled with hides; the sofa cush­ ions, bedspreads, rugs, slippers, and even kitchen rags are made of leather. Those working in wood have houses that are paneled floor to ceiling. The workers in the slaughterhouse bring home the cow tails to make brooms, the animal entrails to eat, and the blood to drink.

Images of childhood The universe of images used in the novel to build its meaning includes many others. I shall only mention two more, as they are good examples of the complexity of meanings created in the text: green plums and the image used in the original title of the book: the Heart-Beast. Both originated in the narrator’s childhood.

Green plums are dangerous. Her father has to warn the nar­ rator as a child not to eat them because she could die if she did. Given that her father is a negative, terrible character, the girl interprets that deep down he wants her to die, so she eats them compulsively. Thus, the act of eating green plums has self-destructive connotations: “A child is afraid of dying and eats even more plums and doesn’t know why” ([6], p. 90).

However, the policemen of the dictatorship also swallow them compulsively, so eating green plums becomes a kind of idio­ syncrasy that encompasses the effects of the different dicta­ torships, the Nazi and the communist. It also turns out that “plum eater” is an insult in Romanian which means an unscru­ pulous person capable of treading on corpses ([6], p. 59). The nickname “creator of cemeteries” also encompasses the ef­ fects of the dictatorships, and the narrator applies this name both to her father and his war companions and to the dictator.

Herztier, the ‘Heart-Beast’ of the novel’s title, like green plums, is an image from the narrator’s childhood. When her grandmother put her to bed, she would sing a lullaby whose lyrics said: “May the beast in your heart rest; today you have played a lot” ([6], p. 40). This could be a heartwarming refer­ ence, yet it is not very clear that it is. Her grandmother is an ambivalent character, and so are her songs. When the narra­ tor’s violent, alcoholic father dies, a father who when drunk al­ ways sang nostalgic songs from his past as a soldier or “crea­ tor of cemeteries,” his heart-beast comes to nest in this grandmother who is always singing. The heart-beast seems to be the image of the life force that inhabits people, and as such it can be ambivalent. It is referred to many times over the course of the novel. The young friends and opponents of the regime seem to sense their heart-beast as weak and fleeting: From every mouth the breath came out challenging the cold air. A herd of fugitive animals passed before our faces. I said to Georg: Look, your heart-beast is leaving.

Georg raised my chin with his thumb: You with your Swabi­ an heart-beast, he laughed.

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[...]You’re made of wood, I said to save myself.

Our heart-beasts scurried away like mice. They shed their skins, leaving them behind and disappearing into the noth­ ingness. If we talked a lot and in quick succession, they re­ mained in the air for longer. ([6], p. 90) The friends, now in danger, are deciding on a code for re­ porting in their letters whether they are being persecuted. In this dangerous situation, life forces are diminished, we could say. In any event, the narrator’s heart-beast is strong enough to withstand her desire to commit suicide: A book in the summer home was called To Raise a Hand at Oneself. There it said that only one form of death takes place in a head. However, I was running in a cold circle between the window and the river and vice-versa. Death called to me from afar; I had to go headlong towards it. When it almost had me in its hands, only a small part did not cooperate.

Maybe the heart-beast. ([6], p. 111) The reference to Jean Améry’s book on suicide, To Raise a Hand at Oneself, furnishes an image of the seriousness of the undertaking, yet also of the narrator’s ability to withstand it. In his book, Jean Améry upheld suicide as the supreme act of liberty, but he did not commit suicide in the concentration camp. He did so many years later. In the concentration camp, suicide would not have been an act of liberty but a victory for the executioners. The narrator’s heart-beast still has enough strength to stand up to the executioners.

With this structure of images and concentration of the de­ tails of everyday life, the novel requires us to forge relationships of causality, conclusions from an analysis that are never ex­ posed and that unmask the dehumanizing effect exercised by the dictatorship on the individual. There is a moment in the novel when a boy who is playing at being a ticket-puncher on the tram appears, checking the passengers’ tickets and alter­ nating the rolls of ticket-puncher and passenger. A neighbor offers to play with him as the passenger. “I prefer to do every­ thing myself, said the child, so I know who can’t find their tick­ et” ([6], p. 194). This child seems to have perfectly internalized totalitarianism’s spirit of absolute control.

Everything I Possess I Carry with Me Now I will discuss Atemschaukel (Everything I Possess I Carry with Me), the author’s latest novel. Published in 2009, it prompted some controversy when it appeared. Two opposing reviews were published in Die Zeit, the most important and prestigious German cultural weekly. One review, by Michael Naumann, was extremely favorable; he wrote that the work had literally left him breathless, and he viewed it as a wonderful example of the power of poetic language to describe an un­ bearable reality. The second review, by Iris Radisch, was ex­ tremely negative, as she regarded the novel as perfumed, false, and derivative in the way the author developed the main char­ acter’s memories of deportation. The awarding of the Nobel

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Prize has smoothed out these disagreements, and afterward Radisch herself wrote in a more conciliatory tone, although she did not retract her criticism. However, it is clear that the novel has the potential to be controversial.

As noted above, this story tells of the deportation of German Romanians to the Soviet forced labor camps, and it is based on the stories of a friend, the poet Oskar Pastior, and those re­ counted by Herta Müller’s own mother. When she explained the genesis of the novel, the author said that from a very young age she knew that her mother, like all the women in the village and all the men who were too young or too old to have partici­ pated in the war, had been deported to Russia, specifically to forced labor camps in the Ukraine. But they never spoke about it; it was taboo. She knew that her friend Oskar Pastior had been deported and she began to talk to him about it in order to gather documents she could use to write the novel. Oskar Pas­ tior was a poet; he never wrote prose and never told the story of his deportation.

In a text from 2007, Herta Müller talked about the process of creation: they met regularly, he talked, and she took notes.

He used concise language that focused on details and ob­ jects. He spoke of the “zero point of existence.” Just like Kertesz, he believed that his place of socialization was the camp, and this determined his damaged existence, to put it one way, but also his life. Müller also says that in this narrative process they very soon began to invent things to better de­ scribe what had happened. In June of 2004 they traveled to­ gether to the Ukraine. Some of the buildings were still intact, a bazaar was still running, but nothing was left of the barracks in the labor camp. Pastior believed that he closed a cycle of his existence on this trip. When he suddenly died shortly thereaf­ ter, in 2006, just before he was able to collect the Georg Büchner Prize, the most important literary prize in Germany, Herta Müller set the project aside, only to resume it later, pub­ lishing the work in 2009.

In the novel, she re-creates memories that are not her own but are very familiar to her. She uses the material from her con­ versations with Oskar Pastior and her mother’s experiences, even though the latter were less verbalized. She constructs a fiction using others’ memories, although in this case it is not self-fiction. Yet the subject is very similar to the subjects of oth­ er works by Müller in that it attempts to describe a reality of ut­ ter domination, of an endangered life, of the attempt to annihi­ late, even liquidate the individual, written from the perspective of the victim.

Edgar’s sentence that opens and closes The Land of Green Plums is also valid here: “When we shut up we become un­ pleasant; when we speak we become ridiculous.” Müller sets out to speak in the quest for a language that is not ridiculous and that reconducts memory. We should recall that the dead leave a satchel of words behind them. Oskar Pastior left the words that the writer jotted down. The novel that Herta Müller has written with these notes links up perfectly with her previous writings. She herself has said that everything she experienced under the Romanian dictatorship helped her to write it. The au­ thors that she cites as influences on her literature include Kertesz, Levi, and Semprún, all of them writers who narrate the

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experience of the camps based on their own memories, yet also claim the need for fiction to retell them.

We were wondering how it should be told so that we would be understood. [...] How to tell a story that is scarcely credi­ ble, how to arouse the imagination of the unimaginable if not by crafting, shaping reality, putting it into perspective? [7] Semprún and his fellow writers asked themselves this ques­ tion after being released from Buchenwald. And very early in their conversations, Herta Müller and Pastior would start to in­ vent, flunkern, Pastior used to call it. Yet it is ‘invent’ in a relative sense of the word, as flunkern does not exactly mean ‘invent’ it means ‘to be more or less literal,’ but there is always a relation­ ship with reality, and in no way does it mean to fabricate.

How to bring memory into the present? We need to tell the story in order to organize what we remember, to confer order on what we have experienced. However, traumatic memories often escape narration; they hinder it. A language able to nar­ rate the victim’s experience must be able to attest to this realm, to what cannot be narrated, and it always falls between the two extremes of speaking and remaining silent. One of the prob­ lems in narrating victims’ experiences is that what has to be narrated is a process of dispossession, humiliation, maximum aggression, and if the author does not want to assume the van­ tage point of the executioner, then a perspective that revives the victim’s dignity must be adopted. This problem has been dealt with by all the authors that have written on the Holocaust; Claude Lanzmann, for example, turns it into one of the axioms of his anthological film, Shoah, and of the ban on showing den­ igrating scenes. How to convey the horror that the victims have been through without turning into the executioner? Behind Herta Müller’s narration are Oskar Pastior’s stories, yet also the stories of the other authors mentioned.

The novel is written in the first person to narrate the memo­ ries of a 17-year-old boy, Pastior’s age when he was deported.

It begins with the deportation. There are many ways of organiz­ ing memory or of showing the impossibility of organizing it, and traditionally the discourse of memory has been linked to places and images, and especially to places as elements that help to recall time. The discourse of memory can be compared to a stroll through the places where the things we already recall and can recall have happened. The places become the repositories of our memory, if you will; they are places of individual memory (or of collective memory, what Pierre Nora termed lieux de mémoire). But images also take part in organizing memory, the un­ controlled perceptions of the senses, objects. They can all bring back memories at the wrong time, unravel the narration. These manifestations of involuntary memory which bring the past into the present can lead to the joy of rediscovering lost time, as in Proust’s oeuvre; yet in stories of traumatic pasts, they sub­ merge the narrator in the horror of the past that becomes the present. What could Herta Müller do to organize Pastior’s memories in a narration told by a fictitious self?

Broadly speaking, she retains a chronological order that be­ gins with his deportation and ends with his return home. Within these sweeping events there are many leaps back in time,

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flashbacks to the main character’s childhood or his experienc­ es before being deported. In any event, the story is basically organized around objects and actions that mark the dailiness of life in the camp. These elements showcase the author’s po­ etic power, as well as the poetic power of Oskar Pastior him­ self. Pastior is the author of poems that play with language, experiment with meanings, compare etymologies, destroy, and develop a lyrical grammar of freedom that extends beyond the rules of linguistic logic. However, Pastior also destroys the vocabulary of the failed humanism of the time of the dictator­ ships with his games.

As an example of one of his ‘games,’ let us examine the in­ troduction to a piece written to be read on the radio entitled “The Sauna of Samarkand:” The sauna of Samarkand: an acoustic bath, a poem for five voices (WDR-NDR). Linguistic material: from the history of culture and customs in sweat baths. But deep down, “Sweat bath, sauna” as a metaphor of “closed institution”. Institu­ tions, groups of isolated people, communities outside the mainstream, and therefore also hospitals, barracks, camps, etc. And also, of course, the cultural blah-blah-blah. [8] Pastior shared a similar background with Herta Müller, even though he came from a German-speaking minority in Sieben­ bürgen which has inhabited the region of the Carpathians since the 12th century. He also shared her passion and faith in the power of language to unmask reality, and in the power of word and metaphors to arrive at the truth of things, of human rela­ tions. The authors’ metaphorical languages complement each other perfectly, and some of the key metaphors in the novel are Pastior’s creations, as Herta Müller says, such as ‘the angel of hunger.’ The entire middle part of the book is devoted to hun­ ger and dominated by this figure, which accompanies all the prisoners and guides the search for potato peels and whatever else in the garbage. Each prisoner has an angel of hunger, and when he or she dies the angel looks eagerly for a new prisoner.

Pastior’s memory was retained in the details, in objects, and this is what determines the narration of an everyday existence marked by the work gang, inhuman labor, roll call at night, and chronic hunger. People died of either hunger or cold, and the clothes were taken off the dead people before rigor mortis set in so the living could wear them again; the house leaders cut off the dead women’s hair, if they still had any, to fill pillows and seal the windows.

I said that the story is structured around crucial objects or actions in everyday life in the camp. If we look at the sections in the index we see, for example: ‘On how to pack a suitcase,’ ‘Cement,’ ‘On how to travel,’ ‘A bit too much happiness for Irma Pfeiffer,’ ‘On coal,’ ‘On how time stretches out,’ ‘On pine trees,’ ‘On the angel of death,’ ‘The red silk scarf,’ and ‘The potato man.’

The tone of the index mimics a breviary. It is as if the book were giving useful instructions on actions and things, as if it were defining the useful essence of reality. We learn how to pack a suitcase, to travel... but it is a suitcase and a trip to a forced labor camp. Everyday reality is distanced, while the ter­

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rible reality of the camp turns into the last, sole authentic reality.

And this also determines the lives of those who have already gone back, the ones who have survived, many years later. This is hinted at in the title of the last chapter, “The treasures.” The main character never renounces his past; he cannot, so he makes it his own. It has built his persona. He makes an appall­ ing, proud list of what this past has meant to the construction of his personality: My pride of the vanquished. [...]

My involuntary hurry; I immediately go from zero to every­ thing.

My ability to give in and let anyone be right in order to be able to retract it later.

My dreary opportunism. [...]

My weak envy when people know what they expect from life. A feeling like knotted wool, dull and vain. [...]

My endless afternoons; the time passes slowly with me amidst my furniture. [...] [9] The novel is not only a memory and testimony of the victims; it also turns them into subjects of the story, and it gives them a voice of their own. It airs their ‘satchel of words’ beyond silence and ridicule, just as all of Herta Müller’s works do, with her be­ lief in the power of language to reveal, unmask reality. A deso­ late reality, and a desolate, frightful, provocative, magnificent language.

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Der König verneigt sich und tötet (2003, Hanser, Munich) Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen (2005, Hanser, Mu­ nich) Atemschaukel (2009, Hanser, Munich)

Translations into Catalan L’home és un gran faisà en el món (2009, Bromera, Valencia) [Trans. by Ramon Monton] La bèstia del cor (2009, Bromera, Valencia) [Trans. by Josep Franco and Laura Almiñana]

Translations into Spanish En tierras bajas (1990, Siruela, Madrid) [Trans. by Juan José del Solar from the original book Niederungen) El hombre es un gran faisán en el mundo (1992, Siruela, Ma­ drid) [Trans. by Juan José del Solar from the original book Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt] La piel del zorro (1996, Plaza & Janés, Barcelona) [Trans. by Juan José del Solar from the original book Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger] La bestia del corazón (1997, Mondadori, Barcelona) [Trans. by Bettina Blanch Tyroller from the original book Herztier]

To learn more Works by Herta Müller Niederungen (1982, Kriterion, Bucarest; 1984, Rotbuch, Berlin) Drückender Tango. Erzählungen (1984, Kriterion, Bucharest; 1996, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg) Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt (1986, Rotbuch, Berlin) Barfüßiger Februar (1987, Rotbuch, Berlin) Reisende auf einem Bein (1989, Rotbuch, Berlin) Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel (1991, Rotbuch, Berlin) Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger (1992, Rowohlt, Rein­ bek bei Hamburg) Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett (1992, Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg) Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm: vom Weggehen und Ausscheren (1993, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg) Herztier (1994, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg) Hunger und Seide. Essays (1995, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Ham­ burg) In der Falle (1996, Wallstein, Göttingen) Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet (1997, Rowohlt, Rein­ bek bei Hamburg) Der fremde Blick oder Das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne (1999, Wallstein, Göttingen) Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame (2000, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg) Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird (2001, Gollenstein, Blies­ kastel)

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http://www.svenskaakademien.se/web/Nobel_lecture_ es_2009.aspx http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2009/ bio-bibl_sp.pdf

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

The research and reflection on Herta Müller that made this lecture possible was part of the research conducted in my time as a Senior Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Freiburg from Oc­ tober 2009 to March 2010.

Haines B, Littler M (1998) Gespräch mit Herta Müller. In: Haines B (ed) Herta Müller. University of Wales Press, Car­ diff, p. 16. The author has translated all the excerpts cited.

Müller H (2008) In jeder Sprache sitzen andere Augen. In: Der König verneigt sich und tötet. Fischer, Frankfurt Müller H (1994) Herztier. Rowohlt, Hamburg, pp 7-8 Müller H (2008) In jeder Sprache sitzen andere Augen. In: Der König verneigt sich und tötet. Fischer, Frankfurt, p 12.

Müller H (1994) Herztier. Rowohlt, Hamburg Semprún J (1995) La escritura o la vida. Tusquets, Bar­ celona, pp 140-141 Ramm K (1987) Pastior Oskar. Jalousien aufgemacht.

Hanser, Munich, p. 153 Müller H (2009) Atemschaukel. Hanser, München, p. 295

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 141–147 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.119 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2009

Companies, markets, and management of common property . On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson* F. Xavier Mena ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona

Resum. Oliver Williamson ha argumentat que els mercats i les organitzacions jeràrquiques, com les empreses, representen estructures alternatives de governança que difereixen en els enfocaments per a resoldre els conflictes d’interès. L’inconve­ nient dels mercats és que sovint impliquen el regateig i el desa­ cord. L’inconvenient de les empreses és que l’autoritat, que mitiga la contenció, pot abusar-se. Els mercats competitius funcionen relativament bé perquè els compradors i els vene­ dors poden recórrer a altres socis comercials en cas de dissi­ dència. Però quan la competència del mercat és limitada, les empreses són més adequades per a la resolució de conflictes dels mercats. Una predicció clau de la teoria de Williamson, que també ha rebut el suport empíricament, és, per tant, que la propensió dels agents a realitzar les seves transaccions dins les empreses respectives augmenta segons el grau d’especifi­ citat dels béns involucrats en la relació entre les parts contrac­ tants. Elinor Ostrom ha desafiat la creença convencional que la propietat comuna està mal gestionada i que ha de ser regulada per autoritats centrals o privatitzada. D’acord amb nombrosos estudis sobre les poblacions de peixos, pastures, boscos, llacs i conques d’aigües subterrànies administrades per usuaris, Ostrom conclou que els resultats són, sovint, millors que els predits per les teories econòmiques estàndard, a causa que els usuaris de recursos desenvolupen freqüentment mecanis­ mes sofisticats per a la presa de decisions i l’aplicació de les regles per a manejar els conflictes d’interessos. En la seva obra, ha descrit les regles que promouen resultats reeixits.

Paraules clau: governança econòmica · economia de les organitzacions · economia institucional · economia dels costos de transaccions · recursos comuns

Abstract. Oliver Williamson has argued that markets and hier­ archical organizations, such as firms, represent alternative gov­ ernance structures that differ in their approaches to resolving conflicts of interest. The drawback of markets is that they often entail haggling and disagreement. The drawback of firms is that authority, which mitigates contention, can be abused.

Competitive markets work relatively well because buyers and sellers can turn to other trading partners in case of dissent. But when market competition is limited, firms are better suited for conflict resolution than markets. A key prediction of William­ son’s theory, which has also been supported empirically, is therefore that agents’ propensity to carry out their transactions within their respective companies rises with the degree of spe­ cificity of the goods involved in the relationship between the contracting parties. Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conven­ tional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized.

Based on numerous studies of user-managed fish stocks, pas­ tures, woods, lakes, and groundwater basins, Ostrom con­ cluded that the outcomes are, more often than not, better than those predicted by standard economic theories, as resource users frequently develop sophisticated mechanisms for deci­ sion-making and rule enforcement to handle conflicts of inter­ est. In her work, she has described the rules that promote suc­ cessful outcomes.

Keywords: economic governance · economics of organizations · institutional economics · transaction cost economics · common-pool resources

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 10 December 2009, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 3 January 2010 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: FX Mena, ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull, Av. Pe­ dralbes 60-62, E-08034 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel +34-932806162 (ext. 2302). Fax +34-932048105. E-mail: fxavier.mena@esade.edu

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The Swedish Central Bank (Sveriges Riksbank) Prize in Economics, established in memory of Alfred Nobel, was jointly awarded in 2009 to Professor Elinor Ostrom (University of Indiana at Bloomington, USA) and Professor Oliver E. Williamson (University of California at Berkeley, USA) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson. © The Nobel Foundation. Photos: Ulla Montan.

This article is divided into three sections: 1) The first section is devoted to a brief history of the prize commonly known as the ‘Nobel Prize in Economics,’ even though it was not originally instituted in Alfred Nobel’s will.

2) The second section examines the impact of the financial crisis on economic analyses based on what are called ‘efficient markets.’ The economic and financial crisis that broke out on 9 August 2007 has led to a re-thinking of many of the economic ideas that have strongly influenced society and economic policies since the 1970s.

3) The third section spotlights the contributions by Oliver E. Williamson and Elinor Ostrom, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics 2009.

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from Baku (Caucasus). In 1864, a nitroglycerine explosion at one of Alfred Nobel’s factories led to the death of his brother, Emil, an event that spurred him to develop a more stable explosive: dynamite. After securing his patent in 1867, Alfred Nobel created 90 laboratories and companies that supplied dynamite for public works projects (tunnels and canals) to more than 20 countries in Europe, America, and Asia.

Nobel never married; he was passionate about chemistry and physics, as well as literature and poetry. For a time he enlisted the domestic help of Bertha Kinsky, later the Austrian Countess Von Suttner, who influenced his pacifistic convictions. By the time of his death, in San Remo, Italy, on 10 December 1896, Nobel had registered 355 patents. His laboratory assistant, Ragnar Sohlman, was charged with executing his last will and testament but its terms were rejected by Nobel’s family: Alfred Nobel had earmarked his wealth to the establishment of a foundation that would award prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, and literature, and for efforts contributing to world peace. Initially, the academies and institutions charged with administering his legacy also questioned the wisdom of the prizes. Finally, in 1901, the first Nobel Prize awards ceremony was held for the prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, and literature at the Royal Academy of Music of Stockholm. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in Kristiania (currently Oslo, Norway). In 1968, coinciding with the tricentennial of the Swedish Central Bank, the Swedish monetary authority instituted ‘The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,’ awarded each year by the Royal Academy of Sciences (Sweden) following the principles of the Nobel Foundation (Fig. 2).

The economics prize in memory of Alfred Nobel Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) was born in Stockholm (Sweden) on 21 October 1833 into a family with a tradition of technical inventions. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an engineer who had built bridges and buildings in the capital of Sweden. The failure of his businesses drove him to immigrate to Saint Petersburg (Russia), where he made his fortune manufacturing and selling military equipment to the tsar’s army, including the underwater mines that protected the Russian capital from the threat of the British Royal Navy during the Crimean War (1853– 1856). The family’s wealth made it possible for Alfred Nobel to study chemistry in Sweden, Germany, France—where he encountered the Italian chemist Antonio Sobrero, the inventor of nitroglycerine—and the United States of America, where he met Swedish inventor John Ericsson.

Alfred Nobel returned to Saint Petersburg after completing his education, but the end of the war led to a decline in weapons orders. He moved to Sweden with his parents and his younger brother, Emil. His older brothers, Robert and Ludvig, remained in Russia, where they built an emporium based on oil

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Fig. 2. The Medal for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. ®© The Nobel Foundation.

Economic crisis and crisis in the economy In the 18th century, the analysis of human economic behavior fell within the scope of moral philosophy. In the 19th century, neoclassical economics introduced the criteria of maximizing utility and benefit through the rational behavior of agents, which led to concepts such as market equilibrium. The 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression cast doubt on the flexibility of the neoclassical approach; instead, there was broad acceptance of Keynesian models of demand, which guided economic policies based on the Phillips curve aimed at achieving sustained growth.

The 1970s, with its so-called stagflation, marginalized all the Keynesian prescriptions. The ‘new classics’ appeared on the scene. Robert Lucas and Thomas Sargent published After

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Keynesian Economics in 1979. The hypothesis of ‘efficient markets’ formulated by Eugene Fama took hold, with the claim that market prices reflected the fundamental value of goods.

According to the economic analysis that would eventually pre­ vail, agents’ behavior was founded on the formulation of ra­ tional expectations. The dynamic stochastic general equilibri­ um models were based on the prevalence of a representative agent and on the concept of ‘NAIRU’ (non-accelerating infla­ tion rate of unemployment) and Ricardian equivalence. Even the new-generation Keynesians included many of these ele­ ments in their models while maintaining the rigidity of salaries and prices. Beyond the debates between the ‘new classic’ ad­ vocate Edward Prescott and the ‘neo-Keynesian’ approach of Lawrence Summers, a synthesis seemed to emerge in eco­ nomic thinking.

The election of Margaret Thatcher as the British Prime Min­ ister and of Ronald Reagan as the President of the United States of America opened up a period of mistrust in state and public-policy intervention in society. The fall of the Berlin Wall strengthened this historical trend. Ronald Reagan’s appoint­ ment of Alan Greenspan as the Chairman of the Federal Re­ serve deepened the authorities’ trust in private agents and markets as able to make decisions rationally by estimating and covering the risks involved. The Chairman of the Fed (Federal Reserve) spearheaded the so-called Greenspan Put, which consisted of letting the markets run themselves, with the guar­ antee of lowering interest rates and rescuing systemic entities in the event of a sudden crisis. Alan Greenspan’s mandate was renewed throughout the administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Moreover, in 1999 President Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, rendering it possible for large financial groups to assemble, merging the operations of commercial and investment banks. The globali­ zation of the economy provided new levers for growth, such as the global saving glut, emergent low-cost economies (China, etc.), the revolution in information and communication technol­ ogies, and a financial system offering innovative products. As a result, the monetary authorities of the central banks limited their attention to controlling the inflation rate, essentially ignor­ ing the evolution in the prices of goods (stock market and real estate prices).

The 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded Harry M. Mark‑ owitz, for his portfolio selection model, Merton H. Miller, for his financial theories, and William F. Sharpe, for his Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Market operators drew profusely from the risk appraisal methods (value at risk or VaR) recommended by these financial models. However, the Nobel Prize in Eco­ nomics has also supported economists who have signaled cau­ tion regarding the limitations of the economic approaches that have gained mainstream acceptance. For example, in 1972 the prize was awarded to Kenneth Arrow for his contributions to moral hazard and adverse selection in the presence of asym­ metric information, and in 1978 to Herbert A. Simon for his studies on bounded rationality. In 1988, the Swedish Academy awarded the prize to Maurice Allais, who had formulated the Allais paradox,’ in 2001, the Nobel Prize honored George Aker­ lof for his famous analysis known as the market for lemons,

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Michael Spence for his studies on signaling, and Joseph Stiglitz for his pioneering research into credit markets.

On 9 August 2007, bank activities that had allowed the dis­ tribution of loans securitized in structured financial products began to collapse around the world. The underlying financial models, which had been among the most keenly studied at universities and business school, had failed. The financial and economic crisis necessitated a reconsideration of the prevail­ ing paradigm. The Behavioral Economics School approach posited by the 2002 Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith had been vindicated, and Charles Kindleberger’s studies on ‘Manias, Panics, and Crashes’ (1978) was consid­ ered anew. As Hyman Minsky had cautioned during the previ­ ous decades, economic agents were characterized by irrational behavior, excess trust, and waves of optimism and pessimism that fed speculative bubbles. Keynes’s ‘animal spirits’ were back. The economic and financial crisis has shaken up the dominant economic thinking in historical dimensions, as was reflected in the choice of the 2009 Nobel Prize winners.

Brief biography of Oliver E. Williamson Oliver E. Williamson (Superior, Wisconsin, 1932) is an Emeritus Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley (USA) and the editor of the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. His university education began at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later, he earned an MBA from Stanford University and a PhD in Eco­ nomics from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Williamson uses an informal methodology based on Herbert Simon’s (1978 Nobel Prize) contributions on bounded rational­ ity as explained in his study entitled ‘A Behavioral Model of Ra­ tional Choice,’ published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1955 (Fig. 5). Williamson’s most important contributions have revolved around the resolution of organizational and con­ tractual conflicts, as well as the implementation of agreements, thus laying the groundwork for what is referred to as institu­ tional economics and the economics of organization.

Ronald Coase’s groundwork. Conventional economic anal­ ysis posits that contracts are complete, and compliance with them is guaranteed by the legal system. It also reduces a com­ pany to a black box, with a productive function that transforms productive factors, or inputs, into goods and services, or out­ puts. Jacob Viner’s contributions to the concepts of econo­ mies of scale and scope were developed within this framework.

This approach to the company was extended to the ‘structurebehavior-results paradigm,’ in which the goal of maximizing profit leads companies to raise the production level to the point where marginal revenue equals marginal cost.

Ronald H. Coase (1991 Nobel Prize) thoroughly questioned this state of affairs in his 1937 publication The Nature of the Firm. Coase defined the concept of ‘transaction cost,’ which includes the cost of gathering information, costs involved in ne­ gotiating, costs related to guarantees, costs inherent in admin­ istration, costs derived from conflict resolution, and costs that

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arise in implementing agreements. Coase questioned the busi­ ness decision to manufacture within the organization as an al­ ternative to purchasing from third parties on the market. This choice must be based on efficiency criteria in order to minimize the transaction costs. The dichotomy of ‘manufacture vs. buy’ leads to the more transcendental dichotomy of ‘firm vs. mar­ ket,’ in which the two are alternative governing structures for resolving the conflict of resource allocation. The organizational consequences of this response are quite divergent and of high impact, since the option of resolving the conflict within the company subjects the allocation of resources to the hierarchi­ cal authority of the executive, while resolving it through out­ sourcing in the market requires negotiated contracts to be signed with suppliers. In short, the alternative solutions are as at odds with each other, as was the visible hand of Alfred D. Chandler compared to the invisible one of Adam Smith.

The limits of the firm. Oliver E. Williamson contributed funda­ mental research into positive economics, specifically, regard­ ing the organizational limits of the firm and the regulatory impli­ cations of vertical integration, in his article ‘Vertical Integration of Production: Market Failure Considerations,’ published in 1971 in the American Economic Review. These ideas were fur­ ther developed in his 1975 book Markets and Hierarchies. Wil­ liamson’s analysis of the limits of the firm was grounded on Coase’s concept of ‘transaction cost,’ as applied to the exam­ ple of the coal mine supplying an electricity-generating plant.

This example originated in the Paul Joskow article entitled ‘Ver­ tical Integration and Long Term Contracts: The Case of CoalBurning Electric Generating Plants,’ published in 1985 in The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. According to Williamson, the relationship between the coal mine and the electricity-generating plant can be established in several ways: • An incomplete contract via market exchange • A complete contract that specifies the details of the sup­ plier-client relationship via market exchange and all fore­ seeable contingencies • The integration of both activities, coal mining and elec­ tricity generation, into a single company The efficiency criterion that minimizes the transaction costs in order to determine whether to maintain the relationship via market exchange (incomplete or complete contract) or to per­ form the job within the company, through vertical integration, depends on factors such as: • The degree of mutual dependency among the activities (proximity, etc.)

• The complexity of the relationship, particularly regarding uncertainty • The specificity of the physical and human activities in­ volved in the relationship

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and the specificity of the physical and human assets is consid­ erable. In this case, the solution to the conflict will encourage the vertical integration of the coal mine and the electricity-gen­ erating plant into a single company characterized by resources allocated within a single hierarchical decision-making structure.

William’s contributions to positive economics regarding the efficient organizational limits of the firm endorse business con­ centration through vertical integration, in this case. However, this conclusion was in conflict with the antitrust principles and legislation in the United States, which back in the 1960s restrict­ ed the formation of companies with a market power higher than the maximums stipulated by the Lerner Index or the HirschmanHerfindhal Index. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, antitrust laws in the United States evolved, influenced in part by William­ son’s studies. Specifically, the Merger Guidelines (1984) sig­ naled a radical shift in antitrust principles, which now allowed vertical integration that brought greater efficiency, even if it meant a concentration of market share in the integrated com­ pany. The problem to be considered by the regulations and courts that defended competition, as Williamson had stated, was not the amount of market share attained but the poten­ tially monopolistic behavior of the company resulting from the vertical integration process.

The economic institutions of capitalism. Oliver E. William­ son made a seminal contribution to institutional economic anal­ ysis in his book The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting (1985). This epic study de­ scribes the institutions that make up the economic and social system of capitalism, dividing them into two levels: 1) The set of rules (legal, social, political, etc.) that govern human interactions in order to facilitate production and exchange.

2) The mechanisms to protect property rights In later contributions, Williamson further examined this topic while opening up new avenues of inquiry for other researchers in the field of contractual relationships, namely, with respect to informational asymmetry, inefficient negotiations, and the sub­ stitutive reputation mechanisms of contracts (Kreps, 1990).

Likewise, Williamson (1980) also made major contributions in the field of corporate finances, stating that companies with specific assets can be financed by shareholders who exercise control over management and pursue profits in the form of div­ idends. However, companies with standardized assets can be financed by issuing corporate bonds, since bondholders are interested in profitability from fixed-income securities and only have rights over the assets if the company becomes involved in a liquidation process.

Brief biography of Elinor Ostrom Williamson pays particular attention to the possible oppor­ tunistic behavior that could arise if the relationship is character­ ized by a high degree of dependence, the complexity is high,

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Elinor Ostrom (Los Angeles, California, 1933) earned her PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1965 with a

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dissertation on salt water that filtered down into the potable groundwater in the Los Angeles (California) metropolitan area.

Today, she is Professor of Political Science at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at the University of Indiana at Bloomington (USA). She also founded and directs the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, at Arizona State Univer­ sity in Tempe (USA).

Ostrom has grounded a portion of her research upon an inductive methodology based on analyses of case studies and laboratory experiments with psychologists, an approach that some have questioned. She has also examined the strategic interaction of users of common property, through game theo­ ry’s prisoner’s dilemma, in repeated non-cooperative games designed according to the studies of Robert Aumann (2005 Nobel Prize). Therefore, the 2009 Nobel Prize awarded to Elinor Ostrom rekindled the controversy noted by Axel Leijon­ hufvud on the barriers to entering the profession of econom­ ics.

The ‘tragedy of common property’ The concept of ‘common property’ encompasses, among oth­ er things, pastures, forests, lakes, groundwater basins, irriga­ tion water for plants, the sea, fish stocks, and the air. The na­ ture of common property is characterized by two features, namely, free access to its use and consumption, and the fact that property rights are undefined. The consumption of com­ mon property lowers its availability for other users, so the ben­ efit is individual while the cost is shared. This means that the users or consumers reach the point where their marginal ben­ efit equals the marginal cost of the last user or consumer. This perverse incentive for users of common property will lead to the overexploitation of these resources, as posited in the pio­ neering work by H.S. Gordon entitled ‘The Economic Theory of a Common Property Resource: The Fishery,’ published in the Journal of Political Economy in 1954. Later, the biologist Garret Hardin coined the expression ‘The Tragedy of the Commons,’ as he titled an article that appeared in the journal Science in 1968.

Conventional economic analysis offers two solutions to re­ solve the ‘tragedy’ of the depletion of common property as a result of the overexploitation of resources. The first is privatiza­ tion. However, this alternative introduces the problem of defin­ ing appropriation rights to the sea or to groundwater. The sec­ ond solution proposes converting common property into public property based on a nationalization process. On this point, A.C. Pigou noted, in The Economics of Welfare (1920) that one option is to establish a general or usage tax to regulate access to and sustainable preservation of common property. Alterna­ tively, a user or capture fee can be instated. Ronald H. Coase questioned Pigou’s solution in his important article, ‘The Prob­ lem of Social Cost,’ published in the Journal of Law and Economics in 1960. Coase noted that if a tax or access fee to the common property is to be set, it should be freely negotiated by the parties involved. However, this assertion is only appropriate if the transaction costs are zero.

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The ‘governing’ of common property by its beneficiaries In her book Governing the Commons. The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Elinor Ostrom suggests that the use of common property is not necessarily vulnerable to the tragedy of depletion due to overexploitation; rather, users can cooper­ ate through sophisticated processes of sustainably managing common property. The case studies analyzed by Ostrom’s re­ search include pastures in Mongolia, China, and Russia. As confirmed by the satellite photographs taken of these pastures, properties collectivized under communist China did not gener­ ate the proper incentives for their preservation (Fig. 3); nor did the privatization embarked upon by rural Chinese communes starting in the 1980s improve the situation. This non-sustaina­ bility of the pastures was also the case in the public property systems of Siberian pastures in the Soviet Union. By contrast, Ostrom noted that nomadic livestock farmers in Mongolia have managed their pastures following an ancestral process of coop­ eration that has enabled them to feed their herds for centuries.

Another case analyzed by Ostrom was the use of reservoir water to irrigate farmland in Nepal. Traditionally, the water in the rivers was held back with reservoirs built of stones, mud, and lumber. The frailness of these structures required irrigators to work together to repair and maintain them, for which they were rewarded with access to the water to irrigate their farm­ lands. International aid and the Nepalese government built res­ ervoirs made of cement and steel, which eliminated the need for maintenance. As a result, irrigators upriver began to collect the water, harming the downriver farmers. Destroying the in­ centive to cooperate in maintaining the reservoir jeopardized the sustainable use of the irrigation water.

Based on her research, Ostrom formulated the principles for successfully managing common property, stating that they are more readily implemented if the groups of beneficiaries are small and the interactions among members are repeated over time: 1) Clear rules by which the beneficiaries of common-pool resources can decide on the different issues that arise regarding access to and use of these resources

Fig. 3. Satellite photograph of pastures (in Mongolia, China, and Rus­ sia), a case analyzed in depth by Ostrom, reveal that traditionally man­ aged land areas maintained a better condition and gave greater yields.

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2) Conflict-resolution mechanisms 3) Aligning the responsibility for maintaining the common property with the benefits yielded by the users 4) Ensuring that the processes of monitoring, controlling use, and applying sanctions are the responsibility of the users themselves, not those of an independent third party, con­ trary to the prevailing notion in which monitoring and the authority to sanction were assigned to an impartial exter­ nal organization. This point seems to contradict the fact that the control cost is incurred privately, while the benefi­ ciaries of monitoring are the group of users. Ostrom ex­ plains the proper working of this mechanism based on the role played by reciprocity among the users, the satisfac­ tion of the group to sanction the non-complier, and the fear of the potential non-complier of public disapproval.

Likewise, monitoring the use of common goods is easier if there is a calendar for restrictions, such as seasonal bans on hunting or fishing. The alternative of setting restrictions on amounts raises the costs of monitoring and enforcing the corresponding sanctions for non-compliers.

5) Gradualness in the sanctions, from the first case of noncompliance to successive recidivism 6) Democratic decision-making processes, which require small groups at the start whose size can gradually in­ crease 7) Recognition by the public authorities of the system of rules and cooperation established by the users of the common property

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Williamson OE (1968) Economies as an Antitrust Defense: The Welfare Tradeoffs. American Economic Review 58:18-36 Williamson OE (1971) Vertical Integration of Production: Market Failure Considerations. American Economic Review, Pa­ pers and Proceedings 61:112-123 Williamson OE (1975) Markets and Hierarchies. Free Press, New York Williamson OE (1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism.

Free Press, New York Williamson OE (1988) Corporate Finance and Corporate Gov­ ernance. Journal of Finance 43:567-591 Williamson OE (2000) The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead. Journal of Economic Literature 38:595-613 Williamson OE (2005) The Economics of Governance. Ameri­ can Economic Review 95:1-18

To learn more http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laure­ ates/2009/ http://www2.haas.berkeley.edu/Faculty/williamson_oliver. aspx http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/bpp/oew/ http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/people/homepages/ostrom.html

Bibliography Publications of the Nobel Prize winners Ostrom E (1965) Public Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Ground Water Management, Ph.D. Dissertation. Univer­ sity of California at Los Angeles Ostrom E (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Actions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Ostrom E (1998) A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action: Presidential Address, Ameri­ can Political Science Association, 1997. American Politi­ cal Science Review 92:1-22 Ostrom E (1999) Coping with the Tragedies of the Commons.

Annual Review of Political Science 2:493-535.18(19) Ostrom E (2000) Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (Sum­ mer):137-158 Ostrom E (2005) Understanding Institutional Diversity. Prince­ ton University Press, Princeton, NJ Ostrom E, Gardner R, Walker J (1994) Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources. The University of Michigan Press, MI Ostrom, E, Walker J, Gardner R (1992) Covenants with and without a Sword: Self-Governance is Possible. American Political Science Review 86:404-417 Ostrom E et al. (1999) Revisiting the Commons: Local Les­ sons, Global Challenges. Science 284:278-282

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Coase R (1937) The Nature of the Firm. Economica 4:386-405 2. Coase R (1960) The Problem of Social Cost. Journal of Law and Economics 3:1-44 3. Copeland BR Taylor MS (2009) Trade, Tragedy, and the Commons. American Economic Review 99:725-749 4. Dixit A (2009) Governance Institutions and Economic Ac­ tivity. American Economic Review 99:5-24 5. Gordon HS (1954) The Economic Theory of a Common Property Resource: The Fishery. Journal of Political Economy 62:124-142 6. Grossman S, Hart O (1986) The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration.

Journal of Political Economy 94:691-719 7. Hardin G (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162:1243-1248 8. Hart O (1995) Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure.

Clarendon Press, Oxford 9. Jensen MC, Meckling WH (1976) Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure. Journal of Financial Economics 3:305-360 10. Joskow P (1985) Vertical Integration and Long-term Con­ tracts: The Case of Coal-Burning Electric Generating Plants. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 1:33-80 11. Levinovitz AW, Nils Ringertz N (eds.) (2001) The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years. Imperial College Press

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12. North DC (1990) Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA 13. Olson M (1965) The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 14. Pigou AC (1920) The Economics of Welfare. Macmillan, New York

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15. Simon H (1955) A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice.

Quarterly Journal of Economics 69:99-118 16. Stigler G (1984) Economics—The Imperial Science?

Scand J of Economics 86(3):301-313 17. Ståhle NK (1978) Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Foundation and The Swedish Institute, Stockholm

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 149–154 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.120 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2010

Changing the perception of our own nature .

On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Robert G. Edwards* Josep Santaló Cell Biology Unit, Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra

Resum. Robert edwards és el pare de les tècniques de re­ producció assistida. Gràcies a ell, han nascut al món més de quatre milions de criatures que, possiblement, no existirien si no hagués estat pel desenvolupament d’aquestes tècniques.

La fecundació in vitro, inicialment una tècnica concebuda per a superar determinades malalties que provoquen esterilitat femenina, va obrir la porta a tot un seguit de noves tecnologi­ es associades que, pel fet de posar al nostre abast els gàme­ tes i els embrions humans, han permès interaccionar amb aquestes entitats biològiques de la nostra pròpia espècie i modificar conceptes que fins aleshores teníem molt clars i immutables: la maternitat, les relacions paternofilials, el co­ mençament de la vida o, fins i tot, la pròpia identitat humana.

Amb aquests canvis, o més ben dit darrere seu, han vingut un seguit de modificacions en els valors ètics i els conceptes legals que els acompanyen que han significat una autèntica revolució en la visió que tenim de nosaltres mateixos com a espècie i el lloc que ocupem en l’immens panorama de la natura.

Abstract. Robert Edwards is the father of assisted reproduc­ tion techniques. Thanks to him, more than 4 million children have been born who possibly would have not existed had it not been for the development of these techniques. In vitro fertiliza­ tion, a technique originally designed to overcome certain dis­ eases that cause female sterility, opened the door to a whole series of new, associated technologies that, by putting at our disposal human gametes and embryos, have allowed us to in­ teract with these biological entities of our own species in addi­ tion to modifying the concepts that, until that moment, had very clear and constant meanings: maternity, paterno-filial rela­ tionships, the beginning of life, and even human identity itself.

These changes as well as those that followed resulted in a reassessment of our ethical values and legal concepts, which in turn has caused a genuine revolution in the way we view both ourselves as a species and the place we occupy in the vast panorama of nature.

Key words: assisted reproduction techniques ∙ bioethics ∙ in vitro fertilization

paraules clau: tècniques de reproducció assistida ∙ bioètica ∙ fertilització in vitro

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Nobel Prize was to be granted to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” It is very unusual that Nobel’s laureates receive their award the year after their discovery or invention—the most recent exception being Presi­ dent Obama, winner of the 2009 Peace Prize, who was so sur­ prised by the announcement as to be slightly embarrassed. In­ deed, the subject of this talk had to wait for 32 years to see his work acknowledged. In the interval between Edwards’ discov­

ery and his Nobel Prize (Fig. 1), Louise Brown, the first baby born after the successful application of in vitro fertilization (IVF), grew up and had a child of her own (Cameron, spontaneously conceived), while Patrick Steptoe, Edward’s colleague in IVF development, died in 1988 and thus never received the full ac­ knowledgement he obviously deserved.

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 16 December 2010, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 19 January 2011 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: J. Santaló, Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fi­ siologia i d’Immunologia, Àrea de Biologia Cel·lular, Edifici C, Despatx C2/038, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-935811498. Fax +34-935812295.

E-mail: josep.santalo@uab.cat

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Fig. 1. Robert G. Edwards. Photo: Copy­ right © Bourn Hall

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150 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

Why the delay?

But what are the reasons for the long delay between a Nobelworthy contribution and its award? In my opinion, there are several reasons: • A general bias in the Nobel Prizes themselves • Intense opposition to this particular award • Fear regarding the decision It is generally accepted that Nobel Prizes tend to favor dis­ coveries over inventions or theories. An example of this asser­ tion is the fact that in 1921 Albert Einstein was awarded the Prize for his discovery of the photoelectric effect, not for his theory of relativity. The development of a new therapy, such as IVF, can be considered more an invention than a discovery; this general bias would lessen its chances of receiving the Nobel Prize allowing new and interesting discoveries to move up the eligibility list.

A furious opposition. The work of Dr. Edwards had, from the very beginning, colossal opponents and detractors. Suffice to say that the same day the Nobel Prizes were publicly commu­ nicated, a press release from the Vatican appeared in mass media all over the world. It criticized the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Dr. Edwards, based on the fact that it failed to take into account “the ethical implications of such an award” and it reit­ erated that IVF “is unacceptable since it implies the selection and the elimination of human embryos”. The Vatican’s position is clearly stated in the document ‘Instruction Dignitas Personae on certain Bioethical questions’ from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said (sic.): “With regard to the treatment of infertility, new medical techniques must respect three fundamental goods: a) the right to life and to physical integrity of every human being from conception to natural death; b) the unity of marriage, which means reciprocal respect for the right within mar­ riage to become a father or mother only together with the other spouse; c) the specifically human values of sexuality which require ‘that the procreation of a human person be brought about as the fruit of the conjugal act specific to the love between spouses.’ Techniques which assist procrea­ tion are not to be rejected on the grounds that they are ar­ tificial. As such, they bear witness to the possibilities of the art of medicine. But they must be given a moral evaluation in reference to the dignity of the human person, who is called to realize his vocation from God to the gift of love and the gift of life.” [http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/ documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-perso­ nae_en.html] This statement is undoubtedly in favor of maintaining the boundary between sexuality and reproduction which, as dis­ cussed below, IVF and related techniques have clearly disman­ tled.

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Santaló 

Fear regarding the decision. The ethical and social implica­ tions of IVF and related assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) make them provocative topics. A social revolution was aroused after the development of ARTs because they implied a new perception of the position of our own species in the context of the world. This can be envisaged as a threat but also as an op­ portunity for the evolution of mankind; and it is discussed later in this article as something positive. However, recognition of the controversy that the decision would likely arouse no doubt led to an unusual delay in the Nobel Prize being granted to Ed­ wards (and Steptoe).

Reasons for an acknowledgement In my opinion, and surely that of the Nobel Prize Award Com­ mittee, there were many important reasons for recognizing Dr. Edwards’ contribution to medicine in general and to the treat­ ment of infertility in particular: • Traditional interest in reproduction • The associated improvements in our understanding of re­ production • As the basis for many other related technologies • For its efficiency • In setting the stage for a social revolution Traditional interest in reproduction. Human reproduction has been a topic of fascination throughout our history. At the beginning of human civilization, this fascination became a reli­ gious matter, with fertility and related agrarian cults offering us some of the oldest human representations ever found. Images such as Willendorf’s Venus (dated between 24,000 and 21,000 BC) and the Paleolithic Levantine paintings at Cogul’s Cave (between 10,000 and 6500 BC) are examples of art in which male and female sexual characters are explicitly depict­ ed and even exaggerated. Later, already in historic eras, fertil­ ity cults, such as those of the Min, Heqet, and Taweret in an­ cient Egypt, and Priapus and Cybele in ancient Greece and Rome, were related to agrarian and resurrection cults. During the Renaissance, this curiosity becomes more ‘scientific,’ as evidenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s interest in the anatomy of a fetus inside the womb or the anatomy of sexual intercourse.

Attention then moves to more cellular aspects, with published depictions of a spermatozoon under the microscope, the so called homunculus [12], or the ovum as the origin of everything (Ex ovo omnia) [13].

Associated improvements in our understanding of reproduction. Sir Isaac Newton famously remarked, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” No new discovery or technology appears from nowhere; rather, previous to any advance in human knowledge there are other works and fundamental steps that pave the way for the new discovery. This was the case for the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. A quick review of these steps is as follows.

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Changing the perception of our own nature

1890 First ‘surrogate mother.’ Walter Heape reports the trans­ fer of rabbit embryos to a hare’s uterus, resulting in two pups.

1932 Aldous Huxley imagines IVF in his novel Brave New World.

1946 William J. Hamilton and John A. Laing describe the de­ velopment of cow eggs until the blastocyst stage [10].

1951 Collin R. Austin identifies the need for sperm capacita­ tion in mammals before fertilization [1].

1952 Robert G. Edwards starts his PhD. 1953 James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick determine the structure of DNA [23].

1955 Robert G. Edwards defends his PhD: ‘Growth of mouse embryos with altered chromosome complements,” di­ rected by Alan Beatty.

1959 Min Chueh Chang reports the first rabbits to be conceived

by IVF; however, sperm capacitation took place in vivo [4].

1963 Ryuzo Yanagimachi and Min Chueh Chang report suc­ cessful IVF in hamsters, with every step of the process performed in vitro [25].

1970 Robert G. Edwards and co-workers perform the first hu­ man IVF using oocytes matured in Vivo [7].

1971 They obtain good quality human embryos in all pre-im­ plantation stages. Later, Robert G. Edwards will remem­ ber: “I’ll never forget the day I looked down the micro­ scope and what I saw was a human blastocyst gazing up at me. I thought: We’ve done it!”

1972 Edwards and co-workers begin embryo transfers at Newmarket Hospital. The Medical Research Council de­ nies them financial support: “The Board accepted that Dr. Edwards was an inves­ tigator of high scientific standing, energy and originality.

Board members and referees, however, all had serious doubts about the ethical aspects of the proposed inves­ tigations, especially those relating to the implantation in women of oocytes fertilized in vitro, which was consid­ ered premature in view of the lack of preliminary studies on primates and the present deficiency of detailed knowledge of the possible hazards involved. Reserva­ tions were also expressed about the procedure of lapar­ oscopy for purely experimental purposes, and about the proposed facilities and arrangements for patient care.

Recommendations: (i) The application should be declined on ethical grounds and the reason should be conveyed to Dr. Edwards and Mr. Steptoe. (ii) It should be suggested, without commitment, to Dr. Edwards that he might formulate an application to the Council for support of a similar programme of work on primates.”

Robert Edwards remembers: “Steptoe and I were deeply affected by the despera­ tion felt by couples who so wanted to have children. We had a lot of critics but we fought like hell for our patients.

But we had enough supporters—not many—but just enough for us to carry on our work.” [2]

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 151

1973 An Australian team of Dr. Carl Wood’s [6] achieves the first human pregnancy after IVF, but it ends as a sponta­ neous abortion.

1975 Edwards’ team, using gonadotrophins to induce super­ ovulation, successfully induces a pregnancy after trans­ ferring blastocysts, but it is ectopic and thus terminated after 10 weeks of gestation.

1977 The researchers decide to move towards natural, un­ stimulated cycles. On 10 November 1977, they treat a woman with tubal infertility using a single fertilized oocyte that, after transfer at the 8-cell stage, results in the birth of Louise Brown on 25 July 1978 [19] (Fig. 2, 3A).

After this first success, three more pregnancies were obtained; two of them ended as miscarriages, one be­ cause a triploid fetus; the second due to a complication of amniocentesis, which revealed a normal 46XY fetus.

The third resulted in the birth of Alistair.

1984 Victoria Anna, the first Spanish baby conceived by IVF, was born; the infertility treatment had been performed at the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona (Fig 3B).

This first birth in Spain led to a close and fruitful relation­ ship between Robert Edwards and several Spanish sci­ entists. At that time, Edwards, together with Jean Cohen, was establishing a new scientific society, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ES­ HRE) dedicated to basic knowledge on the biology of re­ production as well as clinical aspects of human infertility and ARTs. They were joined by Dr. Josep Egozcue, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Dr. Pere N. Barri, from the Institut Universitari Dexeus among other scientist from most European countries.

This relationship would last throughout the public ca­ reer of Dr. Robert Edwards and would allow two of them (Dr. Josep Egozcue and Dr. Anna Veiga) to succeed him

Fig. 2. An example of the media coverage of the birth of Louise Brown, which made the covers of many newspapers.

Fig. 3. A) Dr. Robert Edwards holding Louise Brown after her birth. B) Dr. Gloria Calderon holds in her arms Victoria-Anna after her birth.

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152 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

Santaló 

Fig. 4. Dr. Edwards and Dr. Egozcue (top row, second and sixth from left to right, respectively) among other ESHRE Presidents [2]. (B) Dr. Anna Veiga, Dr. Pere N. Barri and Dr. Edwards at a dinner during the 2007 ESHRE Meeting, held in Lyon.

as Presidents of ESHRE (Fig. 4). The contribution of Rob­ ert Edwards to our basic understanding of mammalian reproduction is certainly noteworthy but his contribution to infertility treatments was groundbreaking, since IVF was followed by a long list of closely related ARTs. “A new field of medicine has emerged, with Robert Edwards leading the process all the way from the fundamental discoveries to the current, successful IVF therapy. His contributions repre­ sent a milestone in the development of modern medicine.” [9] As the basis for many other related technologies. In an editorial by the ESHRE, it was pointed out that Robert Ed­ wards’ work provided the basis for other ARTs that would initi­ ate a new discipline in the field of Medicine: Reproductive Med­ icine and even Regenerative Medicine. Let us review their primary focuses.

In vitro fertilization. IVF is based on a very simple principle: to join spermatozoa and oocytes outside a woman’s body. To do so, the gametes must first be collected and then appropriately prepared. Collecting oocytes ready to be fertilized is one of the major handicaps of this technique. The procedure starts by suppressing the woman’s hormonal pituitary levels and induc­ ing a rise in FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteiniz­ ing hormone) by injecting these hormones according to a complex and personalized protocol. This procedure induces superovulation, yielding a higher than normal number of oocytes to be fertilized and, most importantly, controlled ovula­ tion. The oocyte is removed by an echo-guided follicle punc­ ture, which is followed by a short period of in vitro culture to al­ low the female gamete to reach the adequate degree of maturation. Spermatozoa are obtained by masturbation fol­ lowed by centrifugation of the semen to remove the seminal plasma, thereby inducing sperm capacitation. Gametes can come from the two members of the couple or from gamete donors, if one or even both members cannot produce them.

Once the male and female gametes are obtained, they are incubated together in an appropriate in vitro environment for several hours until signs of fertilization are observed: two pro­ nuclei and two polar bodies. These embryos are then cultured in vitro for 3 to 5 days after which they are transferred to the uterus, either that of the female member of the couple or that of a surrogate mother. The introduction of donors in the repro­ ductive project has changed our notions regarding parent­ hood, as is discussed later on in this article.

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Gamete and embryo freezing. Although the first pregnancy generated from frozen sperm dates back to 1954 [3], in 1984 the first success in freezing human embryos was described [26] while it was not until 1997 that oocyte freezing became possible [16]. Freezing gametes and embryos requires their maintenance at very low temperatures in liquid nitrogen (−196°C), which prevents all biochemical reactions. Cryopro­ tectants must be added to the freezing medium in order to avoid ice formation, as this would damage cellular structures.

Under these conditions cells can safely be stored almost in­ definitely. The ability to freeze gametes and embryos has led to the creation of banks that facilitate both the preservation of fer­ tility, even after the donor’s death and donation. The first fro­ zen-thawed embryo successfully resulting in a pregnancy in Spain was in 1986 [21], a noteworthy event since only one cell survived after thawing.

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was developed in 1989 by Handyside and coworkers [11] in order to select normal in vitro fertilized em­ bryos before transferring them to the uterus in couples at high risk of having a child with genetic abnormalities. In Spain, PGD was first clinically used in 1993, making it the third case de­ scribed in the world [22]. PGD requires the removal of a single cell from a 6- to 8-cell embryo and then genetically character­ izing it by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA amplification. However, the indica­ tions for PGD have expanded since its initiation and now in­ clude the selection of embryos for analysis based on other cri­ teria, such as avoiding the transmission of a genetic disease to future generations [18], selecting against embryos carrying genes that predispose the future adult to developing some kinds of cancer (breast or colon cancers), selecting healthy embryos that will be compatible donors for siblings affected by genetic diseases (human leukocyte antigen [HLA] matching), or even selecting the embryo of the desired sex for social reasons (social sexing).

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). First reported in 1992 [15], ICSI consists of injecting the sperm into the oocyte’s cyto­ plasm using a micromanipulator. Either ejaculated spermatozoa with low fertilizing capacity (as in oligo-, astheno-, terato­ zoospermia) or sperm obtained from the epidydimis, deferent ducts, or even testis can be used. ICSI also can be performed, although with lower fertilization efficiencies, using round or elon­ gated spermatides [8]. This versatility in the origin of the male

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Changing the perception of our own nature

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 153

gametic material has made it a powerful technique capable of overcoming a wide variety of infertility problems of male origin.

ever altered our vision of ourselves and the place we occupy in the vast panorama of nature.

Regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is based on the use of a very special type of cells: stem cells. Their undifferenti­ ated state makes them pluripotent, i.e., they can differentiate into any kind of cells of the organism from which they were de­ rived, in order to regenerate damaged tissues and organs from individuals (regenerative medicine). Stem cells can be obtained from adult cells either directly (adult stem cells) or by inducing their pluripotentiality (induced pluripotent stem cells, iPS) [20].

The use of cells from either source does not cause any ethical concern but some of their biological characteristics make them unsuitable for certain regenerative processes. By contrast, stem cells derived from human embryos (embryonic stem cells, ESC), prepared as described above but not used further, have the capacity to differentiate into any kind of cell and seem to be suitable for regenerative medicine, but their use has raised eth­ ical concerns.

One of the most serious drawbacks faced by regenerative medicine is immunological rejection. To solve this problem, selftransplant has been proposed, implying the use of cells derived from the same adult organism (iPS) or of cloning technologies (somatic cell nuclear transfer, SCNT) to derive genetically identi­ cal ESC, in what has been called therapeutic cloning. SCNT technology was developed to produce transgenic animals and resulted in the birth of the first mammalian clone, a sheep called Dolly, in 1996 [24]. It consists of removing the genetic material of a recipient oocyte and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor somatic cell. After that, the reconstructed embryo is activated to initiate embryonic development, leading to either an individual (reproductive cloning) or ESC (therapeutic cloning).

Finally, there is a line of investigation exploring the possibility of obtaining gametes, both male and female, from stem cells.

Preliminary results from animal models have been encourag­ ing. If these attempts can be reproduced in humans, they could solve many infertility problems even among individuals who cannot produce gametes.

Dissociation between sex and reproduction. This social revo­ lution is based on the complete dissociation between sex and reproduction. Of course, before the development of ARTs sex without reproduction was certainly possible, but there could be no reproduction without sex. This made maternity and vir­ ginity opposing concepts, a situation that conditioned many beliefs and even the history of Christian civilizations.

For its efficiency. The efficiency of the various ARTs are ex­ pressed as the pregnancy rate, which varies widely depending on the circumstances of the particular ART application but is typically between 20 and 50%. Comparing these figures with what is considered to be the efficiency of natural conceptions (33%) it is clear that, for those unable to conceive, these tech­ niques can offer the same chance of reproductive success as achieved by fertile individuals. Moreover, it has been estimated that, across the world, these techniques have resulted in the birth of over 4,300,000 babies since 1978. It seems obvious thatn in this sense, Robert Edwards’ work can be considered as ‘a great benefit to mankind.’

New paterno-filial relationships. By dissociating sex from repro­ duction, ARTs has changed our definition of paterno-filial rela­ tionships. These changes are concomitant with the appear­ ance of new kinds of maternity, brought about by ARTs. Before 1978, there were only two kinds of ‘mothers’: legal and biologi­ cal. After 1978, the biological mother concept was split into gestational mother and genetic mother, since gestation could be carried out by a surrogate mother or by the recipient of a donated oocyte. Moreover, in late 1990s, the use of a tech­ nique in which part of the cytoplasm from oocytes obtained from young women was transferred to older women to improve their gestation capacity resulted in the birth of a dozen children [5]. Although this technique is no longer used due to unexpect­ ed side effects, it briefly introduced the concept of the ‘cyto­ plasmic’ mother, different from the genetic mother, since it pro­ vides mitochondrial DNA from the donor to the embryo.

All these ‘new maternities’ can be exerted by the same per­ son or by different ones. Furthermore, these maternities (or pa­ ternities) can be exerted asynchronously, introducing leaps among generations: embryos being gestated by their nieces; embryos without parents but with grandparents, derived from gametes obtained from ESC (which in turn would have been obtained from an embryo that has never produced an individu­ al); embryos descended from siblings, which is essentially how clones must be considered since, from a biological point of view, they are like asynchronous homozygotic twins...

Providing a new step in human life. Before Edwards’ work, hu­ man life was generally defined as comprising three major phas­ es, fetal life, childhood and adulthood, but ARTs’ ability to ma­ nipulate the preimplantation embryo provided a possible fourth phase. Therefore new biological, ethical and legal questions arose: What is a human pre-implantation embryo? What moral consideration does it deserve? What rights does it have? As stated by John A. Robertson [17]: “Precisely because the early embryo is genetically unique and has the potential to be more, it operates as a powerful symbol or reminder of the unique gift of human existence...” for that reason

In setting the stage for a social revolution. As mentioned above, the social revolution linked to the development of ARTs poses, in the opinion of some people, a threat whereas others see it as an opportunity. I belong to the latter group since I am convinced that the changes brought about by ARTs have for­

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“While the preimplantation human embryo doesn’t have the same moral status as infants and children, it deserves spe­ cial respect and serious moral consideration as a developing form of human life.” [14]

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Preimplantation human embryos do not have a moral status but they do have a moral value; thus, there are moral reasons to treat them in some ways and not in others. A situation simi­ lar, although not identical, as of how to treat a human corpse, since it also deserves special considerations. According to this line of reasoning, the human embryo is not considered as a person and thus it does not have an absolute value. Its moral value can be pounded by other values, i.e., health, research, and general wellbeing, such that it can and should be used only when morally relevant ends are sought.

This argument has inspired new laws, bylaws, and interna­ tional treaties among developed countries that seek to reflect these social changes in their legal codes. In Spain, the most important laws are 14/2006, on Human Assisted Reproduction Techniques, and 14/2007, on Biomedical Research. Among the international treaties, one of the most relevant is the Con­ vention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo’s Conven­ tion), enacted by the Council of Europe on 4 April 1997. Based on all these considerations, the title I chose for this article: Robert Edwards. Changing the perception of our own nature, I guess is pertinent and has been sufficiently justified.

Santaló 

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

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Austin CR (1951) Observations on the penetration of the sperm into the mammalian egg. Australian Journal of Sci­ entific Research Series B-Biological Sciences 4:581 2. Brown S (2005) ESHRE. The first 21 years. Oxford Uni­ versity Press, Oxford 3. Bunge RG, Sherman JK (1954) Frozen human semen.

Fertility and Sterility 5:193-194 4. Chang MC (1959) Fertilization of rabbit ova in vitro. Na­ ture 184:466-467 5. Cohen J, Scott R, Alikani M, Schimmel T, Munne S, Lev­ ron J, Wu L, Brenner C, Warner C, Willadsen S (1998) Ooplasmic transfer in mature human oocytes. Molecular Human Reproduction 4:269-280 6. De Kretzer D, Dennis P, Hudson B, Leeton J, Lopata A, Outch K, Talbot J, Wood C (1973) Transfer of a human zygote. Lancet 29:728-729 7. Edwards RG, Steptoe PC, Purdy JM (1970) Fertilization and cleavage in vitro of human oocytes matured in vivo.

Nature 227:1307-1309 8. Fishel S, Green S, Bishop M, Thornton S, Hunter A, Flem­ ing S, al-Hassani S (1995) Pregnancy after intracytoplas­ mic injection of spermatid. Lancet 345:1641-1642 9. Gianaroli L, Geraedts J, Veiga A, Brown S (2010) The ‘Fa­ ther of IVF’ and a Founding Father of ESHRE. Human Re­ production 25:2933-2935 10. Hamilton WJ, Laing JA (1946) Development of the egg of

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the cow up to the stage of blastocyst formation. Journal of Anatomy 80:194-204 Handyside AH, Pattinson JK, Penketh RJ, Delhanty JD, Winston RM, Tuddenham EG (1989) Biopsy of human preimplantation embryos and sexing by DNA amplifica­ tion. Lancet 1:347-349 Hartsoeker N (1694) Essay de dioptrique. Imprimerie Royal, Paris Harvey W (1651) Exercitaciones de Generatione Animalium. Ludovicum Elzevirium, Amsterdam NIH (1994) Report of the Human Embryo Research Panel Palermo G, Joris H, Devroey P, Van Steirteghem AC (1992) Pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection of sin­ gle spermatozoon into an oocyte. Lancet 340:17-18 Porcu E, Fabbri R, Seracchioli R, Ciotti PM, Magrini O, Flamigni C (1997) Birth of a healthy female after intracyto­ plasmic sperm injection of cryopreserved human oocytes.

Fertility and Sterility 68:724-726 Steinbock B (2007) Moral status, moral value, and human embryos: Implications for stem cell research. In: Stein­ bock B (ed) The Oxford handbook of Bioethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.416-440 Santaló J, Grossmann M, Giménez C, Marina F, Egozcue J, Marina S, Vidal F (2000) The decision to cancel a pre­ implantation genetic diagnosis cycle. Prenatal Diagnosis 20:564-566 Steptoe PC, Edwards RG (1978) Birth after the reimplan­ tation of a human embryo. Lancet 2:366 Takahashi K, Yamanaka S (2006) Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors. Cell 126:663-676 Veiga A, Calderon G, Barri PN, Coroleu B (1987) Preg­ nancy after the replacement of a frozen-thawed embryo with less than 50% intact blastomeres. Human Repro­ duction 2:321-323 Veiga A, Santaló J, Vidal F, Calderón G, Giménez C, Boa­ da M, Egozcue J, Barri PN (1994) Twin pregnancy after preimplantation diagnosis for sex selection: case report.

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 155–161 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.121 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2010

The role of autobiography, biography, and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa . On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa* Joaquim Marco Department of Spanish Literature, Faculty of Philology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Resum. Aquesta vegada el Premi Nobel de Literatura ha estat concedit a un autor que els lectors de llengua castellana conei­ xen molt bé. D’una manera significativa, la carrera d’aquest es­ criptor està lligada a la ciutat de Barcelona des de ben aviat. Nas­ cut al Perú (Arequipa, 1936), universitari a San Marcos de Lima i professor en aquesta mateixa universitat durant un curt temps, obtingué aviat una beca que li permeté traslladar-se a Espanya per fer una tesi doctoral i s’instal·là a Madrid. Ja l’any 1959 rebé el Premi Leopoldo Alas, per a contes, a Barcelona, per Los jefes; i, pocs anys després, guanyà el Premi Biblioteca Breve 1962 amb La ciudad y los perros. Aquesta novel·la és considerada per una part de la crítica com el començament del boom que aplegà els autors de la seva generació i d’altres anteriors. Barcelona es convertí, aleshores, en el centre de la nova literatura iberoameri­ cana, ja que aquí s’hi trobaren, també, García Márquez, Donoso i d’altres. Els nuclis d’atenció foren l’editorial Seix Barral (i Carlos Barral en primer terme) i l’agent literària de tots ells, Carmen Bal­ cells. Però el desenvolupament de l’obra de Mario Vargas Llosa neix des d’un realisme autobiogràfic, la denúncia de les dictadu­ res, agafant com a exemples Conversación en la Catedral, la del general peruà Manuel Odría o la més tardana a La fiesta del chivo (2000), sobre Torrijos. Escriptor molt prolífic, no ha abandonat mai el sentit propi del realisme, encara que hagi situat les seves novel·les en ambients tan diversos com la ciutat, la selva amazò­ nica, el Brasil o el París del segle XIX, o l’Àfrica. En un moment concret va defensar la novel·la Tirant lo Blanc, de Joanot Marto­ rell, com a model. Ha cultivat la crítica literària amb llibres esplèn­ dids sobre García Márquez, Flaubert, Victor Hugo i Onetti, entre d’altres; i el periodisme, l’autobiografia i la política activa, quan es va presentar a les eleccions per a la presidència del seu país. És un escriptor d’idees i la seva dedicació literària ha estat constant.

Summary. On this occasion the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to an author that Spanish readers know very well.

This author’s career has been significantly linked to the city of Barcelona since its early stages. Born in Peru (Arequipa, 1936), he was both student and worked as an instructor for a short time at San Marcos University in Lima, but soon won a scholar­ ship that allowed him to move to Madrid to write his doctoral thesis. As early as 1953 he received the Leopoldo Alas Prize for stories, in Barcelona, for Los jefes, and a few years later he won the Biblioteca Breve Prize in 1962 for La ciudad y los perros. This novel is considered by some critics as the launch of the ‘boom’ that brought together the authors of his generation and others before. Barcelona became, then, the center of the new Latin American literature, with the presence of García Már­ quez, Donoso, and Vargas Llosa himself. The centers of atten­ tion were the publisher Seix Barral (with Carlos Barral at the front) and his literary agent, Carmen Balcells. But Vargas Llo­ sa’s literary development was born from an autobiographical realism, the condemnation of dictatorships, as in Conversación en la Catedral, which takes place during the dictatorship of Pe­ ruvian General Manuel Odría, or La fiesta del chivo (about Tor­ rijos). A prolific writer, he never abandoned a sense of realism, even if his novels were set in places as diverse as the city, the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, Paris in the nineteenth century, or Africa. At a given time, he defended Joanot Martorell’s novel Tirant lo Blanc, as a model. He has cultivated literary criticism with splendid books on García Márquez, Flaubert, Victor Hugo and Oneto, among others; and journalism, autobiography and active politics such as when he ran for president in his country.

He is a writer of ideas and his dedication to literature has been relentless.

Paraules clau: realisme autobiogràfic ∙ estructures de poder ∙ formalisme ∙ surrealisme ∙ objectivisme ∙ perspectivisme ∙ llenguatge oral ∙ dictadures llatinoamericanes ∙ periodisme

Keywords: autobiographical realism ∙ power structures ∙ formalism ∙ surrealism ∙ objectivism ∙ perspectivism ∙ oral language ∙ Latin American dictatorships ∙ journalism

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 20 December 2010, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 24 January 2011 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: J. Marco, E-mail: jmarcorevilla@gmail.com

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In March 1993, Mario Vargas Llosa published El pez en el agua.

Memorias (A Fish in the Water: A Memoir) at Seix Barral publishing house. In it, he alternates selected memories from his life with a justification of his candidacy for President of the Republic of Peru by spearheading a center-right coalition, which was eventually defeated in the second round by Alberto Fujimori, today in prison. However, the book also provides several keys to understanding his work, his personality, and his concept of literature (Fig. 1). It is telling that the book begins with his discovery, at the age of 11, just after fifth grade, of the existence of his father; he had believed his father to be dead, and now his mother had told him otherwise. Vargas Llosa spent his childhood in Cochabamba (Bolivia), and later in Lima and Piura with his grandparents. He describes this discovery as “a melodramatic, brutal, and vulgar story.” After that revelation, he began to write about his mother’s difficult marriage, the role of his grandparents, his aunts, and his uncle, and his re-encounter with a father figure, who did not come off in a very positive light. Yet his earliest stories are inspired by his childhood and adolescence. Perhaps his nomadic sense of life also comes from his itinerant life in different cities. However, the settings in his early novels are usually in Peru. What is more, they are draw from the small circle of friends from his childhood and adolescence, when he attended school in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima, although they were written during his years in purposeful exile, first in Paris and later in Barcelona, where he often says he spent the happiest years of his life. After that, he returned to Paris and then traveled to London, to universities in the United States, and to other more problematic areas on the planet: Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Congo, and almost all the countries in South America and the world. He considers himself cosmopolitan. Fujimori tried to strip him of his Peruvian citizenship, which would have rendered him stateless, although he also obtained Spanish citizenship around that time (1992). He has apartments in Madrid, London, and elsewhere, and is a member of the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy).

Fig. 1. Mario Vargas Llosa. © The Nobel Foundation. Photo: Ulla Montan.

Nonetheless, the first part of his oeuvre never departs from the middle-class Peruvian settings in which he was raised. In 1958, he won a trip to France with one of his stories, El desafío (The Challenge), which had been awarded a prize from the magazine Revue Française. Shortly thereafter, he applied for a scholarship to write his thesis at the University of Madrid, having already earned his Bachelor’s from San Marcos University

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in Lima, where he also briefly worked as an instructor. At that time, he was interested in the prose works of the modernist José Santos Chocano. While at the University of Madrid, he came into contact with Dámaso Alonso and Alonso Zamora Vicente. Those were the days of stylistics. His dissertation was not submitted until 1971; it would serve as the core of his later book on the works of Gabriel García Márquez. His first book of short stories, Los jefes (The Cubs and Other Stories), was awarded the then-prestigious, though not international, Leopoldo Alas Prize, in Barcelona. In 1959, relying on a scholarship, he once again traveled to Paris, where he earned a meager living as a journalist for the French national radio and television stations. Thus began his first exile, which was punctuated with brief trips to Peru. La ciudad y los perros (The Time of the Hero), which won the 1962 Biblioteca Breve Prize and the Critics’ Award in 1963, was the book that catapulted him to fame as a writer, not only in Spanish-speaking countries but all over the world through countless translations.

Some critics have deemed that it was The Time of the Hero that launched the boom (the term is nonetheless a journalistic trope, more related the world of publishing than to that of literature) in Latin America literature, although it is more accurate to say that it was due to the core of authors who briefly lived together in Mexico City: Carlos Fuentes, José Donoso, Gabriel García Márquez, and Vargas Llosa himself. However, the soul behind the recovery and expansion of Latin America literature in Europe at that time was Carlos Barral, whom Vargas Llosa mentioned when he accepted the Nobel Prize, along with his literary agent Carmen Balcells. The Time of the Hero is inspired by the years when Vargas Llosa was a student at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy, at his father’s behest. Perhaps for this reason, his friends had nicknamed him ‘the cadet.’ In 1967, Barral wrote in the introduction to Los cachorros (The Cubs), which Esther Tusquets published in Barcelona at her publishing house, Lumen: “Vargas, says of one of our mutual friends, c’est une bête à écrire. I, however, believe that he is a writer driven by a kind of vocation that is rare to find in our days ( ).

When I wanted to meet him he was just a name to me, the name at the top of a manuscript, submitted to the Biblioteca Breve Prize, that was one of the best and most stimulating surprises in my career as a publisher.” In those days, Vargas Llosa was living in Paris, like Julio Cortázar, on Rue de Tournon behind the Luxembourg Gardens, and what Barral remembered was the typewriter that presided over the tiny apartment: a powerful symbol. There is no doubt that among the figures from that boom, which would gradually expand, Vargas Llosa was the best educated as well as the most productive- La casa verde (The Green House) was published in 1966 and once again won the Critics’ Award in Spain in addition to the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in Venezuela. In Caracas, where he went to receive his prize, he met Gabriel García Márquez, when both were already famous. They belonged to a group of writers of varying ages whose aim was to shake up the method by which the schemes and forms of novels were organized. Drawing from the stories by America’s ‘lost generation,’ they believed that they had to break down traditional mechanisms, albeit without fleeing from a realism that they viewed as fundamental.

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The role of autobiography, biography, and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa

And even though they wrote about their own countries, togeth­ er they ushered in a new awareness of being Latin Americans.

They practiced a view of ‘formalism’ and assimilated the mech­ anisms of surrealism and the contributions from European lit­ erature, just as the generation before them had done. One of Vargas Llosa’s basic ingredients was capturing the oral lan­ guage and even the language of certain generational groups, like that of his Peruvian adolescence in The Time of the Hero.

This is wielded even more boldly in ‘The Cubs,’ singular proof of his use of the narrative tense, through an individual and yet simultaneously collective narrator. In an early scene, the main character is incapable of overcoming the effects of the ‘ma­ chismo’ around him and his disgrace after a transcendental ac­ cident that pits him against the clique at school. The story stemmed from a brief news item Vargas Llosa had read in the newspapers. However, The Time of the Hero is still the out­ come of the world of Lima’s Miraflores neighborhood, an upper middle-class enclave before its decline, and the awakening of the instincts of adolescents with the ethics and militarism of the previous generations. He includes in the novel the figure of the surrealist poet César Moro, a teacher at the school at that time, under a pseudonym. The world described is the result of the social hierarchies established by the characters themselves, who are also its victims: ‘bosses, dogs, and slaves.’ Inspired by the Sartrean sense of commitment, Vargas Llosa tries to of­ fer the model of a complex society, like Peru’s, divided into classes and racial origins: the students who come from the mountains (the Sierra) versus those who come from a new ur­ ban middle class. As expected, the novel was not kindly viewed

by Franco’s censors, and so when Barral published it with a few compulsory corrections he enlisted the tolerated prestige of José M. Valverde, a member of the jury, who wrote a pro­ logue that played down the story’s situations: “Its essential mo­ tif is a criticism of mankind, individual by individual.” However, the students and teachers at the Leoncio Prado Military Acad­ emy purchased 1000 books and made a symbolic bonfire with them in the middle of the schoolyard. But the novel was not so much a criticism of the military school as it was the suggestion of deliberate moral ambiguity, with an undeniable glimpse of the role of evil underlying it all, as Vargas Llosa noted in the Prologue (1972) to Georges Bataille’s La tragedia de Gilles de Rais (The Trial of Gilles de Rais): “Thus, the heart of literary cre­ ation is an act of rebellion, a desire to bring the hidden side of life to the fore: Evil (the irrational, the instinctual, the gratuitous, the luxurious, the mortal).” We shall see that in all the different stages of his work Vargas Llosa never abandons this principle.

Art never ceases to be viewed as a palliative to ease the unhap­ piness of life.

The author fled from his family milieu, which was not bereft of scandal, at the age of 20 with his 31-year-old divorced aunt, Julia Urquidi. They embarked on a somewhat bohemian trip to Paris, an autobiographical subject which, once novelized, would figure in the plot of La tía Julia y el escribidor (1977) (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter). Years later, this book would receive a reply by his aunt herself: Lo que Varguitas no dijo (What Little Vargas Didn’t Say, 1983). Later he would marry his first cousin, Patricia; they have been married for 45 years and have three

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children, one of whom, Morgana, was born in Barcelona. The subject of the ‘scriptwriter,’ that is, the popular writer by trade who can just as easily pen a radio show as practice journalism, was always disturbing to him, perhaps because of the devoted audience that this kind of author achieves. Attracted by the theme, years later he did not hesitate to reflect on the popular novels by Corín Tellado, which had crossed borders and were fairly well-known around Latin America. Although Vargas Llosa sometimes defines himself somewhat ironically as an escribidor, his work bears little resemblance to the job of such writers, although as a critic he is interested in genre literature and in Rulfo, Carpentier, and Flaubert, with the two sides represent­ ing the antipodes of any populism.

While the specific inspiration in The Cubs came from a newspaper item, The Green House (1966, Rómulo Gallegos International Prize) should be understood as a technical tour de force. Just a few years later, the novelist himself offered us the story behind this novel and its sense of adventure, in Historia secreta de una novela (The Secret History of a Novel, 1971).

However, unlike the previous books, in this case the scenes are set inland, in Piura, where he had lived as a child, in the middle of the desert, and in the jungle, in Amazonia, which he had visited twice. Initially conceived as a short story, The Green House grew to 4000 pages. It is an experience lived and heard but transferred to the imagination. In that novel, he abandons the city—and thus the writers from the boom who are identified with the urban novel—for the jungle. It is at The Green House, the name of a real brothel in Piura, that we first meet La Chunga, in a kind of split of two houses, one the outcome of the other. The Unconquerables also appear, four characters from La Mangachería, a criminal neighborhood, one of whom, Litu­ ma, we shall revisit later. The book consists of five intersecting stories, yet the reader never gets lost. In his memoirs, Vargas Llosa recalls the real ‘green house’ as “a large hut, somewhat more rustic than a house, a much livelier and more sociable place than the brothels of Lima, which were usually sordid and often quarrelsome ( ) My generation experienced the swan song of the bordello; it laid to rest this institution which would gradually become extinct as sexual customs relaxed, the pill was discovered, the myth of virginity became obsolete, and boys began to make love with their girlfriends.” In an interview, he described the adolescent experience of the mysterious and prohibited cave. However, the other landscape in the novel is Santa María de Nieva, in the jungle, a place he would also write about later in Pantaleón y las visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, 1973) and in El hablador (The Storyteller, 1987). The jungle-dwellers had been the subject of the trend called the ‘indigenous novel’ in Ecuador, which José M. Argue­ das had already honed, although The Storyteller was more closely related to the strange and little-known novel by Rómulo Gallegos, Canaima (1935), first published in Barcelona. The purpose of The Green House was to combine the techniques of objectivism, still fashionable in French novel writing, with per­ spectivism and inner monologue. It is perhaps the author’s most complex novel, as well as his most ambitious in terms of the number and complexity of characters and the multiplicity of settings. The army also plays a role in the story, although quite

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different from the humorous one in Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, in which a young officer’s efficacy at organiz­ ing a sex service for his soldiers, isolated in the jungle—derived from the unforgettable and disciplined Lieutenant Gamboa in The Time of the Hero—exceeds his superiors’ expectations.

The key to the humor, more akin to Cervantes and the classic English novel, comes from a new view of reality. It reveals the author’s distancing from that partly autobiographic and direct realism of his early years.

Conversación en la Catedral (Conversation in the Cathedral, 1969), however, still bears traces from his early period, in which his Peruvian years provide the fodder. In that work, we find his views, based on his own experiences, on dictatorial power, this time in reference to General Manuel A. Odría, who governed Peru with an iron fist from 1948 until 1956. La Catedral (The Cathedral), another irony, is the name of a working-class bar that Vargas Llosa frequented when he was a student. It is where he met Zavalita, a minor journalist and the chauffeur dis­ paraged by Don Cayo, a character close to the dictator. Here we can detect an attempt to describe the different circles of Peruvian society and at the same time the world of the journal­ ist from La Crónica, as the author himself was in his early days, hence his familiarity with the atmosphere of the newsrooms at newspapers from that time. As such, it is still one of his works with autobiographical inspiration, yet he also draws from the circular choral technique, similar to Dos Passos’ intentions, to capture the multiple voices of a capital city like Lima, with all its contradictions, as well as the voices of an entire country. It is an allegorical, historical novel, although the author recognizes the natural infidelities. And yet it is also a harrowing political novel and thus not a far cry from other authors’ attempts to craft a novel of the Latin American dictatorships. The circumstances were described by Vargas Llosa himself: “That climate of cyni­ cism, apathy, resignation, and moral decrepitude of Peru dur­ ing the eight-year reign of Odría was the raw material for this novel [ ] I began to write it in Paris ten years after the dictator­ ship as I was reading Tolstoy, Balzac, and Flaubert and earning a living as a journalist, and I continued it in Lima, in the snows of Pullman (Washington), in a small, crescent-shaped street in Valle del Canguro, and in London—between literature classes at Queen Mary’s College—and I ended it in Puerto Rico in 1969, after rewriting it several times over. No other novel has given me as much work, so if I had to rescue just one of the books I’ve written from a fire, I would rescue this one” (June 1998). That was when Carmen Balcells went to see him in Lon­ don and suggested that he stop teaching classes and instead devote himself solely to literature. She herself would send him a salary equivalent to what he earned as a teacher in England.

Vargas Llosa accepted and the money became his primary source of income, although the author has never quite man­ aged to fully leave university teaching. In fact, he was teaching at an American university when he received the Nobel Prize.

In La palabra mágica (The Magic Word), published in Mexico in 1983 and in Spain in 1996, the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso wrote: “In the early months of 1968 Mario Vargas Llosa wrote me a letter from London. [...] In his letter, which re­ flected the contagious enthusiasm of those far-off times, the

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recent author of The Time of the Hero asked me to participate in what would no doubt be an interesting project: a book of stories about Latin American dictators. And that book would contain the following authors: Alejo Carpentier (who would cover the Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado), Carlos Fuentes (the Mexi­ can dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna), José Donoso (the Bolivian dictator Mariano Melgarejo), Julio Cortázar (the Argen­ tine dictator Juan Domingo Perón), Carlos Martínez Moreno (the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas), Augusto Roa Bastos (the Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia), Mario Vargas Llosa (the Peruvian dictator Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro) and finally Augusto Monterroso, that is, myself, to cover the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza senior, the greatest thing in his life being when the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, honored him by saying he was a son of a bitch, but at least he was their son of a bitch” (p.

53). The project was aborted, but some of those authors still wrote their novels (and a few stories) about the dictatorships, among them Vargas Llosa himself with his perpetual interest in the mechanisms of political and absolute power.

Missing from this list are two seminal figures: Gabriel García Márquez, who after Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) wrote another great novel, El otoño del patriarca (The Autumn of the Patriarch, 1972), which is an amalgam of all the Latin American dictators as well as General Franco, be­ cause he partly wrote it when he was living in Barcelona, and Augusto Roa Bastos’ Yo, el Supremo (I, the Supreme). The outcome of the friendship with García Márquez was Vargas Llosa’s watershed book, from a critical standpoint, on the Co­ lumbian writer’s oeuvre: García Márquez: historia de un deicidio (García Márquez: Story of a Deicide, 1971, published by Barral Editores in Barcelona), which has still not been sur­ passed and which after the public rupture of the friendship be­ tween the two writers in Mexico has never been reissued ex­ cept in volume VI of his Obras Completas (Complete Works, Galaxia Gutenberg), for which I wrote the Prologue. There we can witness Vargas Llosa’s attempts to discover a suitable critical method for examining the works of his then-friend. Both novelists partook in Barcelona’s shining hour, the ‘gauche di­ vine,’ which featured a regular hedonistic social gathering of professionals and writers at a venue called ‘Boccaccio’ and which also included many of the Latin Americans temporarily living in Barcelona. They became involved in anti-Franco poli­ tics, while from the Latin American vantage point this period was marked by the Cuban Revolution. The group would even­ tually rupture over the ‘Padilla’ affair, in 1971. Herbert Padilla was a Cuban poet who was arrested after receiving the Casa de Las Américas Poetry Prize and, in Soviet style, ‘confessed’ while also denouncing many other writers, who were accused by the Castro regime of being CIA agents or homosexuals. The response came immediately in the guise of protests by several prominent European and Latin America authors, with Vargas Llosa as one of the instigators of a document addressed to Fi­ del Castro. This affair drove a wedge into what was called the boom, which despite being a phenomenon encouraged by the Barcelona publishing houses entailed certain bonds forged by friendships and literary affinities.

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The role of autobiography, biography, and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa

In 1953, Mario Vargas Llosa read Joanot Martorell’s Tirant lo Blanc in the library of the University of San Marcos. He set great store by this text, not only because Cervantes saved it from the bonfire in Don Quijote but because he could harness its realism, eroticism, and unbridled imagination as a justifica­ tion of his own aesthetic: the project of a ‘total novel.’ He de­ scribed Martorell as “the first in this line of substitutes for God,” and he regarded Tirant lo Blanc as superior to Cervantes’ nov­ el. At that time, it was a forgotten classic just being revived by scholars like Martí de Riquer. However, Vargas Llosa was the one who rescued it for the public at large by asking Carlos Bar­ ral to reissue it. The publisher did so in a new pocket-sized pa­ perback edition, also by Riquer, with Vargas Llosa writing a pro­ logue for the book as well as an essay in Revista de Occidente in January of 1969, which also contained Andrés Amorós’s review of One Hundred Years of Solitude. He compared the book to the work of Flaubert and mentioned it in his Nobel Prize ac­ ceptance speech in Stockholm.

The new Latin American writers needed a tradition. It could not be national (as it was in the case of Arguedas). García Már­ quez, for example, adopted Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. Thus, just like the modernists, and not only the poets, Latin American writers drifted away from the Spanish realist tradition and instead proclaimed the empire of the imagi­ nation. Vargas Llosa and García Márquez lived in Barcelona at the same time (1970-1974). Their foray abroad had a great deal to do with the figure of Juan Goytisolo, then in Paris with the Gallimard publishing house, and with the liberal atmos­ phere of Barcelona, which sought to escape from the burden­ some late years of the Franco dictatorship. Vargas Llosa has described that climate many times: “At that time everyone be­ lieved that culture would play a crucial role in the future democ­ racy. Afterwards, it was all for naught. Barcelona was the cul­ tural capital of Spain, and then this idiocy of nationalism put an end to it all.” The author has often declared himself to be state­ less, cosmopolitan, alien to any nationalism. However, much of his oeuvre stems from his experiences in Peru, which he has never given up, and from his language (at times Peruvian Span­ ish is apparent in the dialogues). In running for the presidency, he was even prepared to sacrifice his literary career to save Peru.

His admiration for Flaubert led Vargas Llosa to write a semi­ nal book inspired by his correspondence: La orgía perpetua: Flaubert y Madame Bovary (The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary, 1975), which was published by the Ma­ drid-based published Taurus and can be interpreted as a reply to Jean-Paul Sartre’s unfinished study of one of the masters of realism. We have already mentioned Vargas Llosa’s ongoing admiration of Sartre, even though his political positions were ultimately far from those of the French philosopher.

In 1981, La guerra del fin del mundo (The War of the End of the World), one of Vargas Llosa’s most accomplished books, was published. In that work, the author shifted his usual land­ scape to draw inspiration from a forgotten Brazilian literature classic, Os Sertoes (1902) by Euclides da Cunha. The model was historical and unquestionably that of Tolstoy and his War and Peace. Vargas Llosa’s ambition is colossal, and the result

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is outstanding. The action takes place in the Brazil of the ‘ser­ taos,’ in Canudos (state of Bahia) in the late 19th century. The main character, Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel, ‘O Consehei­ ro,’ heralds the birth of a religious, anarchic movement that gradually spreads and is viewed as a national political danger.

The descriptions of the godforsaken people, mass organiza­ tion, and the repressive function of the army shaped a remark­ able literary portrait. This is unquestionably one of the author’s best stories, but one that is related to history. However, in 1987, he returned to the jungles of Peru, this time to confront the primitive world and the main character’s adaptation to the most traditional world, the hidden tribes. The Storyteller, men­ tioned above, is a character that orally transmits the history of the tribe and is capable of abandoning civilization for a primitiv­ ism that is, nonetheless, idealized. This is close to folklore (call­ ing Lévi-Strauss to mind) and far from indigenism, the marginal outcome of the 1920s socialist realism. The author who had broken with that vein was José María Arguedas, about whom Vargas Llosa wrote in a study entitled La utopía arcaica. José María Arguedas y las ficciones del indigenismo (The Archaic Utopia: José María Arguedas and the Fictions of Indigenism, 1996). Vargas Llosa had been interested in Arguedas since 1955 and had met him in Paris. Arguedas knew Quechua and was always one of Vargas Llosa’s references.

Vargas Llosa’s output has continued. His working method is that of an indefatigable creator, yet he has never abandoned journalism, which keeps him up to date. He writes every day, still by hand, teaches classes, and travels widely in order to keep abreast of the world and to immerse himself in what will become the settings in his novels. He takes copious notes, just like the 19th century narrators, and carries out extensive library research. In fact, he reads and writes in the British Museum li­ brary. He says that he does not work well in Lima, where every­ one knows him and he can barely leave his home. Nor can he work in Madrid. That is why he chose London, even though his nomadic spirit leads him from one place to another, and as a subject of great media interest he knows that he is never able to stray too far. Patricia, his wife, whom he referred to in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and their son Álvaro, who works in the world of journalism and television, often operate as a filter in order to provide him with the time he needs to con­ tinue his writing.

Historia de Mayta (The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta), pub­ lished in 1984, can be viewed as an analysis of the endog­ enous violence in Peru. Twenty-five years after the deeds, a journalist examines the life of Alejandro Mayta, a Peruvian Trot­ skyist who led an attempted revolution in 1958. The result of historical inquiry is once again disillusion. The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta must be compared to Lituma en los Andes (Lituma in the Andes, 1994)—about a person whom we met in The Green House. The book, awarded the Planeta Prize, was in­ spired by the also failed terrorist and guerrilla movement Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). Once again we see how the au­ thor draws inspiration from historical situations related to his life, even though the latter novel, which is less structurally am­ bitious, is not one of his most accomplished.

With his interest in the different genres of the popular novel,

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Vargas Llosa attempts an erotic story in Elogio de la madrastra (In Praise of the Stepmother, 1988), which won him the ‘La Sonrisa Vertical Prize’, sponsored by the Barcelona publishing house Tusquets. The relatively short novel, compared to the author’s tendency to write long or drawn-out texts, was dedicated to Luis García Berlanga. Its main character is an angelic boy who ends up seducing his stepmother, writes about the episode, and de­ stroys his father’s marriage, all of this accompanied by referenc­ es to a few classical myths reflected in paintings and now nar­ rated spiritedly. The crucial male figure in that story reappears in Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto (The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, 1997), in which Vargas Llosa revisited the erotic, humor­ istic vein. His interest in the serial novel can be seen in the study La tentación de lo imposible. Víctor Hugo y ‘Los Miserables’ (The Temptation of the Impossible: Victor Hugo and Les Misérables, 2004). The author had confessed that he had read Les Misérables back in his days as a student at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy: “He was the best friend I had there.”

Nor did he flee from the method that had proven so useful to him. In his study El viaje a la ficción. El mundo de Juan Carlos Onetti (The Journey to Fiction: The World of Juan Carlos Onetti, 2008), the outcome of a course that he taught at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he appreciated the ‘crapulous style’ of the most pessimistic contemporary Latin American au­ thors and the adventure of discovering their dark side, evil, which is always more interesting in the literary world than the normality of a life without contrasts. In Cartas a un joven novelista (Letters to a Young Novelist, 1997), he summarized his concept of the novel and how it should be constructed, using the right techniques and organization, from the vantage point of the critic-reader as well. After all, he has never eschewed a necessary narrative mechanism which, when not separated from the basis of reality, allows his novels to journey along new pathways, depending on the nature of the plot. Technique, however, is always placed at the service of the free morality available to a fiction writer in his work. No work, regardless of how transcendent it may be, should deviate from its initial com­ mitment, apart from the political conceptions defined by a liber­ alism that is overwhelming in every respect.

In ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero? (Who Killed Palomino Molero?, 1986), he takes advantage of the police novel scheme to construct a model novella that operates almost like clock­ work. Just as on other occasions, the book’s subject comes from a somewhat trivial item published in a Peruvian newspa­ per, but Vargas Llosa used it to write a short and very meticu­ lously constructed story inspired by the police story, as García Márquez had done in his Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold, 1981). Yet once again, in La fiesta del Chivo (The Feast of the Goat, 2000), one of his most noteworthy novels, the author engages in a reflection on cor­ ruption in dictatorships. Set in the Dominican Republic, it ena­ bled him to describe the death of the dictator Leónidas Trujillo and to draw the portrait of a pure conspirator and his succes­ sor Joaquín Balaguer, who ruled over a falsified democracy.

The book can also be viewed as a historical novel, the moral reflection of a declining power but also marked by deliberate eroticism, which is part of the decline itself: the dictator’s col­

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Marco 

laborators and ministers have to lend him their own wives as proof of their loyalty—and this in a Latin American country characterized by its ‘machismo.’ It also includes torture, both physical and moral, and the suffering of an imaginary female figure who is important and complex though not historically based. Once again, the author draws from his own direct expe­ rience and from newspapers, and chronicles to portray the perversity of human beings, the seduction of power, and the annihilation of the individual.

More recently, the novelist has sought a historical basis to sustain fiction. He no longer draws inspiration from his early experiences; rather he needs to justify them by resorting to his­ tory, to documents, and to real personalities. For the reader, the novel once again becomes a kind of ‘true story,’ as it was in the early 19th century: a mixture of truth/reality and fiction. He also uses politics as a pretext for examining perversion and evil.

However, the scenes and primitive society he present in El Paraíso de la otra esquina (The Way to Paradise, 2003) are even more exotic, inspired by the biography of the feminist Flo­ ra Tristán, in parallel with that of her grandson, the painter Paul Gauguin. The novel’s organization, set in very different times, has a bit of Faulkner about it, even though Flora Tristán’s life is much less attractive than the painter’s, who was driven to won­ der about the nature of his aesthetic—and is thus closer to the novelist himself—and about primitivism yet without discarding the erotic elements associated with utopia. Although it could be viewed as a novel from the now globalized world (Lima, Par­ is, Havana, Germany, Belgium, Tokyo, Madrid, Vienna, Athens, Glasgow, Rome, etc.), Travesuras de la niña mala (The Bad Girl, 2006) is a tribute to Paris, the trap of the capital of Latin American writers since the 19th century. The female character is a femme fatale, and the action spans a period of time from the 1950s until today. The story also includes certain historical events that enable the reader to align it with the passage of time in the outside world.

Even more exotic yet no less moral is El sueño del celta (The Dream of the Celt, 2010). Its publication, heralded far and wide, almost dovetailed with the author’s Nobel Prize. Its main char­ acter is Roger Casement (1864-1916), who was sent to the Congo by King Leopold with the mission of “opening up the pathway of civilization through trade.” However, what Case­ ment observed in Africa was the most brutal exploitation of mankind by mankind, including children. This was also the key to Marx’s oeuvre and as such the book marks a return to the beginning in a period of global crisis in the capitalist system as well as a direct attack on the concept of unbridled capitalism.

Vargas Llosa uses the reports and newspapers that Casement himself sent to England and published. The envoy’s next mis­ sion was in Peru, in the rubber fields. While the previous epi­ sode was reminiscent of Conrad, this one brings us back to the atmosphere of José Eustaquio Rivera’s La Vorágine (The Vortex). However, the third part of the novel is no less dramatic, since it is written from prison, after the character has been sen­ tenced to death. Roger Casement was Irish; driven by his ide­ alism he defended Ireland’s independence from Great Britain.

The Dream of the Celt—the title comes from Casement’s pa­ pers—is the latest in Vargas Llosa’s literary oeuvre.

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The role of autobiography, biography, and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa

As the author proclaimed in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, his first vocation was the theater. As an adolescent, he wrote and put on a now lost play, La huida del inca (The Flight of the Inca), which was performed at the Teatro Variedades by stu­ dents from San Miguel school in Piura, the city’s first experiment with a coed school. His first mature play was La señorita de Tacna (The Young Lady from Tacna, 1981), followed by Kathie y el hipopótamo (Kathie and the Hippopotamus, 1983) and La Chunga (The Jest, 1986). Not too long ago Vargas Llosa even acted onstage with Aitana Sánchez Gijón, in a work directed by Joan Ollé. The subjects in his plays are not very different from those of his novels. In the words which serve as the prologue to the The Jest, he wrote: “Just like in my two previous plays [...], in The Jest I have tried to project the human totality of acts and dreams, of facts and fantasies, in a dramatic fiction.” He has of­ ten appeared in the media, in an effort to avoid straying too far from current events and politics, which have always engrossed him. Apart from numerous interviews, selected journalistic arti­ cles written by Vargas Llosa have been compiled in several books that offer provocative thinking: Contra viento y marea (Against Wind and Tide, 3 vols., 1990), Desafío a la libertad (Challenge to Freedom, 1994), El lenguaje de la pasión (The Language of Passion, 2000). There are also compilations of literary essays such as La verdad de las mentiras (The Truth about Lies, 1990 and 2002), the title of his reception speech at the Real Academia Española. That publication brings together 36 analy­ ses of 20th century narrators to demonstrate that “the handful of fictions in this book proves that, despite the pessimistic prophe­ sies about the future of literature, those committing deicide still maraud the city confabulating stories to make up for the defi­ ciencies of history.” His optimism regarding the maintenance and efficacy of fiction is combined with accentuated pessimism regarding human nature. If one of the reasons wielded by the Nobel Prize jury for granting him the prize was his criticism of power, then the human genus, according to the author, can im­ prove through reading, through the dissatisfaction that should be sparked by stories versus history, through the lives read about compared to one’s own unsatisfied existence. In this sense, he has not strayed too far from the primitive existentialism of his youth, although he has replaced Camus with Sartre and autobiography with biography and history.

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 161

Selected bibliography 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

To learn more

20.

http://www.cervantes.es/imagenes/File/biblioteca/bibliografi­ as/vargas_llosa_mario.pdf http:// www. mvargasllosa.com http://www.monografias.com/trabajos25/vargas-llosa/vargasllosa.shtml

21.

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 161

22.

23.

Prologues to the edition of Complete Works, 10 volumes, author’s edition. Galaxia Gutenberg/ Círculo de Lectores, Barcelona, 2006 Alonso MR, et al. (1971) Agresión a la realidad. Inventarios Provisionales, Las Palmas Armas Marcelo JJ (2008) Vargas Llosa, el vicio de es­ cribir. Debolsillo, Madrid Beltrán Peña J (1990) Mario Vargas Llosa en la historia del Perú. Estilo y Contenido Ediciones, Lima Boland R (1988) Mario Vargas Llosa: From “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” to “Elogio de la madrastra”. University of Auckland, Auckland Booker MK (1994) Vargas Llosa among the Postmodern­ ists. University Press of Florida, Gainesville Cano Gaviria R, ed. (1972) El buitre y el ave fénix: conver­ saciones con Mario Vargas Llosa. Anagrama, Barcelona Díez LA, ed. (1972) Asedios a Vargas Llosa. Editorial Uni­ versitaria, Santiago de Chile Establier Pérez MH (1998) Vargas Llosa y el arte nuevo de hacer novelas. Universidad de Alicante, Alicante Fernández Casto M (1977) Aproximación formal a la novelística de Mario Vargas Llosa. Editora Nacional, Ma­ drid Gerdes D (1985) Mario Vargas Llosa. Twayne, Boston Gnutzmann R (1992) Para leer a Mario Vargas Llosa. Edi­ ciones Júcar, Madrid Hernández de López AM, ed. (1994) Vargas Llosa: opera omnia. Pliegos, Madrid Kristal E (1998) Temptation of the Word. The Novels of Mario Vargas Llosa. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville Lichtblau ML, ed. (1991) A Writer’s Reality. University of Syracuse, Syracuse Marco J (2008) Mario Vargas Llosa. In: Domingo Róde­ nas (coord.) 100 escritores del siglo XX. Ariel, Barcelona Martín JL (1974) La narrativa de Vargas Llosa. Acercami­ ento estilístico. Gredos, Madrid Oviedo JM (1982) Mario Vargas Llosa: la invención de una realidad, 3ª ed. (corregida y aumentada). Seix Barral, Barcelona Oviedo JM ed. (1981) Mario Vargas Llosa. Taurus, Ma­ drid Rosssman C, Warren A eds. (1983) Mario Vargas Llosa: estudios críticos. Alhambra, Madrid Scheerer TM (1991) Mario Vargas Llosa: Leben und Werke: Eine Einführung. Surhkamp, Frankfurt Williams RL (1986) Mario Vargas Llosa. Ungar, New York Williams RL (2001) Vargas Llosa, otra historia de un dei­ cidio. Taurus-Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 163–170 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.122 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

The Nobel Prizes 2010

Unemployment and other challenges . On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides* Joan Tugores Ques Department of Economic Theory, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Resum. Les contribucions del guanyadors del Premi Nobel d’Economia 2010 destaquen en els exàmens de la funció de les friccions en els diferents mercats, en què les heterogeneïtats i especificitats fan que sigui necessari un procés de recerca per a trobar una coincidència raonable entre les parts en una transacció. Les aplicacions per als mercats de treball són dignes de menció, amb grans implicacions per als determinants de l’ocupació i l’atur i per a les polítiques en aquesta matèria. No obstant això, els resultats també es poden extrapolar a altres tipus de mercats i aplicacions.

Paraules clau: friccions ∙ cerca ∙ coincidència ∙ atur ∙ vacants

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Dale Mortensen, a professor at Northwestern University; Peter Diamond from MIT; and Christopher Pissarides from the London School of Economics, for their “analysis of markets with search frictions”... especially job markets (Fig. 1). However, their research also has broad applications and implications for other dimensions of economic life and beyond.

Fig. 1. Left to right, Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, Christopher A. Pissarides. © The Nobel Foundation. Photos: Ulla Montan.

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona, on 22 December 2010, and at the Octubre Centre of Contemporary Culture, Valencia, on 12 January 2011 for the Nobel Prize Cycle.

Correspondence: J. Tugores Ques, Departament de Teoria Econòmica, Facultat d’Economia i Empresa, Edifici principal, Torre 2, Av. Diagonal 690, E-08034 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel +34- 934039967.

Fax +34- 934021937. E-mail: jtugores@ub.edu

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 163

Abstract. The contributions by the 2010 Nobel Prize winners in Economics stand out in examinations of the role of frictions in different markets, in which heterogeneities and specificities make a search process necessary in order to find a reasonable match between the parties in a transaction. The applications to labor markets are noteworthy, with major implications for the determinants of employment and unemployment, and for policies on these matters. However, the findings can also be extrapolated to other kinds of markets and applications.

Keywords: frictions ∙ searching ∙ matching ∙ unemployment ∙ vacancies

Interestingly, the award, which is officially called the ‘Swedish Central Bank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,’ was not stipulated by Nobel in his will, as the other Nobel Prizes were; rather it was launched as part of the commemorations to celebrate the third centennial of the Swedish Central Bank (1668–1968). The Economics Prize was awarded along with the other prizes for the first time in 1969, with Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen as the winners. In fact, the initial comparison to the other Nobel Prizes was opposed by some of Alfred Nobel’s family members, so the official name was changed, although obviously in public opinion, the media, and academia reference to the prize as the ‘Nobel in Economics’ is fully entrenched.

The Swedish Central Bank can boast that it was officially founded prior to 1694, which is usually considered the date that the Bank of England was established as a central bank, a claim often cited to endorse its role as the ‘first central bank’ in history, in the modern sense of the term. Sweden, too, occupies a prominent place in the history of paper money issuances [1], although it should be noted that the Riksens Ständers Bank was created in 1668 as a ‘replacement’ for the Bank of Stockholm, a private bank under royal privilege. The improper issuance of bank bills led the latter to declare bankruptcy, which would explain why the new bank was placed under the control of the Parliament instead of the King’s authority.

The researchers who were ultimately awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics did not figure prominently on the informal lists of candidates. Other choices were Albert Alesina for his economic-political analyses; Nordhaus, Weitzman or Das-

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164 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

gupta for their environmental analyses; Paul Romer for his cre­ ative approaches; Tirole, Holstrom or Hart for their focus on businesses and organizations; and Reinhart and Rogoff for their hindsight analyses of the crisis. There were also the classi­ cal candidates, like Robert Barro, Jagdish Bhagwati and Wil­ liam Baumol, while members of the ‘young group’—at least by the Nobel in Economics’ standards—such as Acemoglu and Rodrik, would have to wait in the wings. Ultimately, the timeli­ ness of and societal concern with the problems of unemploy­ ment must have guided the choice of the three winners within the inscrutable criteria of the Selection Committee, although in any case they are certainly up to par with the history of the No­ bel in Economics.

‘Find the right match’ This was the title of the note announcing the prize winners. It refers to the basic notions that in many markets—in the broad sense, which we shall discuss below—there is no absolute ho­ mogeneity in the goods, assets, or characteristics that are the object of transaction, likewise in the broadest sense. For this reason, what are needed are search processes or mechanisms in order to find a reasonable match between those who supply and those who demand, i.e., both sides of the transaction, in order to “close the agreement.”

Even though, as has been amply pointed out, many of the Nobel Prize winners’ contributions with the greatest impact re­ fer to the labor market and in particular to determining the un­ employment rate, their search + matching processes are ap­ plicable in a more general sense than is often assumed. Each individual unquestionably has specific characteristics in terms of his or her job, professional qualifications , attitudes, and per­ sonality, and these affect the productive potential of work teams, companies, and organizations. Likewise, despite ad­ vances in the standardization of jobs, each potential vacancy to be covered has specific features. For this reason, search processes in job markets as a prelude to a proper match (to differing degrees) are important and frequent. In fact, these ap­ proaches are applicable to all cases in which the objects being transacted are homogeneous and/or standardizable commod­ ities. But jobs are not commodities and, obviously neither are people, not even terms of merely their productive potential ...

Similar descriptions can be applied in other fields. One time­ ly example is, of course, the real estate market. In this case, the specific needs and preferences of each person or family are unique, while the parameters of each home in terms of its price, location, layout, surroundings, and accessibility, etc., have their own more or less unique traits. The recent dynamics in the real estate industry—first a surge and then a drop—has famil­ iarized us with indicators such as visits per vacant apartment prior to purchase and others that clearly refer to the search process. Credit markets, too, largely fit this description in that the true solvency and solidity of the investment projects seek­ ing financing have idiosyncratic factors of specificity [2]. Even the role of money has been rationalized as a tool that ‘lubri­ cates’ exchanges in economies with widespread intrinsic

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Tugores Ques 

search costs—Kiyotaki and Wright is a well-known reference [3,30]—thus placing search + match as a foundation of the monetary economy.

In the world of business and in everyday life, search + match­ ing mechanisms are more frequent than we may realize.

Searching for and finding suppliers and clients with guarantees of quality and solvency and the absence of ‘opportunistic be­ haviors’ is a well-known factor that globalization has revalued, now that the networks of both suppliers and clients can readily be geographically larger in scope, implying a complexity in the ‘rules of the game’ and ‘institutional frameworks’ that require approaches and experimentation until reasonably reliable part­ ners are found. Arthur Okun’s contrast between ‘the invisible hand’ and the ‘handshake’ (sometimes visible and explicit, but other times invisible or implicit) could serve as a partial descrip­ tion of search + match mechanisms.

However, these situations naturally occur not only in eco­ nomic spheres but also in many other realms of human interac­ tion. In the sphere of interpersonal relations, [4] the processes that lead us to forge friendships and pair off in couples have these traits of heterogeneity among individuals, specificities that must ‘match,’ longer or shorter search processes, situa­ tions in which a ‘match’ is made, and of course others charac­ terized by phenomena like break-ups, ruptured relations, and changes in partners. People who gladly note a certain ‘imperi­ alism’ of the analytic concepts and tools of economics beyond its strict boundaries will find these ideas to be an interesting means of stating and confirming the potential of the broad dis­ cipline of human and social sciences which economics is, or should be.

The role of frictions The most basic formulations on how markets operate, which revolve around the usual analysis of supply and demand that students are taught from day one, start with the simplification of referring to standard, homogeneous goods for which supply and demand relations are defined to determine a price and equilibrium amount. The recognition that the real world is more complex leads us to wonder whether the ‘deviations’ are of a second or third order, meaning that the standard formulation is a reasonable approximation, or whether, to the contrary, they are something more than ‘frictions,’ in the sense that they can have quite significant impacts on the determination and con­ figuration of the equilibrium. An essential aspect of the 2010 Nobel Prize winners’ contributions is their proof that frictions are important in the sense that even though they may seem to be of limited scope, they substantially affect the equilibrium.

Let’s examine some of the facets of this argumentation.

First, in 1972 Peter Diamond published an article in the Journal of Economic Theory in which he argued that, in mar­ kets with a multiplicity of buyers and sellers but with search + match costs, frictions can even lead to a situation in which the ultimate price is not the competitive equilibrium price but actu­ ally the price that might occur in a monopoly! [5] This result, known as the Diamond paradox, is based on the fact that each

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Unemployment and other challenges

potential buyer will have a reference price, such that if they find an offer at an equal or lower price they will accept it and stop searching. Since sellers know this, they have an incentive to set the price at the maximum that buyers as a whole would be will­ ing to pay (monopoly price), since for any lower price asked by sellers some of them will have the incentive to ask a higher price, yet one that is only slightly higher in order to avoid trig­ gering a costly additional search. Thus, the only balanced con­ figuration would be that all the sellers ask the monopoly price only as a result of low search costs.

The assumption implicit in the Diamond paradox is homoge­ neity among buyers and sellers. One major step towards real­ ism in this literature came from explicitly introducing diverse di­ mensions of heterogeneity that can partly explain, or ‘resolve,’ the Diamond paradox, although they end up leading to a dis­ persion or multiplicity of prices. The basic case of single com­ petitive market equilibrium thus faded away as a result of fric­ tions that give rise to searches and heterogeneities, laying the groundwork for a research agenda of not only theoretical but also practical importance.

The doubts as to how frictions move us away from the theo­ retical results of competitive markets involve not only the con­ figuration (price and quantity) of the equilibrium but also its uniqueness. In a world with search costs, there is no guarantee that all the deals and contracts will close at the same price, or at the same wage in the case of the job market. Today we are accustomed to examples such as how the passengers on a given flight probably have a surprisingly high degree of hetero­ geneity in the prices they paid, or how the salaries earned by people with similar educational levels also show degrees of dif­ ference that have tended to rise instead of fall.

Mortensen has played a particularly prominent role in stress­ ing this implication of wage/price dispersions: his 2005 book is the best compendium of contributions in this literature on job markets [6,35]. The properties of the distributions of prices or salaries, the factors that affect their dispersion, and their eco­ nomic and social implications are interesting and realistic spheres of analysis and debate. Likewise, the multiplicity of possible equilibriums poses the question of whether they are equally valuable in terms of efficiency and/or social desirability; having proven that they are not begs the question of which measures or policies will encourage the real results to polarize as the ones regarded as the most desirable. The fact that search activities imply costs in resources is at the core of these analyses.

Another important implication refers to the macroeconomic dimensions of frictions. At around the same time that Diamond was working on the paradox that bears his name, Dale Mortensen published an article [32] that would have a huge im­ pact in academia. In a volume edited by fellow Nobel Prize win­ ner Edmund Phelps, on the microeconomic foundation of infla­ tion and employment, Mortensen demonstrated how search + match costs can explain both the famous short-term relation­ ship between inflation and unemployment, which we know as the Phillips curve, and how the middle- and long-term dissipa­ tion of the capacity to ‘exchange’ drops in unemployment with rises in the inflation rate.

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 165

This article appeared back when Milton Friedman had just explained how the purported ‘trade-off’ between inflation and unemployment–which post-Keynesians like Samuelson and Solow had included in the recommended tools for macroeco­ nomic policy—disappeared in the long term as a result of changes in the expectations generated by their use, while Phelps and his associates, including the young Mortensen, had rigorously grounded these ideas [7] by conferring a key role on search + match costs. Dovetailing with the debates on macroeconomic theories and policies, developments in the 1970s revealed the need to complement this approach on the aggregate demand side—crucial to basic Keynesian ideas, in­ cluding macroeconomic fiscal and monetary policies—with in­ gredients that were from the increasingly relevant supply side.

Aspects such as the functioning of job markets and interac­ tions with the dynamics of prices and costs were revalorized due to the problems of the 1970s and 1980s, phenomena that have returned today, such as stagflation.

The debates on the Phillips curve had become one way of introducing the problems of job markets as a crucial considera­ tion in the supply side. The 2010 Nobel Prize winners stressed that the so-called Beveridge curve or relation, which associ­ ates the behavior of vacant jobs to be covered with unem­ ployed persons looking for a job, also play a key role. As Blan­ chard and Diamond [23] explained in an article explicitly entitled ‘The Beveridge curve,’ this relationship did not deserve the secondary status to which the spread of the Phillips curve had relegated it, since it is “conceptually earlier and contains essen­ tial information on the functioning of the job market and the shocks that affect it.”

Focus on flows: The role of matching The partnership between Peter Diamond and Olivier Blanchard [8] in the late 1980s and early 1990s was fruitful in providing a basic version that contributed to popularizing the ideas of the search + matching approach. In 1994, the other two prize win­ ners, Mortensen and Pissarides, published a more elaborate and formalized article which is frequently cited as a reference to these formulations. However, to describe the essential as­ pects, we should briefly state what Blanchard and Diamond [24] called a ‘minimalist model.’

One point stressed by those authors is the large inflows and outflows in job markets. Back then, around seven million peo­ ple per month started and left jobs in the United States. Ac­ cording to 1980 figures, around 10% of the working population in manufacturing in the United States was part of the quarterly job turnover. Naturally, in other more rigid economies—such as the European economies, with Blanchard’s (a Frenchman) contribution being important for introducing the ‘European per­ spective’ in this analysis, just as the mix between the American Mortensen and the European Pissarides was important for the other facet of formulations of the approaches, which led to the Nobel Prize—the magnitudes may not be quantitatively as im­ portant yet they are nonetheless notable.

Therefore, studying labor markets in terms of inflows and

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Tugores Ques 

outflows, and in terms of the ‘flows’ in the creation and de­ struction of jobs, was the natural way, beyond the fact that so­ cio-political concern focused on the varying ‘stock’ in the vol­ ume of unemployment. Precisely one essential aspect of the problems stemmed, and still stems, from the lack of corre­ spondence between the “geography of job destruction and the geography of job creation,” from the differences between the qualifications needed for the jobs that are created compared to those that are destroyed, as well as from the heterogeneities between the degree of zeal with which companies seek to cov­ er their vacancies and the individuals who are actively seeking jobs at any given time.

For this reason, the Blanchard-Diamond [24] ‘minimalist model’ starts with the functions of job destruction and job cre­ ation. The explanatory variable of each aspect is both salaries and parameters that represent the shocks that affect the de­ struction and creation of jobs, which range from fluctuations in the aggregate demand to the role of foreign competition—a factor included in the formulation almost 20 years ago, when the mechanisms of offshoring, outsourcing, and their kin were much less important than today—as well as changes associ­ ated with technology. Naturally, the process of job creation and destruction must be coupled with forced job hiring and firing in order to provide a broader and more realistic view of the dy­ namics of job market flows.

The other key piece in these formulations, and probably the one that most specifically defines them, is the matching func­ tion, m, which relates hires (denoted by h) as a function of the components of the Beveridge relation: vacancies, v, and un­ employed persons, u, so that its most basic formal formulation can be written as: h = m (u,v) The repeated Blanchard-Diamond formulation shows the possible interpretation of this matching function [9] as a ‘black box’ that relates the input of vacancies with the output of hires. In fact, clarifying, quantifying, and substantially refining the content of this ‘black box’ was the enormous task that the Nobel Com­ mittee particularly valued. The initial formulations of the matching function fit reasonably well with a stable Cobb-Douglas-style function, with constant performances at scale, results which are known in other realms of economic analysis. [10] The other basic piece refers to the determination of wages.

This includes criteria on the ease with which workers can find al­ ternative jobs, the companies’ ease or difficulty in replacing workers, and other aspects derived from approaches such as efficiency wages [11]—which include the capacity of good sala­ ries to induce more effort and to retain the best people for the company—and bargaining factors, both individual and collec­ tive. Just like in other fields of economic analysis, the “Nash effi­ cient bargaining” criterion is used in the most common formula­ tion. Without delving into overly technical details, the most basic formulation of salaries makes them depend positively on vacan­ cies and negatively on unemployment, relationships that can be rationalized in many ways, all of them related to what each of the bargaining parties will get in the absence of an agreement.

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The interaction between the ingredients just mentioned, i.e., job inflows and outflows, matching, and salary determination, as well as both Blanchard-Diamond’s [24] ‘minimalist’ version and Mortensen-Pissarides’ [38] more comprehensive and so­ phisticated version make up the key pieces in the 2010 Nobel Prize winners’ analyses of job markets in their microeconomic and macroeconomic dimensions. These powerful and useful analytical and empirical tools have demonstrated their univer­ sality, have been inserted into broader formulations on the functioning of the economy, and have thus generated impor­ tant applications and debates. We discuss some of them in the following sections.

A crucial point: Cyclical and reallocation components One of the timeliest aspects of the prize winners’ contributions lies in the distinction between two different dynamics that can affect the relationships between unemployment and job vacan­ cies. The first comprises the more strictly and classically cycli­ cal aspects linked to the ebb and flow of economic activity, and in particular to the aggregate demand. At a time of cyclical ex­ pansion, vacancies rise while unemployment drops, while in cyclical contractions the opposite occurs. In fact, this was the original dynamic of the Beveridge curve.

Figure 2 is precisely what was stressed by the Nobel Com­ mittee when it awarded the 2010 prizes. It demonstrates the correlation between vacancies and unemployment (the afore­ mentioned Beveridge curve relationship) in the United States, with information from the first decade of the 21st century. This shows the chiefly cyclical dynamic during that period, with the prime and noteworthy exception of 2009 and 2010, in which the need for more important reassignment mechanisms clearly emerged.

However, there are times when the relationships between vacancies and unemployment are not so simple: one particu­ larly significant case is during a major reallocation of resourc­ es between sectors or activities, such that new vacancies ap­ pear in sectors quite different from those where jobs are being

Fig. 2. Dynamics of job vacancies and unemployment in the United States (2000–2010). Source: Nobel Committee (2010), with figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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destroyed and unemployment is appearing. These are situa­ tions in which economies grapple with structural changes as the result of technological changes or modifications in the spe­ cialization patterns as a result of global or local changes, or in which a given growth model has exhausted its potential or al­ ternatives must be found. In these cases, the movement be­ tween vacancies and unemployment will show a positive cor­ relation. Naturally, at each specific point in time the two facets can be combined, and structural adjustments often dovetail with recessions, giving rise to particularly serious problems in terms of magnitude and conflictivity.

One application of this analysis is a comparison of the effects of the economic crisis that started in 2007–2008 on Germany and Spain. The German productivity model is clearly oriented towards exportation and other avenues of internationalization, with highly competitive products that have made Germany, with a population substantially less than that of the United States or, of course, China, the top-ranked exporter of goods in the world for some years (although it was replaced by China in 2009, at least when exports are measured in aggregate terms, not added value). Germany’s competitive position meant that in 2009 its drop in GDP was even higher than the drop in Spain, [12] despite the fact that the labor market’s re­ sponse mechanisms were oriented more towards shortening workdays and other work-sharing mechanisms than towards layoffs, such that the unemployment rate in Germany had one of the lowest rises in the crisis years. However, when the re­ covery got underway on a global scale, the competitiveness of the German productive apparatus had remained intact, so that its privileged ties with the emerging economies spearheading the recovery enabled Germany to experience 3.6% growth in 2010.

By contrast, in Spain, as is well known, the crisis is not only, or not primarily, a cyclical phenomenon; rather the failure of the ‘growth model’ that was in place prior to the crisis has prompt­ ed the need to find new activities that can relieve the engines that were exhausted pre-crisis. [13] This process is taking long­ er than is desirable, such that the appearance of new sources of jobs has been particularly slow, as evidenced by sustained unemployment rates of around 20%. Some of the Nobel Prize winners’ studies mention the ‘cleansing’ role of recessions, which contribute to eliminating inefficiencies in companies and unsustainable patterns of resource allocation, which would have been desirable in Spain had the environmental conditions not allowed it to reach so far. In Germany, therefore, circum­ stances reflect a cyclical dynamics more in terms of the GDP than unemployment, whereas in Spain they show a particularly delicate superimposition between cyclical problems and the even more serious problem of the reallocation of resources be­ tween sectors or activities in the quest for new parameters to improve competitiveness and create jobs.

Discussion As mentioned above, the Mortensen-Pissarides [38] formula­ tion has earned recognition as one piece in the post-graduate

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macroeconomic formulations that turn these approaches into ‘classics.’ This recognition has also triggered a surge, almost an avalanche, of analytical debates and empirical testing. Of all the criticism offered thus far, Robert Shimer’s deserves men­ tion [14]. Its main feature is a painstaking methodology for proving the interpretative power of the standard formulations of the matching function to explain a relatively large part of the fluctuations in unemployment. Shimer’s most famous result is that this explanatory capacity would be lowered by only around 10% of the volatility of vacancies and changes observed in un­ employment when the fluctuations stem from shocks in pro­ ductivity. As Shimer himself stresses, the core target of his criticism is not so much the search + matching model as a whole (which he recognizes as useful, analytically operative, with rich and intuitively attractive results for comparative stat­ ics, and which can be easily adapted to study matters such as unemployment insurance, restrictions on dismissals, etc.) but mainly the last of the ‘pieces’ mentioned in Sect. 4: the deter­ mination of wages through Nash-style bargaining mechanisms.

Shimer proposes wage determination mechanisms that give rise to greater wage rigidity as an alternative, with a possible role for a more complex matching function than postulated in the basic formulations.

The Nobel Prize winners’ responses rose to the insightful­ ness and seriousness of the criticisms. Mortensen’s articles written in conjunction with Nagypál [37] and Pissarides [38] are among the most cogent of these responses. After acknowl­ edging the seriousness of Shimer’s criticism, the authors offer matching mechanisms that are more sophisticated than those of the basic formulations. Without delving into the technical de­ tails, we could say that the search + matching model has also demonstrated its versatility by including more heterogeneous and realistic bargaining and matching mechanisms, which some experts believe are particularly delicate and important in cases of reallocation dynamics, mentioned in the previous sec­ tion.

Another interpretation of these debates was precisely the role of adjustments via wages compared to adjustments via employment as response mechanisms to diverse shocks. This consideration, as discussed below, has sparked criticism of the theory of matching, and is, of course, an extremely timely issue given the reemergence not only of higher unemployment rates owing to the current recession but also, and more impor­ tantly, of evidence of major differences in the responses of dif­ ferent national and institutional systems to this crisis. Once again, the contrast between the above-discussed conditions in Germany and Spain has become a benchmark, even in some International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports comparing respons­ es to the global economic crisis.

In the view of the media and from a socio-political perspec­ tive, one extremely controversial point is the potential implica­ tions of these approaches on social protection policies, and particularly on unemployment benefits. There are arguments on many fronts. The first concerns how benefits can extend the active search—or at least the length of the search—or simply the passive waiting of the unemployed. However, others ask how these benefits can contribute to a more efficient match

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which allows for greater leeway so that the ‘right person’ finds the ‘right job,’ with all the gains in efficiency—in social and in human terms—that this entails.

Aware of several biased interpretations regarding the impli­ cations of this approach with respect to policies on unemploy­ ment benefits, the Nobel Prize winners used the particularly momentous occasion of the awards ceremonies to clarify their views. In particular, in Mortensen’s toast on behalf of all three winners at the gala dinner, he addressed the importance of “supporting the income of the unemployed during the reces­ sion... and restoring prosperity as quickly as possible.” Beyond technical arguments, the emphasis is on the social and human dimensions that support the provision of benefits and guaran­ tees. After all, as Mortensen explained, economics is the “strange science” (to quote him in his toast at the gala dinner in Stockholm before the King of Sweden) that deals with the most important and yet most mundane issues affecting the human condition, and job markets and unemployment are the ‘perfect example.’ [15]

Other contributions by the prize winners Peter Diamond’s contributions to extraordinarily timely issues, such as the debt and social security, both related to intertem­ poral and intergenerational dimensions, are particularly note­ worthy. One of Diamond’s first academic studies [27] intro­ duced the public debt into the neoclassical growth model formulated by Solow and Swan. Several discussions are worth highlighting. Diamond distinguishes between the destination of the resources obtained and debt issuances: one alternative is investments in productive capital that raises the economy’s potential, [16] while the other is investments in expenditures “without permanent effects,” which at one point he described as “gifts to part of the populace” with low or even dubious pro­ ductivity.

The role of public policies in growth models is also the topic of two Diamond-Mirrlees articles published in 1967. The role of intermediate inputs, especially imported ones, is a thoroughly modern consideration, and the implication of the result of the advantages of not assessing imports of intermediate goods might be an interesting further issue. Regarding his contribu­ tions to the social security system, there are few striking sur­ prises, yet a great deal of common sense. Diamond focuses on a balanced approach, with the introduction of gradual changes as the demographics evolve—an interesting reminder particu­ larly in societies that did not take advantage of the economic windfalls yet are experiencing broad demographic changes (in the birth rate, migration, life expectancy)—to make the adjust­ ments that must ultimately be shouldered at a time of crisis, with higher social costs than what might have been reasona­ ble. The opinions of Diamond and his coauthors such as Ni­ cholas Barr were solicited not only in the United States but also in China, which is particularly important given the role of Chi­ nese savings in this country’s dynamic and in its surplus [21,22]. The latter is a crucial ingredient in the ‘external imbal­ ances’ and ‘global savings glut,’ which, to a disputed degree,

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has been one of the basic factors in understanding the reces­ sion that got underway in 2007–2008. Launching something similar to a social security or social protection system in China and other emerging economies is a crucial aspect of the pro­ posals for the “solid, sustainable, and balanced growth” (to use an expression from the G-20 reports) of the world economy.

[17] Christopher Pissarides, the only European among the trio of prize winners, has made interesting contributions on the spe­ cificities of unemployment on the Old Continent. We should emphasize his insistence on the role of the rising, yet unfinished and certainly unequal, influx of women into job markets as a major positive factor. Also interesting are his analyses, coau­ thored with Ngai [39], of interactions between the ‘domestic (household) production’ of certain services and their market provision, with differing impacts on the levels and dynamics of employment depending on the particular ‘welfare state’ model (they specifically compare the European continental model with its English and Scandinavian counterparts). Also noteworthy is his carefully considered opinion on a better future positioning of Europe in terms of global competitiveness and improved job performance, and on the mix between contributions from the knowledge sector and from fields that are less productive yet have a major social presence, such as distribution. He has also contributed to formalizing intuitions on the implications of the new global rules in terms of asymmetrical impacts that are more favorable to the capital factor than to the work factor. An article by Azariadis-Pissarides [20] presents the impacts of the new realities and outlines how greater tensions may be dis­ placed towards the work factor, especially regarding the dy­ namics of unemployment.

Mortensen has spotlighted the role of heterogeneities in dif­ ferent spheres, as mentioned regarding his analysis of wage dispersions. His more recent major contributions, largely the outcome of his partnership with European institutions and re­ searchers, especially in Denmark, stress the role of heterogene­ ity in the productivities between companies even in the same sector, the potential role of the reallocation of workers and other resources as a tool to improve aggregate productivity, [18] and the role of innovation in products as a Schumpeter-style mech­ anism of progress. The role of public policies when the innova­ tion rate that market mechanisms would generate is lower than what is socially optimal is an important implication. [19] Finally, it is useful to revisit a relatively recent text by Peter Diamond [28], one that is somewhat atypical at first glance in that in his evaluation of the contributions of behavioral eco­ nomics he offers somewhat broader perspectives on human behavior and its motivations than those of conventional formal­ ized economic theory. Diamond revives a quote from Alfred Marshall in which this Cambridge don stated the wisdom and need to combine partial analyses, “step by step, decomposing a complex issue” into aspects that are easier to deal with and which have broader, most holistic visions that avoid the risks inherent in apparently exact formulations on issues which, however, “less closely correspond to real life.” He links this with the recommendation of fellow MIT Professor Ricardo Caballero [26], that in order to overcome, with intellectual honesty, the

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claims of severe deficiencies in some approaches that have dominated economic orthodoxy in recent times, we must give more weight, considerably more weight, to broad exploration instead of the excesses that have come about in the name of fine-tuning, which beyond a certain level—and that level has been greatly exceeded—can be impoverishing and counter­ productive. Peter Diamond’s [29] insistence on the role of edu­ cation and how through teaching one learns, one is forced to clarify things, and one gains stimuli for research is an interest­ ing message at a time when the undervaluing of teaching has become an ailment in the profession.

Thus, we should also learn flexibility and pragmatism from the messages of the winners of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics in order to turn this ‘strange science’ (to use Mortensen’s term) into a useful tool for understanding, and for attempting to shore up, the functioning of our societies, thus reviving Economics’ place at the cutting edge of the social sciences and humanities.

To learn more The prize winners’ websites provide extensive information on their careers and especially their publications: Peter Diamond, http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/pdiamond Dale T. Mortensen, http://www.dalemortensen.com/ Christopher Pissarides, http://personal.lse.ac.uk/pissarid/

Selected bibliography 1. Blanchard O, Diamond P (1989a) The Aggregate Match­ ing Function. NBER Working Paper 3175 2. Blanchard O, Diamond P (1994) Ranking, Unemployment Duration, and Wages. Review of Economic Studies 61:417-434 3. Diamond P (1971) A Model of Price Adjustment. Journal of Economic Theory 3:156-168 4. Diamond P, Mirrlees J (1971) Optimal Taxation and Pub­ lic Production. Part I: Production Efficiency and Part II: Tax Rules. American Economic Review 61 5. Lentz R, Mortensen D (2008) An Empirical Model of Growth through Product Innovation. Econometrica 76(6):1317-1373 6. Pissarides C (1990, 2000) Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, 1st and 2nd ed. Basil Blackwell 7. Pissarides C (2006) What Future for European Jobs?

CentrePiece 8. Pissarides C (2009) The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: Is Wage Stickiness the Answer? Econometrica 77(5):3391369 9. Pissarides C (2010) Why Do Firms Offer ‘Employment Protection’? Economica, October, 613-636 10. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2010) Markets with Search Frictions. Document compiled by the Eco­ nomic Sciences Prize Committee, 11 October 2010 [www.nobelprize.org]

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Notes 1. In his Financial History of Western Europe, Charles Kindleberger subscribes to the thesis that the relative scarcity of precious metals in Sweden made the advent of bills particularly important as a tool to replace mone­ tary transactions of a certain size, which are particularly cumbersome to pay in metals of lesser value.

2. In the case of the credit market, as well as in insurance, the emphasis has been more on the components of imperfect and/or asymmetrical information, aspects which earned the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economy, which was awarded to George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph Stiglitz.

3. Brunner-Meltzer [25] deserves mention as a rigorous ap­ proach to the fundamentals of a monetary economy.

4. Mortensen [33] is an explicit application of this approach to personal relationships.

5. This result is radically counterbalanced by the result of the Nash Equilibrium on competition via prices, accord­ ing to which even a duopoly would end up setting the perfect competition price. Instead of a small dose of competition leading to perfect competition, Diamond’s result is that even a small deviation from the assumptions of perfect competition can lead to monopoly prices.

6. Mortensen [39] is a more recent contribution that ques­ tions salary dispersion in a context with heterogeneous productivity among different companies.

7. The Phillips Curve relating inflation and unemployment becomes a vertical line in the long term—when expecta­ tions are revised—without the possibility of lowering un­ employment in exchange for accepting more inflation.

This result is sometimes known as the ‘Phillips FriedmanPhelps Curve.’ Mortensen’s contribution to this curve de­ serves to be spotlighted.

8. Allow me to express my conviction that if it had not been for the job that Olivier Blanchard had when the 2010 No­ bel Prizes were awarded—as the Chief Economist and Head of Research at the International Monetary Fund—it would have been likely, and in any event fair, for him to have also shared the prize because of the merits of the articles I mention.

9. Naturally, even the minimalist formulation explicitly recog­ nizes the job that Pissarides and Mortensen have per­ formed in parallel. The reference to Pissarides’ studies from 1985 [40] and 1986 [41] is particularly important.

10. In fact, Blanchard and Diamond linked up with their MIT colleague Robert Solow, the 1987 Nobel Prize winner, in two ways. First, because of their use of the theory of eco­ nomic growth, of an ‘aggregate production function’ with an analytical expression similar to the ones that the match­ ing function initially adopted, and secondly because Solow, along with fellow MIT professor and Nobel Prize winner (1970) Paul Samuelson, introduced the Phillips Curve in the United States, helping to turn it into a media and analytical tool for introducing the dimensions of the supply—including job markets—into macroeconomic theory and policies.

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11. Robert Solow also played a prominent role in the devel­ opment of ‘efficiency salaries.’

12. According to figures from the IMF, in 2009 the real GDP dropped 4.7% in Germany, while in Spain it declined 3.7%.

13. Several estimates situate the weight of the real estate and construction industries in Spain at between five and sev­ en percent of the GDP, well above the average in the leading European countries, making this a prima facie magnitude of the requirements for generating new sourc­ es of wealth and jobs.

14. Shimer [42] is a key reference.

15. His toast speech can be found at: http://nobelprize.org/ nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2010/mortensenspeech_en.html.

16. Recently one argument tried to explain international fi­ nancial flows in terms of Bretton Woods III, which, in con­ trast to Bretton Woods II during the first decade of the 21st century, meant that now the surpluses of countries with a capacity for financing would go to cover public debt instead of private sector debt, the accumulation of which was one of the catalysts of the crisis that broke out in 2007–2008. Some authors have indicated that as pub­ lic resources finance public capital (infrastructures, etc.) in Bretton Woods III, there would be a greater contrast between the ownership of the assets financed and the debt burden.

17. Peter Diamond’s contributions on this issue are a recent additional factor that exposes the Republican Congress members who initially vetoed his candidacy, proposed by President Obama at the request of a former Diamond dis­ ciple, Ben Bernanke, as a member of the Board of the Federal Reserve.

18. We should recall that the intra-industry heterogeneity of productivity and other parameters, as well as the role of intra-industrial reallocations as a mechanism for improv­ ing productivity as the result of more supply-oriented and globalized economies, are some of the core features of the new approaches in international trade and multina­ tionalization, along the lines of Marc Melitz, Stephen Yea­ ples, Elhanan Helpman, and others who should also earn a Nobel Prize at some point.

19. Regarding this issue, see Lentz-Mortensen [31].

References 20. Azariadis C, Pissarides C (2007) Unemployment dynam­ ics with international capital mobility. European Economic Review 51(1):27-48 21. Barr N, Diamond P (2009) Reforming Pensions. CESifo Working Paper 2523 22. Barr N, Diamond P(2010) Pension Reform in China: Is­ sues, Options and Recommendations. LSE-MIT

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23. Blanchard O, Diamond P (1989b) The Beveridge Curve.

25. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1:1-60 24. Blanchard O, Diamond P (1992) The Flow Approach to Labor Markets. American Economic Review, February, pp. 354-359 25. Brunner K, Meltzer A (1971) The Uses of Money: Money in the Theory of an Exchange Economy. American Eco­ nomic Review, December, pp. 784-805 26. Caballero R (2010) Macroeconomics after the Crisis: Time to Deal with the Pretense-of-Knowledge Syndrome.

Journal of Economic Perspectives, pp. 85-102 27. Diamond P (1965) National Debt in a Neoclassical Growth Model. American Economic Review 55(5):1126-1150 28. Diamond P (2008) Behavioral economics. Journal of Public Economics 92:1858-1862 29. Diamond P (2011) My research strategy. In: Szenberg M, Ramrattan L (ed) Eminent Economist II – Their Work and Life Philosophies. Cambridge University Press 30. Kiyotaki N, Wright R (1993) A Search-Theoretic Approach to Monetary Economics. American Economic Review 83:63-77 31. Lentz R, Mortensen D (2006) Optimal Growth through Product Innovation. Society for Economic Dynamics, Meeting Papers 279 32. Mortensen D (1970) A Theory of Wage and Employment Dynamics. In: Phelps E, et al. (eds) Microeconomic Foun­ dations of Employment and Inflation Theory. Macmillan 33. Mortensen D (1988) Matching: Finding a Partner for Life or Otherwise. American Journal of Sociology, 94:S215S240 34. Mortensen D (1989) The Persistence and Indeterminacy of Unemployment in Search Equilibrium. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 91(2):347-360 35. Mortensen D, Pissarides C (1994) Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment. Review of Economic Studies 61(3):397-415 36. Mortensen D (2005) Wage Dispersion: Why Are Similar Workers Paid Differently? MIT Press 37. Mortensen D, Nagypál É (2007) More on unemployment and vacancy fluctuations. Review of Economic Dynamics 10:327-347 38. Mortensen D (2009) Wage Dispersion in the Search and Matching Model with Intra-Firm Bargaining. NBER Work­ ing Paper 15033.

39. Ngai RL, Pissarides C (2008) Employment Outcomes in the Welfare State. Revue economique 59(3):413-436 40. Pissarides C (1985) Short-Run Equilibrium Dynamics of Unemployment, Vacancies, and Real Wages. American Economic Review 75:676-690 41. Pissarides C (1986) Unemployment and vacancies in Britain. Economic Policy 1(3):499-559 42. Shimer R (2005) The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Un­ employment and Vacancies. American Economic Review 95(1):25-49

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 171–173 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.123 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

focus

Piedmont and Catalonia: the unification of Italy and Spain.

Some comparative remarks * Salvador Giner President, Institute for Catalan Studies, Barcelona

During the 19th century, the process of political unification in Italy attracted serious attention throughout the Continent and beyond. Foreign observers interpreted the events from the per­ spectives of both their native countries and their political lean­ ings. Liberals saw a new and critical flourishing of freedom; conservatives feared the rise of a new power in what was then called the concert of nations; Catholics worried about the pos­ sible loss of autonomy of their Church, whose state-like sover­ eignty they deemed essential; progressives believed it offered the possibility of reform and even revolution; nationalists long­ ing for the independence of their countries viewed the new Italy as a mirror of their own future. But all those who loved and ad­ mired Italy were overjoyed by the final turn of events.

The time has arrived for Europeans to take level-headed stock of these events and to look at their consequences for all of us, and not only for the Italian people. This is why the confer­ ence L’Unità Italiana: uno sguardo dall’Europa, launched under the auspices of the Turin Academy, is so timely and necessary.

The most forward-looking, cosmopolitan, European and ad­ vanced region of Italy, Piedmont, was the core of the move­ ment that built the Italian state and, dare I say, the modern Ital­ ian nation. We must therefore welcome a meeting such as this, endowed as it is with a strictly European perspective.

It seems to me that one of the most fruitful ways to look at the nature and consequences of Italian unification is to engage in a systematic comparison of similar territories and societies in Europe during the same period and undergoing relatively com­ parable economic and social processes. The Italian and the Iberian peninsulas offer such an opportunity, by considering Catalonia and Piedmont (Fig. 1). In spite of their divergent des­

tinies, within their respective states they share historical, cul­ tural, economic, linguistic, and industrial characteristics that seem to warrant comparison. Historical and contemporary comparisons of the advanced, industrial areas of Spain and It­ aly are certainly, a very promising undertaking; yet, unfortu­ nately, it is one that thus far has not been systematically at­ tempted. One finds, at best, passing remarks about their similarities and disparities. Some of them, often reflecting the pressure of political developments in either region, are not even minimally accurate. In the worst of cases, several historians and social scientists have exhibited almost complete ignorance regarding the coexistence of what are, quite simply, the two most important cases of capitalist development, industrial rev­ olution, and cultural modernization in Mediterranean Europe.

The history of Piedmont (and, to a large extent, that of Lom­ bardy and Liguria as well) and that of Catalonia present a number of striking similarities. Linguistically, both societies are intimately related to the Occitan and Provençal lands of South­ ern France that separate them geographically. The Catalan and Piedmontese languages have for centuries been an essential part of the identity of their respective country. Linguistically dis­ tinct in different but significant degrees from the major political unit into which each was to integrate itself, both regions, were in addition, and historically always had been, frontiers. Both straddle important mountain chains, whilst the capitals, Turin and Barcelona, have long been thriving cities on the lowlands.

However, in these frontier countries, for very long periods of their respective histories, the political center represented by these cities was not well-consolidated and, at times, became marginalized. However, there were also periods in which these

Fig. 1. Left, Sala dei Mappamondi at the Acade­ my of Sciences of Turin. Right, Sala Prat de la Riba at the Institute for Catalan Studies, the Catalan Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

* Based on the lecture given by the author at the Academy of Sciences of Turin, on 7 June 2011 for the International Conference L’Unità Italiana: uno sguardo dall’Europa (Unified Italy: a European Perspective).

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Correspondence: S. Giner, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, C. del Carme 47, E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-932701620. Fax +34932701180. E-mail: sginer@iec.cat.

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cities managed to carve out for themselves a substantial politi­ cal unit which evolved to become their core such that ultimate­ ly both were eventually established as political capitals. Yet, large parts of the old kingdom of Savoy are today in France; and part of Catalonia is under French administration. In addi­ tion, Valencia, a Catalan-speaking region to the south, has a separate administrative and political status in Spain. But within the relatively ‘backward’ Hispanic and Italian social, cultural, and political universes of the 19th century, Catalan, Piedmon­ tese, and Lombard societies strike us as regions that were ca­ pable, as to the manner born, to enter and even shape the modern world (Fig. 1).

As a matter of fact, endogenous capitalist and industrial revo­ lutions took place within Catalonia and Northern Italy. Historical­ ly, the process of modernization in Europe, and therefore in the world, began in Southern Europe: the modern mentality as well as the basic institutions of modernity find their remote historical roots in those lands, from late Medieval times and continuing into the early Renaissance. Trade and mercantile international law, banking, protodemocratic parliaments, competitive indi­ vidualism, and primitive capitalism found natural homes in Northern Italy and Catalonia from the start. Later on, these so­ cieties shared in the development—again, seemingly from within—of the ideologies that became characteristic of modern times: liberalism, socialism, and anarchism, with Northern Italy and Catalonia embracing constitutionalism and rationalism in true unison with the rest of Western Europe. Apart from the liberal bourgeois culture that developed in Turin and Barcelona over the 19th and the 20th centuries, linked to the urban and industrial development of these cities, revolutionary radicalism also found in each society a specific and original form of ex­ pression, which became more socialist and communist in Turin during its revolutionary period (one that we associate with the Antonio Gramsci and the consigli operai) than in Catalonia, whose working class veered towards anarcho-syndicalism.

Yet, Catalan syndicalism was substantially different from the much more utopian libertarianism of the period. It strongly em­ phasized disciplined cooperativism and workers’ control of the various enterprises. But no less than the revolutionary move­ ment in Piedmont, its Catalan counterpart left its mark on the history of European industrial and left-wing radicalism.

For all these reasons, both societies were, for a long time, peripheral to the core of the states to which they now belong; by the same token, they were also central and vitally important to their respective states, in that they were and have remained powerful industrial and advanced regions. Indeed, the wider economies of Italy and Spain largely depended on their pros­ perity during the modernization of these countries and contin­ ue to do so today.

Obvious differences between Piedmont and Catalonia, im­ portant though they are, do not entirely blur the picture. On the contrary, some of them happen to be extremely enlightening, and some are perhaps only a matter of degree: Catalonia is not just a region, it is a nation, so defined in the democratic Span­ ish Constitution of 1978 and considered as such by most Cat­ alans. Piedmont, on the other hand, despite its strong linguistic and cultural identity within Italy, is readily defined as a region

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Giner 

mostly by its own people. The Catalan language is a distinct Romance language, just as French, Italian, Provençal or Roma­ nian. Its vitality is considerable and its official recognition by the world of universities, science and the humanities is assured and quite effective. Catalan capitalism and industrialism and indeed the modernity of the social structure of Catalonia may be older or more precocious historically even than that of Pied­ mont; yet, for a series of significant reasons, Piedmontese cap­ italism and industrialism successfully reached advanced stag­ es of internationalization and modernization which were only defectively arrived at by the Catalans and their enterprising bourgeoisie. While both are important industrial regions today, Catalan development seems to lag behind that of Piedmont and Lombardy, and quite substantially in some areas.

Perhaps the greatest contrast between the two societies is to be found in their respective relationships with the states to which they belong. Thus, historically, the peripheral Piedmon­ tese, shifted their political ambitions from a transalpine world onto the Italian peninsula: they then became the chief archi­ tects of a united Italian nation. Turin was briefly the first capital of Italy, in the earliest stage of the state-building and nationbuilding years. The contrast could not be greater with Catalo­ nia. The Catalans, entrenched in their small principality, jeal­ ously kept their relative independence within the Spanish crown and empire, from which they were excluded. They sometimes had to fight for sheer and heroic survival against in­ vasions by the Spanish and French monarchies. The cost for them was immense and need not be recounted here. By the 19th century, and unlike the Piedmontese, they had no larger nation to unify: the massive reality of the Spanish monarchy— clumsy, archaic, centralistic, as already seen by many at the end of 17th century—was there as a most stubborn and alien political reality. While the Piedmontese conquered and built the Italian state, the Catalans had to accommodate themselves within the Spanish one, and survive as a national community.

In this respect, it is most revealing that the expressions catalanismo and piemontesismo mean exactly the opposite in Spain and Italy. The former is, of course, Catalan nationalism, occasionally even meaning separatism or independence. The latter, on the other hand, was a term widely employed in the years after the formation of the kingdom of Italy, after 1861, to indicate the tendency to build the new state according to the criteria of the Sardinian State. The expression also reflected the resentment of Lombards, Tuscans and, especially, Southern­ ers against early Piedmontese control and penetration of the state administration and the army. Penetration of that kind by the Catalans has never occurred within the Spanish state. If anything, there was serious under-representation, at least until the arrival of democracy late last century. It has always been the norm, and is a source of complaints in Catalonia about the lack a rightful place within the Spanish state.

Perhaps the contrasting situations of each region vis-à-vis Rome and Madrid, not to speak of their distinctiveness in terms of culture and language, together with the respective feelings of nationhood explain how, today, Catalans abhor being cou­ pled or linked to certain Northern Italian regionalist or semi-in­ dependence movements, such as the Lega Nord, which they

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Piedmont and Catalonia: the unification of Italy and Spain. Some comparative remarks

see as vastly unrelated to their history, identity and claims. All parties and movements in Catalonia are vehemently commit­ ted to a just distribution of resources between all peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. Opportunistic regionalism finds no friends in Catalonia. This is not to be confused with very strong feel­ ings—backed by a constant flow of economic analyses—that resource distribution, state investments and financial arrange­ ments within the Spanish state represent an unfair burden upon the Catalan economy. This is reflected in Catalonia’s po­ litical party system, which is substantially different from that of the rest of Spain. (It must be added, for a multiple nation state such as Spain, that the same goes for the Basque Country, which enjoys a much fairer fiscal system but, owing to its ethnic identity, also possesses its own political party structure.)

The end of the 20th century saw these two peripheral yet crucial areas of Italy and Spain converge in their roles regarding their respective peninsulas as well as within Europe as a whole.

(To some observers they are the southernmost Northern Euro­ pean societies.) The implementation of regionalism in Italy and the recognition by the Spanish constitution of 1978 of the na­ tionality status of Catalonia and the restoration of the Generali-

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 173

tat, the ancient Catalan Government, has begun to create a more adequate framework for the prosperity and democratic stability of their respective states. Given the strong linguistic, cultural, and industrial links of both Catalonia and Piedmont with the rest of Europe, their frontier position may have been seen, in the past, as sources of ambivalence and national dis­ loyalty by poorer regions or diffident central governments.

However, they are now sources of strength: two vital, vibrant and forward-looking societies within Italy and Spain.

Both Piedmont and Catalonia can act as strategic links be­ tween their respective wider states and their peoples on the one hand, and the larger unit of Western Europe, on the other.

Granted the amount of initiative that they deserve, Piedmont and Catalonia will fulfill a creative, dynamic and highly innova­ tive role in the consolidation of a united and prosperous Eu­ rope. This task will only be successful if European citizens re­ think the meaning of their states and look for political units of the right scale and scope. It is only then that democracy can be strengthened and the ancient traditions of civility, industry, de­ mocracy and progress—such as the Piedmontese and the Catalans have always cherished—continue to flourish.

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 175–183 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.124 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

forum

The history of Scientia Marina Jordi Lleonart, M. Pilar Olivar Marine Sciences Institute-Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona

There is a reason for scientific journals; they have an important function. But with time, circumstances change and so does the role these journals play: they must adapt or disappear. Here we present an account of a journal, first published in 1955 under the name Investigación Pesquera (Fisheries Research) and lat­ er acquiring its current title, Scientia Marina, that continues to be a very successful marine research journal, something that is not easy to achieve. Initially set up by a small number of scien­ tists eager to disseminate their research results and those of others, scientific journals are now part of a world that has be­ come dominated by major publishing companies, with their own interests. In addition, while the aim is still to share knowl­ edge, other factors come into play, such as achieving the max­ imum international ranking, for both journals and authors. Since our journal was first published, many years ago now, it has been able to adapt to changing, often adverse circumstances.

Indeed, those responsible for the journal have had to make some very difficult decisions, even though, looking back, they can be seen to have been the correct ones. Suffice to say that, despite not being professionally managed, as the journal has always been run by scientists, who combine editorial tasks with their research, Scientia Marina is among the high ranked marine science publications internationally. In this article we summarize the 56-year history of Investigación Pesquera/Scientia Marina.

We discuss the most significant and decisive challenges to the journal and the situations that have required difficult decisions.

Finally, we present current information on the progress of Scientia Marina as an international scientific journal.

Antecedents Before the Spanish Civil War. To understand the circum­ stances that gave birth to Investigación Pesquera, it is neces­ sary to discuss marine research in Catalonia and throughout Spain and how the results of that research were published at the end of the 19th and into the first half of the 20th century.

We do not intend to provide a history of marine research, which can be found in Viñas [21], Lleonart and Amat [14], Guerra and Prego [12] and Oliver [17], or a more general account, as the

Correspondence: J. Lleonart, Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC, Pas­ seig Marítim 37-49, E-08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34932309500 (ext. 5880). Fax +34-932309555. E-mail: lleonart@icm. csic.es

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 175

reader will find in Font i Sagué [9], Riera i Tuèbols [16], Camarasa and Català [3] and Vernet and Parés [20], and in the refer­ ences cited by these authors.

In Catalonia, research on natural history was first published in Catalan in the Butlletí de l’Associació d’Excursions Catalana (Bulletin of the Catalan Association of Excursions, from 1878 to 1890) and, beginning in 1891, in its successor, the Butlletí del Centre Excursionista de Catalonia. Founded in 1899, the Ins‑ titució Catalana d’Història Natural (Catalan Institution of Natural History, ICHN) [2] published the first Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural (Bulletin of the Catalan Institution of Natural History) in 1901, and later (in 1917 but back dated to 1915) Treballs (Works), which included marine research.

The Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona (Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona) was established in 1764. One of its main activities was the presentation of reports and scientific papers, but it did not start to publish until 1835, Memorias (Reports) and 1840, Boletín (Bulletin) [13]. In 1871, the Sociedad Española de Historia Natural (Spanish Society of Natural History) was created in Madrid. It published 30 volumes of Anales (Annals) between 1872 and 1902, and, in 1901, be­ gan publishing the Boletín, which is still published today.

Other journals were devoted to fisheries: Revista de Pesca Marítima (Journal of Marine Fisheries), published between 1885 and 1901, and Anuario Estadístico de Pesca Marítima en España (Statistical Yearbook of Maritime Fishing in Spain), which has been published since 1904. These journals as well as the Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona pub­ lished several papers on Catalan fisheries and ichthyology by Joaquín de Borja y Goyeneche [18]. At the turn of the century, extensive research was being carried out in the field of marine sciences. Odón de Buen, from Zuera in Aragon, established the strongest foundations of oceanography research in Catalo­ nia. De Buen was Chair of Natural History at the University of Barcelona from 1889 to 1911, when he left to take up the Chair in Madrid. He was a revitalizing element not only at the univer­ sity but also in the social and political life of Barcelona [6].

The creation of the Junta de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (Board of Natural Sciences of Barcelona), in 1906, with the par­ ticipation of de Buen and members of the ICHN, and the found­ ing of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Stud­ ies, IEC), in 1907, are the smouldering embers of science from that time, which was marked by interest in science publications.

During those years, the ICHN became affiliated with the IEC, and two issues of the Anuari de la Junta de Ciències Naturals

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176 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

de Barcelona (Yearbook of the Board of Natural Sciences of Barcelona) were published, one in 1916 and the other in 1917.

In 1914, now in Madrid, de Buen founded the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (Spanish Oceanography Institute, IEO), with laboratories in Palma de Mallorca and Santander, but not in Catalonia. In 1916, the IEO began publication of Boletín de Pescas (Fishing Bulletin), which was actually the first journal to spe­ cialize in marine biology. De Buen had many students while in Barcelona. Two of them are of particular interest here: Josep Maluquer and Josep Fuset [4]. Maluquer was one of the driving forces behind the ICHN. He published a book on oceanography in Catalan [15] and directed the oceanography section at the Museum of Catalonia, created by the Junta de Ciències Naturals (Board of Natural Sciences). The section was not successful and neither was the attempt to create an oceanography center [7].

Fuset, born in Sueca, near Valencia, studied with de Buen not only in Barcelona, but also in Palma de Mallorca and Santander.

In 1913, he was named to the Chair of Zoology at the University of Barcelona [8]. One of his students, who also worked as his assistant, was Francisco García del Cid, born in Malaga and raised in Tarragona. In his doctoral thesis, in 1922, García del Cid presented his research on labrid fish. He was the founder of Investigación Pesquera and continued the work of de Buen in Catalonia. Until the arrival of the Franco dictatorship, marine sci­ ence research was basically published by the ICHN. After the Spanish Civil War. With the dictatorship that fol­ lowed the Civil War, in 1939, all Catalan scientific institutions were shut down and so were their publications. Neither the in­ stitutions nor the publications started up again until the 1970s, with the exception of the clandestine issue, number 37 of the ICHN Butlletí, in 1949–1950, and the first publications of the Societat Catalana de Biologia (Catalan Society for Biology).

State institutions also suffered major changes. De Buen was forced into exile, and the IEO and the Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural (Spanish Royal Society of Natural History) did not resume publication of their research bulletins until the mid-1940s. As a republican, Fuset was removed from his post in 1940. The Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC) was set up based on the infrastructure (but not the same philosophy, of course) of the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios (Board for Advanced Studies). In this barren panorama, Francisco García del Cid took on the Chair of Zoology at the University of Barcelona, in 1942 [1]. Under the auspices of the CSIC, he created the Instituto de Biología Aplicada (Institute of Applied Biology, IBA), in 1943. The IBA was initially based at the Zoology Laboratory of the University of Barcelona, and, in 1944, it began publishing the Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada (Publications of the Institute fo Applied Biology).

Marine research activities began in 1948, with the creation, in 1949, of the Sección de Biología Marina (Marine Biology Section) within the IBA. García del Cid surrounded himself with a group of young researchers who formed the nucleus of Spanish fisheries science: Enrique Gadea, Buenaventura An­ dreu, Ramón Margalef, Miquel Massutí, Josep M. Camps, Manuel Gómez Larrañeta, Julio Rodríguez Roda, Antoni

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Lleonart, Olivar

Planas, Francisco Vives, Pere Suau, Carles Bas and Miquel Duran. Some went on to the IEO while others remained at the CSIC. The Marine Biology Section became so important that, in 1951, the Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras (Institute of Fisheries Research, IIP) was set up as part of the CSIC, with García del Cid as director [12,14]. From the outset, the young researchers at the IIP published in the Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada, but they soon recognized the need for an independent journal, one devoted to marine sciences, since Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada covered far more general areas of research. As a result, in 1955, the first volume of Investigación Pesquera appeared. The parent jour­ nal, Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada continued to be published until 1974. During those years, other journals were launched, but they had a short life span, such as Publicaciones sobre Biología Mediterránea (Publications on Mediterranean Biology), of the Spanish Institute of Mediterranean Studies, in Barcelona, in which Margalef published his mono­ graph on phytoplankton of the Costa Brava, in 1945.

The Arago Laboratory, a marine station of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Banyuls-sur-Mer, had a major role in training young scientists both before and after the war. Being close to Barcelona, its impressive library and the scientists who worked there provided contact with the outside world. How‑ ever, the IIP’s scientists never published in the University’s journal, Vie et Milieu, founded in 1950. Between 1954 and 1965, Dr. García del Cid organized five scientific congresses, the Reuniones de productividad y pesquerías (Productivity and Fisheries meetings), which became authentic marine science congresses. The proceedings were published in specific issues in 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1965. As these were not in­ cluded in any journal series, they are nowadays difficult to find.

Investigación Pesquera The first volume of Investigación Pesquera, published in Octo­ ber 1955 (Fig. 1), had a small introductory text explaining the reasons for its creation: “Even though the Insituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras be­ came completely independent in 1951, its research contin­ ued to be published in Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada, the journal of the research association that organized the group dedicated to investigating problems in marine and fisheries biology. The volume of results now ex­ ceeds the capacity of these Publicaciones, calling for the creation of an independent journal, Investigación Pesquera, with no explicit periodicity, but with an estimated annual publication of 500 to 700 pages. The research carried out at the Insituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras, until now ap­ pearing in Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada, and the contents of this issue, give an idea of the character of this new publication.”

This explanatory text appeared in the first 20 volumes (until 1961). In volume 21, it was replaced by the journal’s own def­

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The history of Scientia Marina

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 177

Significant Issues of Investigación Pesquera Often without changing the numeration of the journal, and without any special announcement, Investigación Pesquera published several remarkable volumes, dealing with congress proceedings or monographic supplements. Among the first were:

Fig. 1. Covers of the first volume of Investigación Pesquera, of two special issues of Scientia Marina and a regular issue published in Sep­ tember 2010.

inition of itself as a “journal of marine and fisheries science, published by the Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras.” The publisher was the CSIC and the Patronato Juan de la Cierva, a CSIC body created to promote relationships with the indus­ try. Even though Dr. García del Cid was the Editor-in-chief, his name did not appear in the journal until his obituary was published, in volume 30 [1]. Dr. Buenaventura Andreu then took over responsibility for Investigación Pesquera, but his name also did not appear until volume 37(2), in 1972. From then on, the name of the Editor-in-chief was always printed and later on also those of all members of the journal’s Edito­ rial Board.

The main IIP center was in Barcelona, with subsidiary labo­ ratories in Blanes (set up before the labs in Barcelona), Cas­ telló, Cadiz and Vigo. Investigación Pesquera was, therefore, the journal where the scientific research of all the IIP laborato­ ries was published. Investigación Pesquera was published in Spanish until 1968, volume 32. The introduction of other lan­ guages was mainly the result of the publication of the pro­ ceedings of international symposiums organized by Margalef.

In 1969, volume 33 included an article in French. The follow­ ing volume (34, 1970) published the proceedings of the Seminario de Ecología Matemática (Seminar on Mathematical Ecology) with all the articles (9) in French. In the following is­ sue and year (number 35, 1971), the proceedings of the con­ ference on upwelling ecosystems were published, with 23 ar­ ticles: 18 in English, 4 in French and 1 in Spanish. Volume 37 included two articles in Italian.

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• Seminario de Ecología Matemática (Seminar on Mathe­ matical Ecology), 1970, volume 34 • Simposio sobre Sistemas de Afloramiento (Symposuim on Upwelling Systems), 1971, volume 35 • Seminario sobre Análisis Factorial en Ecología y Ta‑ xonomía (Seminar on Factor Analysis in Ecology and Ta‑ xonomy), 1972, volume 36 • Seminario sobre la Endocrinología en la Reproducción de los peces (Seminar on the Reproductive Endocrinology of Fish), 1977, volume 41 • Simposio sobre Dinámica de Poblaciones en Pesquerías (Symposium on Population Dynamics in Fisheries), 1979, volume 43 • III Colloquium Crustacea Decapoda Mediterranea (Collo­ quium on Mediterranean Decapod Crusteceans), 1987, volume 51 • Simposio sobre Economía de la Pesca (Symposium on Fisheries Economics), 1987, volume 51 Significant monographs published by Investigación Pesquera that followed the numerical series of the journal were: • Estudios sobre las algas bentónicas en la costa sur de la Península Ibérica (litoral de Cádiz), by J. Seoane-Camba, published in 1965, volume 29, 216 pages • Crustáceos Decápodos Ibéricos, by R. Zariquiey, pub­ lished posthumously in 1968, volume 32, 510 pages • Foraminíferos Ibéricos. Introducción al estudio de las espe­ cies bentónicas recientes, by G. Colom. 1974, volume 38

Sister Publications to Investigación Pesquera In the 1970s, there was a recognized need for an appropriate vehicle to publish documents or articles that were not strictly “research” from a standard point of view. As a result, several series of collections were published, today all extinct, which re­ sponded to those needs while they existed.

Informes Técnicos (Technical Reports). First appearing in 1971, these were published until 1992, a total of 170 volumes.

The name of the journal was changed to adapt to the changing context. Thus, Informes Técnicos del Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras (Technical Reports of the Institute of Fisheries Research) became Informes Técnicos de Investigación Pesquera (Technical Reports of Fisheries Research), from number 138, published in 1987, following the reorganization of the IIP laboratories as independent institutions [12]; this suc­ cession was therefore assigned to the journal rather than to the

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Institute. Beginning with volume number 157, published in 1990, the journal was called Informes Técnicos de Scientia Marina (Technical Reports of Scientia Marina), to adapt to the new name of the parent journal. Originally a publication dedi­ cated to fisheries technology, its objective was later extended to: “publish work of interest to the industry, analytical tech­ niques and methodologies, aquaculture and consultation doc­ uments, all related to marine sciences.” In this series, mono­ graphs, normally short, were published.

Resultados de Expediciones Científicas, Suplemento de Investigación Pesquera (Results of Scientific Expeditions, Fisheries Research Supplements). Twelve of these supplements appeared between 1972 and 1984. This series published the research resulting from expeditions on the first Spanish oceanographic research vessel, the ‘Cornide de Saavedra,’ which entered service in 1971. The initial title, Resultados de Expediciones Científicas del Buque Oceanográfico Cornide de Saavedra. Suplemento de Investigación Pesquera, was retained until volume 8 (1979). Once a second oceano­ graphic vessel, the ‘García del Cid,’ came into service in 1979, the reference to vessel was eliminated, beginning with volume 9 (1981).

Informes Técnicos. Suplemento de Investigación Pesquera (Technical Publications. Fisheries Research Supplements). This was a series of just three monographs, pub­ lished between 1971 and 1974. The objective was practically the same as that of Informes Técnicos, possibly more exten­ sive.

Datos Informativos (Informative Data). The goal was to publish data reports, particularly of research cruises. Seven­ teen volumes were published between 1976 and 1986.

Lleonart, Olivar

Table 1. Editors-in-chief of Investigación Pesquera and Scientia Marina

Investigación Pesquera 1955–1965

Francisco Garcia del Cid

1966–1986

Buenaventura Andreu

1986–1988

Jordi Lleonart Scientia Marina

1989–1991

Jordi Lleonart

1992-1997

Josep M. Gili

1998-2001

Carles Pedrós Alió

2002-2005

Pere Abelló

2006–2010

M. Pilar Olivar

2010-

M. Dolors Vaqué

laborate to the financially support the journal. Table 1 lists the Editors-in-chief of the journal, and the dates they exercised this role.

As the continuation of Investigación Pesquera, the first is­ sue of Scientia Marina is number 53. Changes to the format were made by graphics artist Pepa Estrada, who modernized the journal, increasing its size to A4 and giving it a new cover as well as two-column pages (Fig. 1). There was a major de­ bate over the name of the new journal. A Spanish name was no longer appropriate in a world where the English language dominates, but the scientists could not agree on an English title. A title in Latin was finally chosen but one totally under­ standable by all, Scientia Marina (‘Marine Science’ in Eng­ lish).

While Investigación Pesquera gave birth to Scientia Marina, this change was not sufficient to overcome the problems of

The Birth of Scientia Marina In 1979, the four laboratories of the Institute of Fisheries Re­ search, in Barcelona, Vigo, Cadiz and Castelló, became four independent institutes [12]. The Investigación Pesquera journal continued to be based in Barcelona but towards the second half of the 1980s, various problems threatened its continuity.

The CSIC had very little interest in the journal and the pressure on scientists to publish in foreign journals increased. Meetings were held at the Insitut de Ciències del Mar (Institute of Marine Sciences, ICM), the new name of the former IIP, where the continued publication of the journal was debated.

The journal was produced by the ICM’s scientists them­ selves, who donated part of their research time to the journal.

Financing came from the CSIC but was not easily obtained. Fi­ nally, thanks to the financial support of the ICM and the work of a group of researchers, the decision was made to continue the journal, but adapting it to modern times. The year 1988 saw the last publication of Investigación Pesquera and, in 1989, the first issue of Scientia Marina. In 2007, the CSIC started to col­

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Fig. 2. Evolution of the introduction of English in the journal. The change from Investigación Pesquera to Scientia Marina (in 1988–1989) is indicated with a vertical line. The coincidence between the change in name and format and the move to 50% of the articles appearing in English is shown. Articles in English published during the 1970s were from the monographs of international meetings.

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The history of Scientia Marina

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 179

the journal. One of its aims was to become international and thus one of the more than 7000 journals evaluated in the Journal Citation Reports. This would assign it an impact factor, re­ ported in the Science Citation Index (SCI) [10]. In its new for­ mat, over 50% of the journal’s original articles were, for the first time, published in English, with the remainder in Spanish (Fig. 2). A basic requisite for a journal to be included in the SCI is regularity of publication. This was secured from the very be­ ginning by Scientia Marina. Four regular issues of the journal are published yearly (one every 3 months), as well as a variable number of monographs and special issues, together making up a single volume. The journal’s entry in the SCI in 1995 was the result of hard work by the first editorial teams, who not only convinced foreign authors to publish their research results in the journal but also managed to get its issues out on time.

During this same period, publication of the monographic vol­ umes continued and increased. These have contributed to the journal becoming better known and they have been cited many times.

Moreover, the impact factor has tended to increase, from an initial 0.2 to 1.1 in 2011 (Fig. 3). The journal is included in the Marine and Freshwater Biology category, and, in line with its impact factor, is number 54 of 92 journals in this field. It should also be mentioned that the level of autocitation, considered a negative element when above 20%, according to Testa [19], is only between 4 and 11%.

The monographic volumes, initially considered as being exceptional, have become an integral and important part of Scientia Marina. By 2009, 38 of these volumes had been pub­ lished (Table 2), with a total of 10,795 pages. Many organizers

Fig. 3. Impact factor of Scientia Marina since its inclusion in the Sci­ ence Citation Index in 1997.

of international meetings, research project coordinators, and authors of monographic themes have published their work in Scientia Marina. Monographic editions strictly follow the jour­ nal’s quality standards and, while the main editors responsible for the various monographs are not always members of the journal’s Scientific Editors board, they follow-up its standards.

Possibly the only relevant difference with the regular issues is that a monograph cover consists of an image alluding to its content (Fig. 1). Many of the journal’s most cited articles corre­ spond to these monographs, for example, the research of Gasol et al. (2000) and Codispoti et al. (2001) [5,11], which have been the most frequently cited since the journal was in­ cluded in the SCI. In a journal covering a field as wide as marine sciences, the publication of these special issues, with their ho­

Table 2. Monographic volumes of Scientia Marina published between 1989 and 2009

Title

Year

Edited by

Issue

Advances in marine chemistry

2010

Julián Blasco and Jesús M. Forja

Sci Mar 74S1

Stock structure and quality of black scabbardfish in the southern NE Atlantic

2009

Leonel Serrano Gordo

Sci Mar 73S2

Advances in early life history study of fish

2009

Catriona Clemmesen, Arne M. Malzahn, Myron A. Peck, and Dietrich Schnack

Sci Mar 73S1

Otolith atlas for the western Mediterranean, north and central eastern Atlantic

2008

Victor M. Tuset, Antoni Lombarte, and Carlos A. Assis

Sci Mar 72S1

Scientific advances in polychaete research

2006

Rafael Sardà, Guillermo San Martín, Eduardo López, Daniel Martin, and David George

Sci Mar 70S3

Recent advances in the study of fish eggs and larvae

2006

M. Pilar Olivar and J.J. Govoni

Sci Mar 70S2

Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay

2006

X.A.G. Morán, J.M. Rodríguez, and P. Petitgas

Sci Mar 70S1

The Magellan-Antarctic connection: links and frontiers at high southern latitudes

2005

Wolf E. Arntz, Gustavo A. Lovrich, and Sven Thatje

Sci Mar 69S2

Promoting marine science: contributions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Scientia Marina

2005

Cèlia Marrasé and Pere Abelló

Sci Mar 69S1

Mediterranean deep-sea biology

2004

F. Sardà, G. D’Onghia, Ch-Y. Politou, and A. Tselepides

Sci Mar 68S3

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 179

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Lleonart, Olivar

Table 2. (Continued) Monographic volumes of Scientia Marina published between 1989 and 2009

Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa

2004

J. Bouillon, M.D. Medel, F. Pagès, J.M. Gili, F. Boero, and C. Gravili

Sci Mar 68S2

Biological oceanography at the turn of the millenium

2004

J.D. Ros, T.T. Packard, J.M. Gili, J.L. Pretus, and D. Blasco

Sci Mar 68S1

Mediterranean seabirds and their conservation

2003

E. Mínguez, D. Oro, E. De Juana, and A. Martínez-Abraín

Sci Mar 67S2

Fish stock assessments and predictions: integrating relevant knowledge

2003

Oyvind Ulltang, and Geir Blom

Sci Mar 67S1

Marine benthic algae of Namibia (2002)

2002

Ana Gordoa, and Jordi Rull Lluch

Sci Mar 66 S3

Mediterranean marine demersal resources: the Medits international trawl survey (1994-1999)

2002

Pere Abelló, J.A. Bertrand, L. Gil de Sola, C. Papaconstantinou, G. Relini, and A. Souplet

Sci Mar 66S2

Atlas of northwestern Mediterranean Coccolithophores

2002

Lluïsa Cros and J.M. Fortuño

Sci Mar 66S1

A marine science odyssey into the 21st century (2001)

2001

J.M. Gili, J.L. Pretus, and T.T. Packard

Sci Mar 65S2

An interdisciplinary view of the ocean

2001

J.L. Pelegrí, I. Alonso, and J. Arístegui

Sci Mar 65S1

Aquatic flow cytometry: achievements and prospects

2000

M. Reckermann and F. Colijn

Sci Mar 64S2

Trends in Hydrozoan biology-IV

2000

C.E. Mills, F. Boero, A. Migotto and Josep M. Gili

Sci Mar 64S1

Biology and fisheries of dolphinfish and related species

1999

E. Massutí and B. Morales-Nin

Sci Mar 63S3–4

Magellan-Antarctic: ecosystems that drifted apart

1999

W.E. Arntz and C. Ríos

Sci Mar 63S1

Nephrops norvegicus: Comparative biology and fishery in the Mediterranean Seab

1998

F. Sardà

Sci Mar 62S1

Ecology of marine molluscs (1997) Edited by

1997

J.D. Ros, A. Guerra

Sci Mar 61S2

Lectures on plankton and turbulence

1997

Cèlia Marrasé, Enric Saiz, and J.M. Redondo

Sci Mar 61S1

Advances in hydrozoan biology

1996

S. Piraino, F. Boero, J. Bouillon, P.F.S. Cornelius, and J.M. Gili

Sci Mar 60S1

The European anchovy and its environment

1996

I. Palomera and P. Rubiés

Sci Mar 60S2

Underwater light and algal photobiology

1996

F.L. Figueroa, C. Jiménez, J.L. PérezLlorens, and F.X. Niell

Sci Mar 60S1

International symposium of middle-sized pelagic fish

1995

C. Bas, J.J. Castro, and J.M. Lorenzo

Sci Mar 59S3–4

Topics in marine benthos ecology

1995

R. Sardà and J.D. Ros

Sci. Mar. 59S1

The size structure and metabolism of the pelagic ecosystem

1994

J. Rodríguez and W.K.W. Li

Sci Mar 58S1–2

Recent advances in ecology and systematics of sponges

1993

M.J. Uriz and K. Rützler

Sci Mar 57S4

Northwestern Mediterranean fisheries

1993

Jordi Lleonart

Sci Mar 57S2–4

Aspects of hydrozoan biology

1992

J. Bouillon, F. Boero, F. Cicogna, J.M. Gili, and R.G. Hughes

Sci Mar 56S2–3

Planktonic cnidarians of the Benguela Current

1992

F. Pagès, J.M. Gili, and J. Bouillon

Sci Mar 56S1

Guide to Ichthyoplankton of the Southeast Atlantic (Benguela Current Region)

1991

M. Pilar Olivar and José Manuel Fortuño

Sci Mar 55S1

Atlas de fitoplancton del mar Mediterráneo

1991

Maximino Delgado, José Manuel Fortuño

Sci Mar 55S1

Topics in marine biology

1989

J.D. Ros

Sci Mar 53S2–3

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The history of Scientia Marina

mogeneous themes, was particularly important before refer­ ence searches and the Internet became widely available. These monographic issues brought the journal to many readers who were not familiar with the content of its regular issues.

The articles published in Investigación Pesquera were main­ ly in the areas of biology, ecology and fisheries (80%), with oceanography as a secondary area [12], reflecting the compo­ sition of the center. The increase in the number of disciplines studied at the Institute of Marine Sciences since the end of the 1980s, particularly with the arrival of specialists in marine geol­ ogy and physical oceanography, implied both a diversification in the areas covered in the articles and more interdisciplinary research, particularly between the biological and physical as­ pects of marine science. As a result, it became necessary to appoint a panel of scientists for the different fields covered in the journal, the Scientific Editors, to assist the Editor-in-chief. The Scientific Editors panel was set up in 1989 with 23 scientists and today comprises around 60 scientists. The scope of the journal includes marine biology and ecology, taxonomy, faunistics, marine biogeography, physical oceanography, chemical ocea­ nography and marine geology.

Investigación Pesquera began the process of peer evalua­ tion by two external reviewers during the 1980s. Scientia Marina follows the same model, with its Scientific Editors assigned the responsibility of finding reviewers, evaluating the manu­ script once the authors have modified it according to the re­ viewers’ comments, and giving their final recommendations to the Editor-in-chief. A frequent problem encountered by many journals, including Scientia Marina, is finding peer reviewers who are prepared to accept this time-consuming and thank­ less task.

The move to publish in English and the inclusion of interna­ tional scientific editors have helped to increase the journal’s in­ ternational recognition. Despite the general nature of Scientia Marina and the interest in publishing research of broad scope, many papers deal with the Mediterranean and nearby areas of the Atlantic, even though manuscripts from areas further afield, such as the Antarctic and Latin America, are frequent. Over the last few years, the number of manuscripts received from scien­ tists in Spain has decreased, from more than 50% in 1997 to 20% in the last 4 years.

The number of manuscripts received annually for publica­ tion in the regular issues has increased from around 90 at the end of the 1990s to currently around 250. Regular volumes have been limited to a little more than 800 pages annually since 2006, for financial reasons. As such, the aim is to diver­ sify the content of the journal, with preference given to inter­ disciplinary articles of general interest to those in the field of marine research, around the world, and to articles that present significantly new results in relation to the Mediterranean areas and the nearby areas of the Atlantic. The page-number limita­ tions together with the desire to publish relevant and poten­ tially citable articles means that the editorial boards must often strictly limit the number of accepted manuscripts. In addition, the pressure on scientists to publish means that, on occa­ sions, manuscripts are too short or written too quickly and with insufficient care, also results in their rejection. Today,

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 181

Fig. 4. (A) Number of pages published annually. The change from Investigación Pesquera to Scientia Marina (in 1988–1989) is indicated with a vertical line. There is a general increase both for Investigación Pesquera and Scientia Marina. (B) Number of articles published annu­ ally. The continuous increase, for both journals as well as the variation in Scientia Marina, is due to the publication of monographic issues.

while only 30% of the manuscripts received are published, there has been an increase in the number of pages and the number of articles published annually (due to the special is­ sues), as was the case with Scientia Marina’s predecessor Investigación Pesquera (Fig. 4). Another positive indicator of the journal’s progress is the reduction, over the last 10 years, of the manuscript-processing time, which currently is around 6 months between the receipt of a manuscript and its final ac­ ceptance.

The aim of the journal is to make the results of scientific re­ search fully available, which means maximum distribution. With this in mind, the journal is exchanged with those of many uni­ versities and research centers, and there are also a small number of subscribers. The exchange has allowed improve­ ment of the ICM library, which has thus become one of the most complete libraries on marine science in Spain. Since 2004, all the content of Scientia Marina and Investigación Pesquera has been accessible on the Internet [http://www.icm. csic.es/scimar/], although there is still a print version. In some cases, the online version contains supplementary material (such as videos or very large tables). Given that the main objec­ tive is the diffusion of research results, it was decided to offer free access to the online version.

The arrival of the digital era has not only made all content available online, but it has also greatly facilitated the everyday

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management of the journal. Each stage of the publication proc­ ess, from the database of the manuscripts and their stage of processing to communication with the authors, editors and re­ viewers, has become much faster, and the time to publication has been accordingly reduced. In addition, another advantage of online content is that, as soon as the proofs for the articles have been revised by authors and editors, they appear on the web page as ‘forthcoming articles.’

While for the authors, the process of publishing ends once the manuscript is accepted, much work remains before it can be published. The experience of Scientia Marina has shown us that the participation of professionals is fundamental in this phase, in order to achieve a high-quality final product. Revision of the language, text, and formats, and, above all, the layout of the text and figures are carried out by a team of professionals who closely collaborate with the editorial team of the journal.

In a world as competitive as that of science journals, achiev­ ing a high SCI ranking is a major challenge. It depends to a large degree on the quality and interest of the articles published in the journal, which is generally related to their number of cita­ tions. However, the journal also contains interesting research whose dissemination is not reflected in this ranking, as it has not likely to have been frequently cited within the previous two years, the time taken into consideration to calculate the impact factor of the Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI) Web of Knowl­ edge.

Lleonart, Olivar

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Conclusions The journal Scientia Marina, previously Investigación Pesquera, is, today, an international reference for marine scienc­ es. In the capable hands of its managers, and despite an un­ certain budget, it has been able to adapt to the recent changes in the world of scientific journals. The decisions re­ garding its format and management have not always been easily made and they have sometimes conflicted with general opinion or the opinions of the CSIC itself. The quality, regularity of publication, and the dedication of a number of people, many actively engaged in scientific research—with all that this de­ manding profession implies—are, without doubt, the keys to the success of this enterprise.

Acknowledgements The authors thank the Editors-in-chief of Scientia Marina, with­ out whom we would not have been able to get this far. The un­ conditional support of the ICM management has, without doubt, been one of the mainstays for the journal’s continuation, particularly at critical moments. We also thank those who re­ vised the manuscript and gave valuable input on how to im­ prove it: Carles Bas, Josep Maria Gili, Pere Abelló and Josep Maria Camarasa. And we cannot conclude without acknowl­ edging the help received at all times from María Victoria Mar­ tínez and Jordi Corbera, who contribute to the success of the journal as the technical and editorial secretariat.

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 182

9.

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17.

Anonymous (1966) In Memoriam, Dr. D. Francisco García del Cid Arias. Inv Pesq 30:7-8 Camarasa JM (2000) Cent anys de passió per la natura: Una història de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural 1899-1999. Institució Catalana d’Història Natural, Barce­ lona, Memòria no. 14, 183 pp.

Camarasa JM, Català JI (2007) Els nostres naturalistes.

Monografies Mètode, Universitat de València, 379 pp.

Català JI, Sunyer Martin P (2009) Les noves ciències naturals i la geografia del 1900 al 1936. In: Vernet J, Parés R (dirs.) La ciència en la història dels Països Cata­ lans. Vol. 3: De l’inici de la industrialització a l’època ac­ tual. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Universitat de València, 926:675-717 Codispoti LA, Brandes JA, Christensen JP, Devol AH, Naqvi SWA, Paerl HW, Yoshinari T (2001) The oceanic fixed nitrogen and nitrous oxide budgets: Moving targets as we enter the anthropocene? Sci Mar 65 (Sup­ pl.2):85-105 De Buen O (2003) Mis Memorias (Zuera 1863-Toulouse 1939). Institución Fernando el Católico (CSIC), Excma Diputación de Zaragoza, 503 pp. + prints De Falguera A, Vilaseca J, Maluquer J (1919) Projecte de Institut Oceanogràfic de Catalunya, 24 pp. + 8 prints Ferrer X, Reig A, Gordo O, Casals J (2002) Josep Fuset i Tubià (1871-1952), autor del primer catàleg d’ocells a Catalunya. Butlletí de contacte de l’Institut Català d’Ornitologia (tardor 2002), pp. 9-11 [http://www.bib. ub.edu/fileadmin/bibs/biologia/ornitopdfs/3fuset1.pdf] Font i Sagué N (1908) Història de les Ciències Naturals a Catalunya, del segle IX al segle XVIII. Estampa “La Hor­ miga de Oro”, Barcelona. 256 pp.

Gardfield E (2007) The evolution of the Science Citation index. International Microbiology 10:65-69 Gasol JM, del Giorgio PA (2000) Using flow cytometry for counting natural planktonic bacteria and understanding the structure of planktonic bacterial communities. Sci Mar 64(2):197-224 Guerra A, Prego Reboredo R (2003) El Instituto de Inves­ tigaciones Pesqueras, Tres décadas de historia de la in­ vestigación marina española. CSIC, Estudios sobre la Ciencia 33, 341 pp.

Iglésies J (1964) La Real Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes en el siglo XVIII. Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias y Artes de Barcelona Núm. 707, 635 pp.

Lleonart J, Amat F (2002) La recerca marina a Castelló.

Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Secció de Ciències Bi­ ològiques, 25 pp.

Maluquer J (1917) L’Oceanografia. Col·leccio popular dels coneixements indispensables Minerva (vol. I), 32 pp.

Riera i Tuèbols S (1983) Síntesi d’història de la ciència catalana. Edicions de la Magrana, Barcelona, La Magra­ na 26, 345 pp.

Oliver P (2006) La recerca marina a les Balears. In: Oliver P (dir.) La recerca marina a les Illes Balears. Els orígens

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de l’oceanografia espanyola. La ciència a les Illes Balears 5. Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d’Economia, Hisenda i Innovació 166:15-38 18. Pérez-Rubín Feigl J (2008). Las investigaciones biológicopesqueras de Joaquín de Borja en el mar catalán (1891-1924) y el pontón oceanográfico Cocodrilo.

Drassana. Revista del Museu Marítim de Barcelona 16:99-117

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19. Testa J (2006) The Thomson Scientific journal selection process. International Microbiology 9:135-138 20. Vernet J, Parés R (dirs.) (2004-2009) La ciència en la història dels Països Catalans, 3 vols. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Universitat de València 21. Viñas J (1976) Assaig sobre història de la oceanografia catalana. In: II Asamblea Nacional de Geodesia y Geofísi­ ca (vol III), Barcelona, pp. 1451-1496

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 185–190 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.125 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

forum

Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003) Pascual Bolufer Sarrià Chemical Institute, Barcelona, Spain

The desire to found the magazine Ibérica with the slogan “sci­ ence accessible to everyone” was sparked by the solar eclipse in August 1905, which was a total eclipse in Tortosa. This is the story told by the founder of the Ebro Observatory and the mag­ azine Ibérica, Ricardo Cirera, in October 1913. Today we might call this new enterprise scientific magazineism. The Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies, IEC), which had been founded a few years earlier, on 18 June 1907, also sought to cultivate the professional sciences in Catalonia.

Below are two photographs of the solar corona (Fig. 1). The first was taken in white light in the midst of a full solar eclipse. The disc of the Moon conceals the photosphere and the solar chro­ mosphere. The rays of gas of the corona are curved by the sun’s magnetic field, the dipole. The second photograph also shows the rays of gas from the Sun’s corona, also curved by solar mag­ netism, but this time taken in ultraviolet light. A comparison of the two images shows that the appearance of the solar corona de­ pends on the wavelengths that we use to explore it. One of the aims of the geophysicists at the Ebro Observatory was to share scientific progress with an enlightened public.

The subtitle of Ibérica was ‘The Progress of the Sciences and its Applications,’ and the publisher was the Ebro Observa­ tory. From the publishing standpoint, it was quite bold to offer a new weekly from the countryside, several kilometers from Tor­

tosa, where communications other than a telephone and a wireless telegraph were lacking. The name Ibérica came from the Ebro River, which runs near the Observatory, located in Roquetes, downstream from Tortosa. On 7 November 1914, the efforts of Ricardo Cirera were recognized, as he was awarded the Alfonso XII Grand Cross of Civil Merit by the In­ fanta Isabel de Borbón.

Without science we cannot understand society It has been over 400 years since Galileo gazed up at the sky, in 1609. He designed his telescope with two lenses, one convex, converging lens, the finder, and another concave, diverging lens, the eyepiece. With it, he managed to amplify images 30fold, which, for the first time, revealed sunspots, the phases of Venus, the craters on the Moon and the four moons of Jupiter.

Galileo accepted the heliocentric system devised by Coperni­ cus, a Polish astronomer, and changed our vision of the world, although in his time he was condemned, first in 1616 by Cardi­ nal Inquisitor Saint Roberto Bellarmine and again in 1633 by Pope Urban VIII. In 1908, Ortega y Gasset said, “If Europe somehow tran­ scends the Asians, Africans, it is owing to science. Europe = Sci­

Fig. 1. (A) Photo from the TRACE satellite, 2010, Lockheed Martin/NASA. (B) Photo showing the rays of gas from the Sun’s corona, taken in ultra­ violet light.

Correspondence: P. Bolufer, Institut Químic de Sarrià, Via Augusta 390, E-08017 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-932672000 (ext.

369). E-mail: pasqual.bolufer@iqs.es

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ence. It is necessary above all for Spain to produce science, and in the meantime let us take pains to conceal the native vulgarity.”

It is clear that science affects every aspect of our lives; it is es­ sential. We can realize our place in the universe just by gazing up at the firmament. Astronomy and the fundamental sciences con­ tribute to our everyday lives, even helping us to achieve a more peaceful, egalitarian society. Many cities in Spain have an ob­ servatory within the city limits—proof of the important role of sci­ ence in modern society. In 1914, there was a similar appreciation of science. Ricardo Cirera reminds us that he was often asked for “a publication aimed at an enlightened audience;” but the main problem, in his eyes, was how to achieve the right tone.

The Ebro Observatory was a geophysical observatory with several departments: Heliophysics, Meteorology, Electricity, Magnetics and Seismology. Its staff was on the writing team for Ibérica, which contained articles on biology, medicine, the nat­ ural sciences and geophysics. Furthermore, next to the Ob­ servatory, Eduardo Vitoria had founded the Ebro Chemical Laboratory, which would later move to Barcelona, where it was renamed the Institut Químic de Sarrià (Sarrià Chemical Insti­ tute). Another foundation, located in Roquetes, also near the observatory, was the Ebro Biology Laboratory, established by Jaime Pujiula. In 1940, after the Spanish Civil War ended, it also moved to Sarriá, Barcelona. All three foundations were supported by the Company of Jesus.

Topics covered in Ibérica The refracting telescope. Copies of the weekly Ibérica until December 1936 show us that the Observatory staff strongly supported the magazine. The Observatory’s equipment and instruments were commonly used at the time. The most impor­ tant instrument at the Observatory was the refracting tele­ scope. This was what 19th century tastes required, even though continuing to reproduce Galileo’s telescope no longer yielded satisfactory results.

In order to avoid chromatism on the lens (irisation), a long focal distance is needed through an extremely long telescope tube. Lenses had to be created based on two kinds of glass, crown and flint, in order to limit both the effects of chromatism

Bolufer 

and spherical aberration, thus ensuring that red and blue had the same focal point. The latest refracting telescope of that time, from the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, measured 83 cm in diameter but the next generation of telescopes, with mirrors instead of refracting lenses, Cassegrain-style, would change everything. However, for over a year, the Observatory’s 1904 refracting telescope had produced a daily photo of the Sun (as it still does today, in 2011) for submission to the Meudon Ob­ servatory in Paris. The photo showed the spots on the photo­ sphere (solar zones with temperatures lower than that of the photosphere are referred to as sunspots) and was accompa­ nied by calculations of the Wolf number on solar activity. Ibérica published a monthly extensive summary of the activity of the solar photosphere during the previous month. Today, the ob­ servatory no longer has a Heliophysics Department; rather, it is a part of the Meteorology, Climate and Solar Activity Depart­ ment, but the day-to-day work has remained the same.

Seismology. Ibérica has a long history of contributions on this topic because of the earthquake registry at the Ebro Observa­ tory, which is the oldest in Spain. The traditional stations were the Central Station in Toledo, the Seismic Observatory of Car­ tuja (Granada), the San Fernando Observatory, the Fabra Ob­ servatory (Barcelona) and the Ebro Observatory (Fig. 2).

Seismology had always been a subject of interest among Ibérica readers. It offers a better understanding of the proc­ esses that take place inside our planet or it can reveal where oil fields might lie. For example, a company that prospects for oil might install a network of seismographs on the ground and then, at a calculated distance, explode a dynamite charge, simulating an earthquake. The seismic wave would then be re­ fracted in an oil-bearing sediment. Today, we can use seismo­ graphic measurements to ascertain whether a country has test-exploded an atomic bomb, even in a remote desert. When the United States conducted its first atomic tests of U-235 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945, in the midst of World War II, although these tests were an absolute war secret, they were detected by all the seismic observatories. An artificial earthquake cannot be concealed. One month later, in August, the U-235 bomb exploded over Hiroshima, killing many thou­ sands of people, most of them civilians.

Fig. 2. Left, the Ebro Observatory (Roquetes). Right, the Fabra Observatory (Barcelona).

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Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003)

A seismograph is a suspended mass, a pendulum that re­ mains immobile due to inertia even when everything around it is moving. If this pendulum has a stylus that drags along the ground, during an earthquake it will scratch lines upon the sur­ face below it, in the direction of the epicenter. In the 1950s, I was shown the Ebro Observatory’s Mainka-Ebro seismograph, weighing 1500 kg, and a register, which consisted of a mois­ tened-paper drum (some machines used smoked paper) where a stylus attached to the seismic pendulum drew sinuous lines. The stylus was a lever made of a very slim reed weighing just a few grams. The difference between the two sides of the lever indicated the amplifying power of the seismograph. The reed, activated by a timing device with a small electromagnet, marked the time signals in seconds. Today this seismograph is, of course, completely outdated.

In modern versions, the seismograph is an electronic device similar to an accelerometer. When the Earth moves, the goal is to keep the mass of the pendulum electronically immobile through feedback from the circuit. The force needed to immo­ bilize the pendulum is then recorded. The underlying principle is Newton’s formula F = ma (force = mass × acceleration).

However, achieving a ‘broadband’ seismograph is not a trivial endeavor, as the device must be equally capable of recording an insignificant tremor, perhaps very distant, and a violent earthquake—without the stylus leaving the recording band.

A group of seismographs can be used to precisely locate the epicenter (the point where a geographic fault ruptures) in three dimensions. This is accomplished with P and S waves, which trace curved lines due to the variations in the density and com­ position of the Earth’s interior. P waves are compression waves in the direction of the epicenter which cross both water (1450 m/s) and granite (5000 m/s). In S waves, the Earth’s movement is perpendicular to the propagation direction. S waves move more slowly than P, or primary, waves. Ibérica readers were in­ terested in the nature of seismic, elastic waves, which provide information on the mantel and core of the Earth, where we can­ not venture and which can only be explored with P and S waves.

Ibérica’s articles about seismology also introduced its read­ ers to Andrija Mohorovičić, at the time the Chairman of the Uni­ versity of Zagreb (he retired in 1921). Mohorovičić demonstrat­ ed that inside the Earth there is discontinuity between the upper and lower mantel, as shown by the P and S waves of the seismograph. At that time these ideas received little credence, but the network of seismographs ended up proving him right: there is an upper level, the crust, which spreads over the conti­ nents and varies between 35 to 54 km in thickness, and some­ times much more, over which are the oceans, ranging in depth from 5 to 9 km. Deeper down is the mantel. The Mohorovičić or Moho Discontinuity lies between the crust and the mantel.

On 18 April 1906, a year after the Ebro Observatory was founded, the San Francisco earthquake struck, leaving 3000 people dead and 300,000 residents homeless. Studies on this violent earthquake were published in Ibérica for the next 10 years. The cause of the earthquake was the rupture of the San Andreas fault along a distance of 477 km, shifting the ground from right to left for 6–8 m. The quake lasted between 25 and 46 s. It was the first to be documented by photographs and on

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film, and it posed a host of questions: Is the interior of the Earth solid or liquid? What temperature is it? The iron-based core of the Earth creates the magnetic dipole with the poles to which compasses are oriented. Why does the magnetic pole move with respect to the geographic pole (magnetic declination)?

Ibérica answered these questions.

Electrotechnics. In its Specimen Issue, published in Septem­ ber 1913, Ibérica boldly attempted to industrialize an essen­ tially agricultural Spain, where half the population worked on farms. It was an initiative spearheaded at the magazine by Dr. José A. Pérez del Pulgar, the founder of the Higher Technical Engineering School (ICAI, Madrid), which joyously celebrated its centennial in 2008. Pérez del Pulgar also founded the ICAI journal Anales in 1922, and in 1929 was awarded the Gold Medal by Spain’s Minister of Labor.

It is worth recalling the definition of ‘electrotechnics’ at that time. In 1882, Thomas Edison built the first continuous-current electrical grid, 110 volts, in New York for 59 clients. In 1887, Nikola Tesla registered his patent to distribute electrical energy using alternating current. In this rivalry between Edison (contin­ uous current) and Tesla (alternating current), Tesla prevailed.

The first School of Electromechanical Engineering was created in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1882. In Ibérica, Dr. J. A. Pérez del Pulgar wrote the following texts throughout several issues.

“What is Electrotechnics in our day? It is an applied science that is thoroughly practical and not at all theoretical, which does not mean that it is not eminently mathematical in its study proce­ dures. Furthermore, it often requires new means of calculation from mathematical analysis, as the ones existing are not suffi­ cient. [...] Today the sciences are called theoretical not because they make greater or lesser use of calculation but because they are based on hypothetical considerations which are more or less inaccessible to experimentation. Electrotechnics is an experi­ mental though eminently mathematical science, and among the experimental sciences it belongs to what are called the industrial sciences. Its purpose is to transform one product into another that is more useful for daily life. [...] The purpose of the transfor­ mations studied by electrotechnics is also energy, but in its elec­ trical form, the most manageable of all, the most easily trans­ portable and the one used in the most varied and useful of applications. [...] In its strict sense, electrotechnics encompass­ es the calculation and construction of electrical generators pow­ ered by thermal and hydraulic machines, the transformation of one current into another, the transport of energy and its use through traction, heat, light, etc.[...] The construction of genera­ tors has reached such colossal proportions in recent years that we in Spain can hardly imagine it. [...] Just a single Chicago Edi­ son Company factory produces 160,000 kW (almost 220,000 horsepower), more energy than what is supplied by all the facto­ ries currently operating in Madrid and Barcelona. [...] The first Edison Company power station was founded ten years ago with 84,000 kW, more than the total produced in all the factories in Madrid. The total amount of energy supplied by Edison is around 645,000 horsepower. We in Spain would not know what to do with all that energy. [...] The size of modern alternators is such that the old working procedures have been inverted. Instead of

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bringing the pieces that need to be worked to the tooling ma­ chines with a crane, today in the large construction companies, such as AEG in Berlin, the enormous cranes come with huge drills, riveting machines and the like and takes them to the piece to be worked. Just calculate the winch needed to repair a 50 mT generator. [...] There are factories meant for custom-building de­ vices, such as Siemens-Halske in Berlin, founded in 1895, which has more than 5000 workers today. Worldwide copper produc­ tion has quintupled since 1880, most of it used in the electrical industry to electrify railways, etc. The problems of the railways have been resolved through alternating-current motors, which may soon transform traction procedures. And we now have electrical lighting instead of gaslight. [...] There is not a single in­ dustry that does not use a wide variety of electric motors. [...] Let us close this introduction in Ibérica by expressing the desire to witness this peerless industry flourish in our homeland.”

Bolufer 

The weekly Ibérica continued to be published until December 1936, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. The Ebro Observa­ tory remained in operation until April 1938. On 1 April 1939 the Observatory resumed its activities with the help of the National Ravaged Regions and Rebuilding Service, although this did not benefit Ibérica. Publication of the magazine remained suspend­ ed until 1945, due to the post-war economy. The second peri­ od of Ibérica began in 1945; this time it was issued every two weeks and in a smaller format than during the first period. The editorial office was located at number 3, Palau Street (Barcelo­ na). Its director and editor-in-chief was Ignacio Puig, who had previously worked at the San Miguel Geophysical Observatory, located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires (Argentina). He died in 1961, and with his death the second period in Ibérica’s history came to an end.

The magazine’s contributors comprised a variety of profes­ sionals from Spain and several observatories abroad, including the Montserrat Observatory in Cienfuegos, Cuba, and the Belén Observatory in Havana, Cuba. It examined topics in the natural sciences, such as the observations of Ramón Margalef; however, similar to the first period, articles on biology, zoology, medicine and the natural science did not even account for 50% of those published. Moreover, the economic problems in the long post-war period were reflected in the magazine. At that time, the most important subjects covered were related to semiconductors, transistors and televisions. The vacuum tube was losing ground.

semiconductor that operates as an amplifier, oscillator, switch or rectifier. The bipolar junction transistor is manufactured on a monocrystal of germanium, silicon or gallium arsenide. These materials have semiconductor properties, i.e., intermediate be­ tween those of conductors, such as metals; and insulators, such as diamond.

At room temperature, some of the electrons of a silicon or germanium crystal can leap from the conduction band, ab­ sorbing the energy needed and leaving the corresponding gap in the valence band. The energy required is between 1.12 and 0.67 eV for silicon and germanium, respectively. If a small per­ centage of impurities is added to the silicon or germanium, that is, trivalent or pentavalent chemical elements, we say that the semiconductor is doped. These impurities become part of the crystalline structure, replacing a silicon or germanium atom. In order to form the NP joint of the transistor, donor elements from electrons (N) are used, such as arsenic or phosphorous, together with acceptor elements (P) such as indium, aluminum and gallium. NP joints result in PNP and NPN transistors.

The behavior of transistors resembles that of two diodes: one between the base and the emitter (direct polarity) and the second between the base and the collector (reverse polarity). In English, the word ‘transistor’ is an abbreviation of transfer resis­ tor. Nowadays, transistors can be found in any device. The No­ bel Prize recognition came at almost the same time as a rival invention: the field-effect transistor (FET), in which the sourcecollector current is controlled with an electrical field. FETs have a high entry impedance. The thermionic valve, today virtually fallen out of use, has the same characteristics as the FET: the current that crosses it depends on the tension of the grid.

We should recall that the ENIAC (Electronic Numeric Inte­ grator and Computer), introduced in 1946 and the first compu­ ter used widely, had 17,468 thermionic valves and 7200 crystal diodes; it weighed around 30 tonnes and consumed 200 kW. The 1947 transistor was revolutionary, paving the way for mod­ ern electronics. Finally, we must mention MOSFET, a metaloxide-semiconductor FET transistor. MOSFET allowed the de­ sign of extremely compact circuits, which were necessary for ICs (integrated circuits). Today we have CMOS technology, which uses two kinds of MOSFET with low current, uncharged N and P channels.

Transistors have a silicon base and three artificially doped parts: emitter, collector and base. Unlike the valve, the transis­ tor is controlled by current and yields an amplified current. Its functioning can only be explained by quantum mechanics. A phototransistor is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation at fre­ quencies close to visible light. Its current is regulated by inci­ dent light.

The transistor

The third period: July 1962–2005

The bipolar transistor was invented in 1947 by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley (Bell Laboratories). The group’s achievement was recognized in 1960 with the Nobel Prize for Physics. The bipolar transistor replaced the thermionic valve with three electrodes, the triode. The device is a type of

In 1961, Ibérica was in need of a new director, and the Ebro Observatory, which had very close ties to the magazine, was charged with providing one. I, Pascual Bolufer, then Director of the Timetable and Atmospherics Service and Deputy Director of Geomagnetism and Telluric Currents, was chosen. I was

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the second period (1945–1961)

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Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003)

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 189

Fig. 3. Left, cover of the first issue of Ibérica (1914). Right, cover of one of the last issues of the journal (2005).

later replaced at the Observatory by Edmundo Benedetti Ka­ likowski, an electrical engineer.

Ibérica once again expanded, with a format resembling that of the first period. Issued on a monthly basis, Ibérica remained in circulation until 2005, when its publication became unfeasi­ ble (Fig. 3). Times had changed, and the huge, multinational publishing houses reigned. Compared with the scope of the Spanish edition of National Geographic, a small publishing house had no chance of producing a comparable magazine. In 2005, the modest-sized observatories in Madrid and Barcelo­ na, which had been in operation for many decades, were in similar straits. A giant multinational telescope, the ELT, which would probably be installed in the Andes Mountains in Chile, was being planned to which Spain would make an annual monetary contribution. This kind of partnership is what com­ mon sense advised.

The editions of Ibérica during its third period covered the topics that were the most interesting at that time: lasers, the expansion of the universe, dark energy, computer science, dig­ ital signal processing, and HD and 3-D television. Articles on biology and medicine were scarce and took up fewer pages.

The observatories provided Ibérica with information on seismo­ graphic networks, atmospheric data, the Lyot solar filter and more. The most newsworthy scientific topic during this period was the ionosphere. The ionospheric probe, purchased in France by Eduardo Galdón and the Ebro Observatory in 1955, contributed to this interest.

The ionosphere Covering the atmosphere that envelopes Earth is another, in­ visible layer: the ionosphere. It was discovered by Scottish physicist R. Watson-Watt in 1926. In the following year, Ed­ ward V. Appleton, the 1947 Nobel Prize winner, confirmed the existence of the ionosphere. Beginning with the Earth’s sur­ face, the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and iono­ sphere (between 50 and 600 km in altitude) could be distin­ guished. The ionosphere is a sphere of electrons, atoms and

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electrically charged molecules. It exists because of the ultravio­ let and X-ray radiation from the Sun. In the stratosphere (12–45 km in altitude), solar radiation creates an ozone layer. At an alti­ tude higher than 80 km, the atmosphere is so rarefied that there are free electrons for short periods of time, before they are captured by a nearby positive ion. The free electrons par­ ticipate in propagating radio waves. This ionized plasma-con­ taining layer is called the ionosphere. In the plasma, negative free electrons and positive ions attract each other through the electromagnetic force, but their kinetic temperature is too high to allow them to remain joined in a stable, neutral molecule.

Ultraviolet rays, X-rays and other short rays from the Sun are ionizing radiation because at these frequencies the photons have enough energy to expel an electron from a neutral atom. In this process, the electrons travel at such a high speed that the temperature of the electronic gas created is much higher (thou­ sands of kelvin) than that of the ion or neutral atom. The opposite of ionization is recombination, in which the free electron is cap­ tured by a positive ion. This takes place spontaneously and causes a photon to be released, which incorporates the energy produced during recombination. At a lower altitude in the iono­ sphere, the gas density rises and recombination is more preva­ lent because the gas molecules and ions are closer together.

The balance between ionization and recombination deter­ mines the ionization level. This, in turn, depends on the Sun’s activity, that is, the radiation received from the Sun. There is a diurnal and seasonal ionization cycle, with less solar radiation received in the wintertime. The Sun’s activity depends on the sunspot cycle (around 11 years long): the greater the number of sunspots, the higher the radiation. Since there is an inversion in the polarity of the Sun’s magnetic field in every cycle, a solar cycle lasts 22 years. The 11-year cycle directly affects the iono­ sphere, and it seems to influence the Earth’s climate as well.

Apparently, rings indicating tree growth are smaller when there are fewer sunspots and the temperatures are cooler, although these observations remain in dispute. Rudolf Wolf started stud­ ying sunspots in 1848 and later developed the Wolf number, with 11-year cycles, to indicate the Sun’s activity, which is im­ portant in the ionosphere.

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190 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

Radio waves are reflected and refracted in the ionosphere almost identically to the way a ray of light hits a transparent solid. A critical frequency is produced in this layer which de­ pends on the angle at which the radio wave hits. For this rea­ son, we often use the MUF (maximum usable frequency) in tel­ ecommunications, a higher radio frequency that no longer is reflected but is instead absorbed in the layer.

The diurnal and nocturnal ionospheres are quite different, and their effect on different layers varies substantially: the D layer ex­ tends from 60 to 90 km in altitude. It is ionized by solar radiation in the range of 121 nm to X-rays with a wavelength of 1 nm.

Since the degree of recombination is high, total ionization is low due to frequent electron collisions. As a result, high-frequency (HF) radio waves are not reflected in the D layer but partially ab­ sorbed, starting at 10 MHz and lower frequencies. Higher fre­ quencies are absorbed less. In addition, absorption is higher during the day than at night. Very-low-frequency waves (3–30 kHz) are well reflected in the D layer, but not in the E Layer (see below), which is higher in altitude. At night, the D layer retains some ionization due to the galactic cosmic rays. During chromo­ spheric flares, the D layer undergoes a sudden rise in ionization, which heavily attenuates medium- and high-frequency radio waves. The E layer was discovered by Edward E. Appleton in 1924. It is located at an altitude of 90–120 km. Its ionization is due to 1- to 10-nm X-rays and distant ultraviolet. The E layer readily reflects frequencies of 10 MHz and below, and it partially absorbs higher frequencies. The sporadic E Layer reflects fre­ quencies of 50 MHz and higher, sometimes up to 200 MHz. The E layer disappears at night, since there is no solar light.

At an altitude of 150–600 km is the F layer, which is the most important layer. Atomic oxygen is ionized by ultraviolet rays from 10 to 100 nm. The F layer forms a single layer at night, while during the day it splits into F1 and F2. Due to its electronic density, the F layer makes shortwave radio communication possible over large distances. Amateur radio operators and the military owe a great deal to the F layer. In September 2005, the first centennial of the invention of the radio was celebrated. The event is a reminder that even before 1900 amateur radio oper­ ators communicated with each other without telegraph wires, thanks to the ionosphere.

Chromospheric flares Chromospheric flares, a glow visible in a cluster of sunspots, were first observed by R. Hodgson in 1859. They pose a seri­ ous threat to radio communications and astronauts since they alter the Earth’s magnetic field. Flares are caused by a large explosion in the sunspot zone that is propagated from the photosphere to the chromosphere and the corona, sometimes with large emissions of coronal gas. The plasma heats up to tens of thousands and even millions of kelvin and accelerates electrons, protons and heavy ions almost to the speed of light.

On 20 January 2005, protons took only 15 min to reach the planet Earth at half the speed of light.

Chromospheric flares produce radiation throughout the en­ tire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to gamma waves.

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Bolufer 

They can last anywhere from a few to dozens of minutes and account for phenomena such as the aurora borealis and the aurora australis. Astronauts traveling to the Moon during a chromospheric flare would be in grave danger and the equip­ ment in the Space Station would suffer a breakdown. Predict­ ing chromospheric flares is difficult because we do not know which active region will produce them. There can be several per day if many clusters of sunspots on the Sun are active.

The Atmopsherics Department at the Ebro Observatory A geophysical observatory urgently needs to know when a chromospheric flare has happened. In the 1960s, a receiver in the Observatory’s Ionosphere Office showed an event, and a telescope fitted out with a Lyot filter was immediately pointed at the Sun. The geomagnetism registers also showed the flare, but they were located underground, in the darkness. Very-lowfrequency radio waves (10–30 kHz) triggered by storms are propagated at vast distances by the waveguide formed by the Earth’s surface, which is semi-conductive, and the D layer of the ionosphere, at an altitude of around 80 km. Radio waves follow the curve of the Earth with very little attenuation, with the geographic origin of the storm being hardly relevant. The leastattenuated frequency is 27 kHz. I designed a non-heterodyne radio receiver without an inter­ mediate frequency at 27 kHz with wavelengths of 11 km. The outgoing signal activated a pen on a paper register with 1-min time signals. Under normal conditions, the graph is a curve with a few waves, but when a flare takes place the rise in the ionization of the D layer activates the stylus to the right. The alarm works.

The IEC in the 21st century The motto that Ricardo Cirera chose for Ibérica back in 1913, “science accessible to everyone.” is still valid today. Spreading scientific information is a difficult art. It falls within the gap be­ tween publications written for experts and professionals and those targeted at the average citizen. This is the field of scien­ tific journalism, which includes television, and it aims to spark questions in its readers. Science is part of our everyday life, and it inspires no end of questions. Perhaps when you see someone using his or her tiny mobile phones in the under­ ground with no apparent antenna and perfect reception, it will inspire you to find out how digital signals are processed.

But where is science heading? We are now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laser. Not even the boldest imagination could have predicted its numerous successes: the four-level He-Ne laser, the microwave laser, the laser clock that enables us to do without information on the Earth’s rotation to define seconds and international atomic time, the laser that destroys a missile 140 km away, CDs, DVDs, Blu Ray discs, Lasik in medicine, nuclear inertial fusion (NIF), laser impulses at femtoand attoseconds and more.

It is impossible to predict the future of science.

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 191–194 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.126 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

forum

Science on the Balearic Islands.

A collection on the past that looks toward the future Joan March Noguera Research Group on the History of Health-University Institute for Research in Healthcare Science (GIHS-IUNICS-UIB)

Up until the last third of the 20th century, the history of science and technology was a subject yet to be examined in the historiography of the Catalan countries. Great dedication and means have gone and continue to go into supporting the Catalan lan­ guage, even for the most insignificant of narrators and poets (in terms of the worthiness of their literary production). And up un­ til relatively recently, we have lacked well elaborated studies on those scientists and cultivators or creators of technological in­ struments—in the broadest of interpretations—employed in the different Catalan-speaking territories.

Pioneers in these tasks were Professors Rafael Folch An­ dreu (1881–1961) and Guillem Folch Jou (1917–1987) both from the History of Pharmacy Department at Complutense Uni­ versity; Josep Maria Suñé Arbussà and Felip Cid Rafael, from, respectively, the History of Pharmacy and the History of Sci­ ence Departments at the University of Barcelona; Professor José María López Piñero (1933-2010) and his colleagues from the Institute of the History of Science and Documentation, a joint center of the University of Valencia and the Spanish Na­ tional Research Council (CSIC); and Professor Jacint Corbella Corbella, as Chairman at the University of Barcelona, under the auspices of which there have been numerous doctoral theses on the History of Catalan Medicine. These, in turn, have yielded a wealth of communications on the History of Health covering an ample spectrum of subjects and eras.

The void began to be systematically filled when the Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica (Catalan Soci­ ety for the History of Science and Technology, SCHCT) was founded in 1991, as a subsidiary of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies, IEC). It is around the IEC that the current plethora of historians on the Science and Technol­ ogy of the Catalan countries has developed. These research­ ers have fulfilled their calling with the publication of La ciència en la història dels Països Catalans (Science in the History of the Catalan Countries), published by the University of Valencia and the Institute for Catalan Studies with the participation of the Caixa de Balears “Sa Nostra”, the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo ‘CAM’ and the Caixa de Sabadell Foundation (Fig. 1).

The idea of launching the collection La Ciència a les illes Balears (Science on the Balearic Islands) was motivated by an awareness of the scarce knowledge that existed regarding the

Correspondence: J. March Noguera, Avda. Joan Miró 186, E-07015 Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, EU. Tel. +34-971402133. Fax +34971703095. E-mail: joanmarch@telefonica.net

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Fig. 1. The three volumes of La Ciència en la Història dels Països Catalans are the work of more than 50 historians linked in one way or an­ other to the SCHCT (Fig. 1).

scientific and technological activities on the Islands and their practical applications. This same sentiment was perceived at the beginning of the 1970s in relation to the recognized neces­ sity of bringing to light the political past of our Community—a task realized in 1974, by the Majorcan historian Gregori Mir, under whose guidance El mallorquinisme polític (Political Majorcanism) was published, albeit outside of Spain. Its two vol­ umes contain summaries of the political writings produced by Majorcans throughout the past centuries, with special atten­ tion given to those dating from the Second Republic. This book inspired the title of my own on the Majorcan doctor Jaume Salvà (1793–1855), a native of Algaida, Jaume Salvà i el mallorquinisme científic (Jaume Salvà and Scientific Majorcanism, 2001).

The presentation of that biography was celebrated in the Cultural Center of the Algaida Town Hall. Among the attendees were Francesc Antich, President of the Autonomous Govern­ ment of the Balearic Islands; Jaume Oliver, Mayor of Algaida; Francesc Bujosa, Professor of the History of Science, and Isa­ bel Moll, Professor of Contemporary History, both from the Uni­ versity of the Balearic Islands (UIB); and, relevant to the subject of this article, Enric Tortosa, General Manager of Research of the Council for Innovation and Energy, which at that time was run by Príam Villalonga. At that event, I set forth the challenge to bring scientific Majorcanism to light on the Islands just as had been done with political Majorcanism 26 years earlier. The challenge was taken up by Enric Tortosa and supported by Príam Villalonga. Their efforts lead to the launching of two great projects in 2000: the collective work La història de la ciència de les Illes Balears (The History of Science of the Balearic Islands) and the collection of books entitled La ciència a les Illes Balears (Science on the Balearic Islands).

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192 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

Fig. 2. Volume 1 of Història de la Ciència a les Illes Balears. L’Edat Mitjana.

The History of Science of the Balearic Islands This collection counted on a team of coordinators consisting of Francesc Bujosa as Director, Isabel Moll, Josep Miquel Vidal (Scientific Director of the Menorcan Institute of Studies), Joan March (Doctor of Pharmacy), and Miquel Marín (historian). This work arose within the framework of a cooperation agreement between the Government of the Balearic Islands and the Uni­ versity the Balearic Islands and counted on the support of the Caixa de Balears “Sa Nostra”. In addition, it brought together a group of outstanding advisors, such as Professor Thomas Glick, from Boston University; Josep Pardo Tomàs, researcher at the CSIC; José M. Sánchez Ron, from the Autonomous Uni­ versity of Madrid; Antoni Roca Rosell, from the Technical Uni­ versity of Catalonia; Antoni Roig Muntaner, from the UIB; and Vicenç M. Roselló Verger, of the University of Valencia. This work, which was began in the same spirit as its contemporary (Science in the History of the Catalan Countries), currently con­ sists of three published volumes, a fourth in the process of be­ ing published, and two more in preparation (Fig. 2).

Science on the Balearic Islands This collection of books was started in 2002 as well, with Joan March as Chief Editor. It came about with the goal of publishing scientific or technical texts written by people from the Balearic Islands or written about the Islands by people outside them. At the same time, the expertise of the authors was to be high­ lighted by including their biographies in the respective texts (Fig. 3).

Other works A work related to an emblematic institution in the history of sci­ ence and technology on the Balearic Islands was chosen for the first volume of the collection, the Laboratori de Biologia Marina de Porto-Pí (Laboratory of Marine Biology of Porto-Pí), founded by Odón de Buen (1863–1945), Professor of Sciences at the University of Barcelona, and inaugurated in 1908. This first-rate center for scientific and technical research still func­ tions today. Odón de Buen’s son, eminent biologist and ocea­ nographer, Rafael de Buen Lozano (1891–1966), also worked for a time at this institution. In 1915, he carried out interesting field work at the Laboratory, the results of which were pub­ lished as a facsimile under the title Estudio Batilitológico de la bahía de Palma de Mallorca (Bathymetric Study of Palma de

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March Noguera 

Majorca Bay). A foldout map of the bay accompanied the text.

The work appeared with a prologue by Boston University pro­ fessor Thomas Glick.

That same year, the masterpiece on Majorcan public health was published, also in facsimile format. In La ciutat de Palma (The City of Palma), Majorcan engineer Eusebi Estada Sureda (1843–1917) advocated tearing down the walls of Palma, claiming that such a move was necessary if in the coming years the public was to enjoy a healthy and open city. This book— clearly influenced by the publication years earlier of a work by Pere Felip Monlau (1808–1871) Abajo las murallas (Down with the Walls), similarly concerning the walls of Barcelona—was re­ leased on two occasions over the last third of the 19th century and was one of the most influential books in the history of Ma­ jorca. Three exceptional authors each contributed a prologue, the architect Carlos García-Delgado; Miguel Seguí Aznar (1950–2009), Professor of Art History at UIB, who sadly passed away at a very young age; and the above mentioned professor from UIB, Francesc Bujosa. The book was presented in Palma

by Vicent Salavert (1956–2007) of the University of Valencia, who also died prematurely.

In 2003, a collection of works related to the science of an exceptional pharmacist and chemist, Josep Sureda Blanes (1890–1984), was published. Sureda was in Munich in 1913, on a scholarship by the Board for Advanced Studies (JAE) Staundinger, and was a student of Henrich Otto Wieland (1877–1957), Nobel winner in Chemistry in 1927. In 1916, he went to Zurich to work with Hermann Staundinger (1881– 1965), Nobel winner in Chemistry in 1953, also in Zurich, with a third Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1939, Leopold Ruzicka (1887–1976). His aversion to enduring the tenure procedure without a mentor and his longing for Majorca prevented him from becoming an internationally renowned investigator. The book boasted a very special contributor, his son, Alfons Sure­ da Carrión, a high-level employee in the translation department at the UN in Geneva, who provided a thoughtful bibliography of his father. The book’s prologue was by Àngel Terrón, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the UIB. Volume number 4 of the collection came out in 2004 and was a facsimile of a work of exceptional beauty, the interna­ tionally triumphant Apèndix al Sistema General de Toxicologia (Appendix of the General System of Toxicology), from the Menorcan doctor Mateu Orfila (1783–1853). The newly pub­ lished work was a reproduction of the English version from 1821 and boasted an introduction by Pere Ventanyol, Doctor of Pharmacy and an expert in designer drugs. Ventanyol au­ thored a biography of Orfila as well as a thorough introduction on the genesis of Orfila’s work. The success of the volume earned it the honor of a second edition in 2008.

Volume number 5, published in 2006, is the compilation of works on the history of marine science research carried out in the Balearic Islands from the 18th century until today. It was presented at the seminar on Marine Science and Technology of the Balearic Islands, celebrated in Palma in 2003. The vol­ ume was coordinated by Pere Oliver, current General Manager of Investigation, Technological Research and Innovation of the Council on Innovation, Interior and Justice of the Autonomous

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Science on the Balearic Islands. A collection on the past that looks toward the future

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 193

Fig. 3. Titles from the collection La ciència a les Illes Balears. The aim of this collection is to make available facsimile editions of represent­ ative works of the scientific production carried out in the Balearic Islands throughout history.

Government of the Balearic Islands—the institution responsible for the survival of the collection. He is a magnificent example of the fact that science has been done on the Islands for centu­ ries, evidencing the preservation of our language not only through its literature or in the service of tourism.

Two other books came out in 2008: volume number 6, Bartomeu Darder Pericàs, geòleg i mestre (Bartomeu Darder Pericàs, Geologist and Teacher), publicized the work of the Major­ can geologist and pedagogue Bartomeu Darder (1895–1944), who published articles in magazines that today would be in­ dexed. Darder corresponded with first-rate geologists from all over Europe. Many of his scientific articles have been published in facsimile. The editor of the volume was Joan Josep Fornós, Professor of Geology at the UIB, who did a tremendous job of gathering Darder’s works. The book is complemented by a pro­ logue from Ramon Homs, Professor of geology at the University of Barcelona and a close acquaintance of the Darder family.

The subject of volume number 7, the second book of the series to be released in 2008, is the multifaceted Ibizan doctor Enric Fajarnés, who left his mark on every field that caught his interest, especially demography and history. The title of the book is itself quite significant: Enric Fajarnés i Tur entre la història i la demografia (Enric Fajarnés i Tur, Between History and Demography). The book’s biographical introduction was entrusted to an Ibizan historian, Ernest Prats, and to a Major­ can demographer, Doctor Joana Maria Pujades. The author of the prologue was Josep Bernabeu, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Alicante.

Within the set of books in the collection, the works published in 2009 deserve particular mention as they mark the beginning of the series’ international success. The subject of volume number 8 is Vicenç Mut Armengol (1614–1687), historian, mili­ tary engineer, and astronomer. He was also one of the most internationally famous Majorcan scientists active in the time be­ fore the University de les Illes was restored and the Mediterra­ nean Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEDEA), the UIB-CSIC’s joint center of investigation, was launched, in the last quarter of the 20th century. The book Vicenç Mut Armengol (1614-1687) i l’astronomia (Vicenç Mut Armengol (1614–1687) and Astron­ omy) covers his work as an astronomer. The retired Professor

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of the History of Science at the University of Valencia, Victor Navarro, a specialist in Vicenç Mut, was asked to compile the book. Beyond the facsimile edition of Mut’s works, it contains their translation into Catalan and a biography of its subject, both carried out by Victor Navarro himself. The book is com­ plemented by prologues from two highly respected academ­ ics, Josep Lluís Ballaster, Professor of Astronomy and Astro­ physics at UIB, and Ugo Baldini, Professor of Modern History at the University of Padua and a specialist in the great Italian astronomers with whom Vicenç Mut was scientifically associ­ ated, such as Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598–1671). The book enjoyed a significant circulation, both within Spain and in Eu­ rope and North America.

Volume number 9 serves to rescue an exceptional Majorcan pedagogue and scientist from oblivion: Margalida Comas Camps. The book Margalida Comas Camps (1892-1992) científica i pedagoga (Margalida Comas Camps (1892-1992) Scientist and Pedagogue)—edited by Maria Ángeles Delgado, Doctor in Pedagogy and graduate in the sciences—is both a biography of Margalida Comas and an extensive collection of her scientific and pedagogical work, with considerable docu­ mentation of all her activities. A book on a person as remarka­ ble as Margalida Comas, who left her mark in so many places, is surely worthy of several prologues. Thus we find contribu­ tions by Charly Ryan, senior lecturer at the University of Win­ chester (UK); María Lluïsa Penelas, responsible for re-awaken­ ing interest in Margalida Comas within the Catalan Countries; Bernat Sureda, Professor of the History of Pedagogy at UIB; and Miquel Àngel Limón, the Menorcan journalist and historian who has labored intensively to publicize the life and work of his compatriot. The book has had a vast circulation throughout Spain and Europe; in fact, 1500 copies have been on back or­ der for months and a second edition will be released.

Currently, two books of very diverse subjects are, as noted above, en route to publication: the first, about the Societat Econòmica d’Amics del País de Mallorca (Economic Society of the Friends of the Country of Majorca), was edited by Isabel Moll, Professor Emeritus in Contemporary History at UIB,. The second, about one of the founders of the Institució Catalana d’Història Natural i la Societat Balear d’Història Natural (Cata­

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194 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

lan Institution of Natural History and the Balearic Natural Histo­ ry Society), Majorcan apothecary Llorenç Garcias Font (1884– 1975), was prepared by UIB Professor Guillem Pons together with art historian Mireia Garcías.

The collection has established a clear mission for itself, pre­ senting the Balearic Islands in a wide sense to European scien­ tific society as not only a tourist destination but also a commu­ nity with a rich scientific past that has been maintained and nurtured into the present, as evidenced by the investigators

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March Noguera 

currently working in our scientific institutions. The goals of the collection have been met thanks to the Editorial Board, which has brought together a wide range of scientific specialists, in­ cluding the above-mentioned editor Basilio Baltasar, the Rec­ tor of the UIB, Camilo José Cela Conde; Felip Cirer, Doctor in Philology and historian; Carlos Duarte, Doctor in Biology and investigator at the CSIC; and Ricard Guerrero, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Barcelona and Scientific Sec­ retary of the IEC.

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 195–203 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.127 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

historical corner

The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years Antoni Roca-Rosell, 1 Josep M. Camarasa 2 1. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech 2. Carl Faust Foundation, Blanes

The 1907 creation of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies, IEC) as a center devoted to the history, art, and literature of Catalonia marks an early stage in terms of the importance of the sciences in general and the study of the Cat­ alan language in particular [24,25]. The ruling-agreement dated 18 June 1907, stated: “[...] the time has come for the Diputació (Barcelona Provin­ cial Council) to take the initiative to fund centers of scientific studies here, specifically centers specialized in and devoted not to education but to producing science and facilitating studies, so we can learn directly about everything that is ours and to not have to learn from the foreigners that have studied here.”

Even though the natural sciences are not mentioned explic­ itly, the wording that laid the groundwork for the 1907 ruling is ambiguous enough to allow for a broader interpretation of the scope of study of the IEC, which would be realized in 1911 with its expansion to include a Sciences Section and a Philology Section.

“A study center is hereby created which shall be called the Institute for Catalan Studies whose mission shall be higher scientific research into all the elements of Catalan culture.”

Interest in research and the sciences was nothing new in early 20th century Catalanism [55] The earliest cultural Catalan­ ism had its roots in Romanticism, whose detractors have sometimes pejoratively called ‘floralist’ (in reference to its rela­ tionship with the Jocs Florals—Floral Games, traditional poetry contests in Catalonia), but science soon appeared as a distin­ guishing feature of culture. One of the earliest manifestations of this close relationship between Catalanism and science was the 1876 founding of the Associació Catalanista d’Excursions Científiques (Catalanist Association of Scientific Excursions), the first excursionist society in Catalonia [45,46]. In addition to the political and cultural choices in favor of Catalanism, the As­ sociation’s name also reveals that it set out to confer upon these outings a ‘scientific’ mission. The goal was to supple­ ment the pleasures derived from the mountains and nature

Correspondence: A. Roca-Rosell, Edifici H (ETSEIB), Planta 6, Despatx 6.52, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avda. Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34-934016629. E-mail: an­ toni.roca-rosell@upc.edu

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with an activity that would also generate knowledge of the land, history, geography, flora and fauna, and climatology of the places visited.

Initially, the emphasis of these scientific excursions was on archaeology, art, and folklore rather than on the natural sci­ ences. The first signs of a closer relationship between Catalan­ ism and science can be found in some of the first descriptive historical texts. For example, in 1875 Josep Fiter Inglès, one of the founders of the Association, published an essay on “The Astrological Science in Catalonia” in which he described the Catalan astronomers since the 10th century [39]. We should also mention the contributions of many field excursionists to geography, meteorology, botany, zoology, geology, and spe­ leology. In 1899, when several young Catalanists joined forces to form the Catalan Institution of Natural History (ICHN), which years later would become an affiliate of the IEC, they did so with the intention of “linking science back up with [Catalanist] politics as others had done with history, art, literature, and even excursionist activities.” [28,30]. The young founders of the ICHN soon enlisted the help of more highly trained naturalists.

One of the first was Norbert Font i Sagué (1874–1910), a geol­ ogist and clergyman [26] who was along with several other in­ dividuals introduced Speleology to Catalonia. He is also the author of one of the most ambitious works from this period. In the prologue to his Historia de les ciencies naturals á Catalunya del sigle IX al sigle XVIII (History of the natural sciences in Catalonia from the 9th to the 18th century, 1908), he stated: “The political movement of Catalonia determined the shape of its history, which has served to spur on its spirit even more; but if Catalonia’s renaissance was purely literary or historical in theory, today we can now describe it as whole­ sale, since it extends to all manifestations of life. The scien­ tific movement itself, even though it was one of the last to manifest itself, today shows a lush, tender branching, the harbinger of positive fruits for tomorrow, and within the sci­ ences themselves the so-called natural sciences are the ones with the most cultivators every day, the most promis­ ing sciences.” [40] The fact that Font i Sagué wanted to explicitly express that Catalanism could already be regarded as ‘wholesale,’ in that it encompassed the scientific movement, reveals the extent to which science was considered a hallmark of Catalanism at that time. Thus, it was only natural that in January 1910 Prat de la Riba sought to enlarge the IEC, in a speech as President of the

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Diputació of Barcelona [1] in which he stated that, apart from the objective value of the IEC’s mission in terms of the substan­ tial components of the Catalan personality (art, language, and history), “it is [also] of paramount importance from another patri­ otic vantage point [...], and it heralds the beginning [of the period] of the internationalization of the Catalan language, the period of the enshrinement of the Catalan language as an instrument of change in universal scientific life.” As a result of all this, he stat­ ed: “Thus, we shall strengthen this action and complete it by having the Sciences Section occupy its place of honor next to the History and Archaeology Sections. Thus we shall also contribute positively to freeing ourselves from foreign pa­ tronage, to no longer be the importing clients of the science that other people do as we are today, rather to be the crea­ tors of science, and science knows full well that it is the hon­ or, richness, superiority, and predominance of peoples.” [50] However, the proposal for expansion was not carried out immediately. Indeed, a full year was to elapse before the maga­ zine La Cataluña, a Spanish-language platform for political and cultural Catalanism which aimed to serve as a communication bridge between Catalanism and Spanish intellectuals, pub­ lished (January 1911) an extraordinary 32-page double issue on ‘The ideal and activity of Catalan youth.’ [2] The headline article was a lengthy study by Eugeni d’Ors entitled ‘The updat­ ing of the Catalan intellectual tradition.’ [48] This text is a kind of manifesto of the noucentista generation which was about to take over the political reins in Catalonia. To drive home his point, d’Ors formulated a list of opposites, mainly to contrast the beliefs of the new generation with the old-fashioned mod­ ernism of the preceding one: “Instead of Romanticism, the immortal classical tradition; in­ stead of the Bourgeoisie, the Trade Union or the Empire; in­ stead of Liberalism, Socialism or socialization; instead of Democracy, proletarianism, on the one hand, and aristo­ cratic tendencies on the other; instead of indifference, the universal restoration of the worship of religious values, the idea of religion as indispensable for the unity of mental life and thus the spirit; instead of Primitivism, philosophy and science...” ([3], p. 3) D’Ors’ proclamation can be confusing and ambiguous, but it is clear that his authoritarian and pro-Spain shift in the 1920s did not actually conflict with his original thinking. Worth noting in this sense is his explicit declaration in favor of science as over­ coming, primitive, uncultivated minds. When analyzing the rather unsatisfying status of research in Catalonia, he noted that science “is not, nor can it ever be, a personal undertaking; rather it must be, and is, a collective endeavor, an endeavor in which people, nations, and generations work together.” ([48], p. 5) When speaking about his tasks as a researcher, which encompassed thinking, ethics, aesthetics, logic, and psychol­ ogy, he deemed that the first thing needed is an ‘editor,’ and he mentioned the IEC as an agent in the dissemination of aca­

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Roca-Rosell, Camarasa

demic research. The second need is to have a modern library, and he again mentioned the IEC. Thirdly, d’Ors stated: “The libraries and laboratories must join forces for the sci­ ences that need them. Without them, nothing can be done in several orders of knowledge. Our situation on this front is disastrous.” ([48], p. 5) Here he specifically referred to the difficulties faced by Au­ gust Pi i Sunyer in his attempt to consolidate a center of physi­ ological research as part of the Municipal Laboratory of Barce­ lona, but he noted that the shortcomings in this field had parallels in other specialties.

In another article from the same issue of La Cataluña, Au­ gust Pi i Sunyer revisited Eugeni d’Ors’s analysis on the limita­ tions of experimental research in Catalonia [49]. He began by noting the secular displacement between the economic takeoff and the ‘spiritual’ manifestations in Catalonia; he believed that the stimulus to study had taken a long time in coming. For science to be modernized, the first thing needed was a power­ ful technical education, meant in the broadest sense of profes­ sional training for both technicians and scientists. In Catalonia, he went on, there had been no lack of individual pursuits in the field of science, but no science schools with guided, disciplined methods had yet been created.

“It is our problem of education, of schooling, of associa­ tion, of organization: the scientific ideal in Catalonia has to be to study, and to study again, and to do, knowing that what is being done, not just by routine, to join efforts; in a word, to prepare the instruments of mental work that we are utterly lacking today, just like not too many years ago we were lacking laboratory instruments. And afterward... having a great deal of confidence, an inexhaustible and in­ geneous optimism without which no achievement is possi­ ble.” ([4], p. 16) His mention of the confidence that is needed in researchers equipped with the means they need to work harks back to the civil discourse on science, the indispensable framework for that confidence that Pi i Sunyer demanded [42,58] He then sur­ veyed the situation in the fields he knew best, mainly the bio­ medical sciences. The most highly regarded institution was the Municipal Laboratory, directed by Ramon Turró [51], in addi­ tion to the university laboratories, which he claimed were mak­ ing progress. Besides the biomedical sciences, he mentioned the establishment of the Fabra Observatory, of the Royal Acad­ emy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, and the Ebro Observa­ tory, run by the Society of Jesus. He further highlighted the geological works by Norbert Font i Sagué, whose recent death he mourned, and the founding of the maritime biological station in Palma de Mallorca by Odon de Buén, then still a professor in Barcelona. Finally, he added the studies being conducted in the Faculty of Pharmacy and the fact that “we have some valu­ able mathematicians, in mechanics and physics especially.” He concluded that almost everything remained to be done and that perhaps that Institute of Sciences that Prat de la Riba had

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The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years

announced would be a major step forward along the pathway that needed to be taken.

‘Science today represents the public wealth of tomorrow’ The agreement to enlarge the IEC with two new Sections took effect in February 1911 (Fig. 1). Thirteen new members were added and the institute was reorganized into sections or insti­ tutes with seven members each: Historical-Archaeological, which was virtually a continuation of the original IEC, along with the Sciences and Language or Philology Sections. The eight initial members of the Institute, with the exception of Pere Coromines, who joined the new Sciences Section, remained in the Historical-Archaeological Section. The Sciences Section, as we shall see, was made up of a gynecologist, two biologists, an engineer, physicist and mathematician, an economist, a naturalist, and a philosopher. The Philological Section included three distinguished writers (Josep Carner, Àngel Guimerà, and Joan Maragall), two clergymen (Antoni M. Alcover and Frederic Clascar), a Greek professor (Lluís Segalà), and an engineer who also became a linguist (Pompeu Fabra).

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 197

The Sciences Section (or Institute of Sciences) clearly bore the hallmark of Eugeni d’Ors, who not only was its Secretary but also, in the absence of Josep Pijoan, became the Secretary General of the IEC as a whole [5] This section aimed to unite the natural, biomedical, exact, and social sciences along with philosophy in the same institution. In any event, the justification of the new section in the Institute’s 1910 annual report was clearly stated by Prat de la Riba. After declaring that the new section would spearhead the use of Catalan in the sciences in order to achieve “the completeness of our cultural renais­ sance,” the report devoted a lengthy paragraph to the relation­ ships between ‘science and public wealth,’ which read: “Science and public wealth. However, this social coopera­ tion with scientific endeavors is also required of us because of the same economic interests that are peremptorily threat­ ened every day by the superiority of foreign science. This no longer translates solely into international competition or the fight for markets, but here in Catalonia it also subjects us to a kind of shameful status as a colony, transferring the newest and most important affairs within the country’s economic life to foreign hands. Our land seems to be ours, our city seems to be ours; however, in reality they are largely the domain of foreigners who lord over them in science, in technology, and in organization. It has been said a thousand times in a thou­ sand different tones: without original science, there is no original industry in a country; without original industry, there is no independent economic life. Any attempt to free our­ selves from our slavery on this point will be sterile if we do not attack the plague at the roots. Science today represents to us the public wealth of tomorrow.” ([50], p. 584).

For this reason, the IEC had to be completed: “[...] by forming a new organization, an Institute of Sciences which, joined by the current History-Archaeology Section and making use of some of the means and practices already gathered and used by this department, would complete it in the sciences, giving it the scientific complexity needed by a public entity that does not want to give injudicious prepon­ derance to one of the branches of human knowledge at the expense of the others.” ([50], p. 585).

Fig. 1. Sculpture ‘Camins del saber’ (Paths of knowledge) created by Xavier Jansana in commemoration of the centenary of the Sciences Section.

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He therefore justified the Science Sections’s scope of ac­ tion, which included not only the natural sciences and mathe­ matics but also the social sciences and philosophy. The Sec­ tion’s initial composition reflected this idea, which was in line with those of d’Ors’s at that time, as well as the true status of Catalan scientific research in those days, with its preponder­ ance of biomedical sciences and a secondary role for the phys­ ical sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and philosophy.

The President of the Section, Miquel A. Fargas, was a pro­ fessor of Obstetrics at the University of Barcelona and one of the senior leaders of the Lliga Regionalista (Regionalist League), Prat de la Riba’s party [6]. Ramon Turró, a veterinarian, was the director of the Municipal Laboratory of Barcelona, which under his stewardship had become a cutting-edge center of biomed­

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ical research in Catalonia [29,31]. August Pi i Sunyer, the de­ scendant of a long line of physicians from the Empordà region, had earned his professorship in Physiology at the University of Seville through the civil servant selection process and had de­ clined it to continue his research at the Municipal Laboratory in Barcelona, where he was appointed Honorary Professor of Physiology; in 1915, he became the Chair of the Faculty of Medicine of Barcelona [7]. Josep M. Bofill i Pichot was a physi­ cian as well, but for health reasons had stopped practicing and in the meantime had become a renowned entomologist, with a particular focus on insects that were harmful to agricultural crops. He had been one of the disciples and partners of San­ tiago Ramón y Cajal during his sojourn in Barcelona and had twice presided over the Catalan Institution of Natural History, a job he held until just a few days before being appointed a mem­ ber of the IEC. Since 1909, he had been a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona [33]. Esteve Ter­ radas was a physicist, mathematician, and engineer, and a Professor of Acoustics and Optics at the University of Barcelo­ na. He had joined the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona in 1909, and his education and youthfulness had made him a beacon of hope for the world of the physical sci­ ences, mathematics, and engineering in Catalonia. Pere Coromines was a lawyer by training but he worked in the fi­ nances department of the Barcelona City Hall, where he had transformed the municipal treasury. Associated with the leftist pro-Catalan movements, his research fell within the social sci­ ences, mainly economics and sociology. Finally, Eugeni d’Ors, the secretary of the Section and the new Secretary General of the IEC, had a degree in Law and Philosophy and had returned from sojourns in several European countries just a few years earlier. He was quite well known to the public through his con­ tributions to newspapers, primarily the ‘Gloses’ that he pub­ lished in La Veu de Catalunya, and he had become a leader and guide of the new aesthetic and intellectual current called noucentisme.

Publications, services, and affiliated organizations (1911–1917) The Sciences Section launched its activities on 1 April 1911 (Fig. 2). At its first meeting, the members agreed to publish a scientific journal that would be entitled Arxius de l’Institut de Ciències (Archives of the Institute of Sciences) [53]. The plans for the journal were quite ambitious, with international contri­ butions in the authors’ original language and briefs or secto­ rial reviews written by the Section’s members themselves [8].

In the same year, Eugeni d’Ors participated in the 4th Philos­ ophy Congress, held in Bologna, and secured a contribution to Arxius by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano.

Shortly thereafter, Esteve Terradas participated in the 1911 meeting of the Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte (Congress of German Naturalists and Physicians), and although he secured no foreign contributions, his reports on the gathering were a testament to the cutting-edge position of physics at that time. His review of Max von Laue’s 1911

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Fig. 2. Minutes of the first meeting of the Sciences Section of the IEC, on 1 April 1911. Source: Archive of the Institute d’Estudis Catalans.

book on the principle of relativity was one of the first ‘official’ appearances of Einstein’s theory in Spain [52,57]. The pace at which publications were issued was quite lively in the early years, but the Section members were unable to sustain this momentum for too long, and in 1916 the format became smaller and the publications began to appear on a more ir­ regular basis (Fig. 3).

The first volumes of Flora de Catalunya and Fauna de Cata­ lunya (Flora of Catalonia and Fauna of Catalonia, Fig. 4) also appeared quite early on. Lectures given by Bofill i Pichot and Eugeni d’Ors were published in the second and third install­ ments of the first volume of the Anuari de l’Institut de Ciències.

Bofill i Pichot former proposed the publication of Flora de Cata­ lunya and entrusted it to Joan Cadevall [9]; the latter began with the malacology described in the publication Fauna de Cata­ lunya and assigned Artur Bofill i Poch and Manuel de Chia to develop the Fauna malacològica de Catalunya (Malacological fauna of Catalonia). In fact, at Bofill i Pichot’s proposal, in the second session of the Institute of Sciences held on 5 May 1911, the members agreed to publish “the work on Catalan flora that the distinguished botanist Mr. Cadevall had been working on for some years.” [10] Indeed, Joan Cadevall had already written much of the text, but in Spanish, and the job now was to translate it into Catalan. Likewise, Cadevall’s origi­ nal had to be adapted to the characteristics of an illustrated book on flora similar to Coste’s Flore de France, from whose publishing house (Librairie des Sciences Naturelles in Paris) they intended to request authorization to reproduce the figures illustrating the species common to both French and Catalan flora. The translation and adaptation, as well as the scholarly

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The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years

Fig. 3. Cover of the first issue of Arxius de l’Institut de Ciències (1911).

Source: Archive of the Institute d’Estudis Catalans.

notes on the etymologies or origins of the names of the plants, were assigned to Àngel Sallent.

The first installment of Flora de Catalunya did not appear until the summer of 1913 [11], but the minutes of the Institute of Sciences noted that in September 1911 Cadevall and Sallent were already working on it and that the first originals would be delivered to the Institute in late October or early November.

Their publication was approved at the first Institute of Sciences

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 199

meeting, in January 1912. In early March of the same year, au­ thorization was received from Léon Lhomme, the editor of Coste’s Flore, to use the illustrations from that book, and sev­ eral days later Cadevall and Sallent delivered the rest of the material needed to complete the first installment. The ‘painter Mr Viver’ [12] simultaneously delivered his originals for two color plates of two endemic species and two black engravings of species that did not appear in Coste’s Flore.

The launch of Fauna de Catalunya, which would publish in­ stallments on mollusks and insects under the supervision of Josep M. Bofill i Pichot (except for one by Josep Maluquer i Nicolau, an expert in coelenterata), came somewhat later: on 8 March 1912, the Institute of Sciences agreed to ask Manuel de Chia i Bajandas (Girona, 1856–Barcelona 1917) to submit a complete monograph on venerids, in which he would exten­ sively examine the genus Tapes [13]. Publication of the first few installments on fauna would also prove to be slow and labori­ ous, especially because of the difficulties posed by the photo­ graphs that Chia wanted to include. Bofill i Pichot, in turn, heav­ ily stressed the importance of small explanatory glossaries of the technical zoology terms to improve understanding of the de­ scriptions. Finally, on 10 March 1915, the forms and title of the monographs from Fauna de Catalunya, subtitled Monografies publicades sota la direcció de Josep M. Bofill i Pichot, membre de l’Institut de Ciències (Monographs published under the direc­ tion of Josep M. Bofill i Pichot, member of the Institute of Sci­ ence), were decided upon. The first three installments on mala­ cological fauna—Introducció, Família de les venèrides and Família de les petricòlides (Introductions, Family of the venerids, and Family of the petricolids)—appeared in July of the same year.

The first initiatives aimed at developing and publishing the geographic and geological maps of Catalonia also date from these early years. On 18 June 1912, the Institute of Sciences agreed to ask the Geographic and Statistical Institute of Madrid for the basic publications needed to start a geographic map of Catalonia. However, the agreement to fill the jobs of topogra­ pher and draftsman at the Geographic Map Service was not

Fig. 4. Covers of Flora de Catalunya (Volume I) and Fauna de Catalunya (Fascicle I). Source: Ar­ chive of the Institute d’Estudis Catalans.

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reached until 8 May 1914, with the period for candidates to submit their applications set for September 30. Late in that year, José de Rivera was chosen to fill the job of topographer and Baldomer Pérez Mayol was hired as the draftsman [47].

Once the Geographic Map Service had been organized, the decision was made to begin organizing the Geological Map Service. Already in early 1913, Bofill i Pichot had taken steps “to provide the Institute with the studies on the Geologi­ cal Map which Dr. Almera is publishing on commission from the Diputació.” [14] In early November 1914, the Diputació, aware of Almera’s refusal and his proposal that he be re­ placed by Marià Faura i Sans, his disciple and partner, as­ signed the IEC to proceed with the map [15]. The Geological Map Service was set up with Faura as the director in charge of the same staff that had worked under Almera’s orders: topog­ rapher Eduard Brossa and assistant Josep Ramon Bataller (then still a seminarist and student of natural sciences at the University of Barcelona). The appointments took effect on 28 June 1915 [23].

Another of the initiatives ushered in by the Sciences Section was the Aerologic Station of Barcelona (1912), following the suggestion of Eduard Fontserè, a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts. Shortly beforehand, he had taken charge of the Meteorological and Seismic Department of the Fabra Ob­ servatory [56]. The Aerologic Station, with its systematic re­ lease of weather balloons, was part of an international plan to gather meteorological data from the high atmosphere, a plan promoted by Vilhelm Bjerknes, the founder of modern meteo­ rology. The Aerologic Station became the seed of the Meteoro­ logical Service of Catalonia, approved in 1919 (Fig. 5).

In those years, in addition to the Geographic Map Service, the Geological Map Service, and the Aerologic Station, the Ma­ laria Technical Service (1915) was created, led by Gustavo Pit­ taluga, who spearheaded public health policy in the Mancomu­ nitat de Catalunya (Commonwealth of Catalonia). August Pi i Sunyer and Jesús M. Bellido (1917) also drafted the first pro­ posals to create an Institute of Physiology; however, Prat de la Riba’s death [16] would delay the creation of this institute, which did not become a reality until 1921.

Apart from its scientific and technical publications and serv­

Fig. 5. Release of a weather balloon by meteorologists of the Aero­ logic Station directed by Eduard Fontserè.

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Roca-Rosell, Camarasa

ices, the Institute of Sciences began to take part in organizing the Catalan scientific community through the addition of affili­ ate organizations. The first one, in late 1912, was the Biology Society of Barcelona (today the Catalan Society for Biology) [17]. The Society was first mentioned in the 2 November 1912 minutes of the Sciences Section, which seem to indicate that the initiative did not stem from the IEC or its Sciences Section but from Catalan physiologists who had contacted the Société de Biologie in Paris to create, according to August Pi i Sunyer, “a sister organization [in Barcelona] in communication and working correspondence with it and with the Society for Biolo­ gy of Madrid.” [18] The minutes of the session at the Institute of Sciences that day were limited to a scant mention that “some Institute members will be part of the new institution.” On 14 December 1912, the first scientific session of the new Society was held, and in the first year, from December 1912 to Decem­ ber 1913, 31 scientific papers were presented in the sessions, which featured Turró, Pi i Sunyer and some of their disciples and partners. This group formed the initial embryo of the incipi­ ent ‘Catalan Biology School’ and their papers served as the cornerstone of the first volume in a new publication: Treballs de la Societat de Biologia de Barcelona (Papers of the Society for Biology of Barcelona), which appeared in the early months of 1914 (Fig. 6). In the ensuing years, until 1920, the Society con­ tinued to publish papers presented at the scientific sessions the preceding year [19].

Another member of the Institute of Sciences, Josep M. Bofill i Pichot, served as a bridge to help another society join the IEC as an affiliate: the Catalan Institution of Natural History (ICHN).

Thus, a more explicit link was forged between the tradition of scientific excursions in Catalonia and the new research institu­ tions. This process, which began in early 1915, was long and complicated and was not completed until 6 December 1917, when the assembly of ICHN members approved the new by­ laws under which the organization was to be governed as an IEC affiliate.

When the Consell de Pedagogia (Educational Research Council) of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya decided to launch Monographic Courses on Exchanges and Advanced Studies, the Sciences Section took an immediate interest and submit­ ted a proposal, which was approved by the Mancomunitat. In fact, the matter was somewhat of an internal affair since the leader on behalf of the Mancomunitat was Eugeni d’Ors and the proposals were submitted by Terradas and Pi i Sunyer.

The outbreak of World War I hindered exchanges with univer­ sities abroad and, more seriously, thwarted the participation of researchers from the belligerent countries. For this reason, in early 1915, the only professors from outside Catalonia were the Italian educator Anna Maccheroni and the Spanish math­ ematician Julio Rey Pastor, and the following year the only professor from abroad was the Hungarian Béla Szilárd, who had previously worked in the Curie laboratory but had moved to Madrid after the war broke out [20]. It was the lecture by Rey Pastor and the others who followed him that would give rise to a new series of publications in 1916, the Collection of Physics and Mathematics Lectures supervised by Esteve Ter­ radas [41].

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 201

scientific and technical community in the Catalan-speaking territories; and to promote research in conjunction with the appropriate institutions.

Notes 1.

2.

Fig. 6. The members of the ‘Catalan Biology School’. Source: August Pi i Sunyer: l’home i l’obra. Barcelona: IEC, 1966.

In summary, in these early years of its history, the Institute of Science intervened in the science policy of both the Diputació and the Mancomunitat in efforts to address everything that re­ mained to be done, as proclaimed by Prat de la Riba a few years earlier: scientific publications in Catalan (except those by foreign authors published in the Arxius of the Institute of Sci­ ences, which were published in their original languages), in­ spection (and supervision, in many cases) of scientific and technical services, support for the creation of research centers and scientific societies, and the organization of monographic courses, all of which emphasized the desire to internationalize scientific activity in Catalonia. In these efforts, the policies of the Sciences Section coexisted alongside those established by Spain through the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas (Board for the Expansion of Studies and Research), an organization created in 1907 (like the IEC), but with quite different characteristics and scope [21]. Pi i Sunyer was a member of the Board from 1918 to 1923, which ensured smoother relations between the two organizations. Esteve Ter­ radas, through Julio Rey Pastor, also had close ties with the Junta and directed the Mathematics Laboratory in 1929 and 1930.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Conclusion We shall close this study around 1920, on the verge of the first crisis suffered by the Institute for Catalan Studies, which led to the expulsion of its Secretary General, Eugeni d’Ors [22]. A few years later (1923–1930), the Institute suffered from more serious operating difficulties during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. The expulsion of Eugeni d’Ors affected the Sciences Section twofold, since he was both a member and the Secretary of the Section. We shall not cover the rest of the Sciences Section’s history, but we can state that those early years set the general tone of the Institute for Catalan Studies’ mission in science policy: to promote the publication of seri­ ous scientific information in Catalan and in the main languag­ es of scientific communication; to promote membership in scientific organizations and, as a consequence, to bolster the

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12.

13.

14.

15.

“[...] we have to complete another of the initiatives of the previous biennial: the Institute of Catalan Studies.” ([50], p. 473) The publisher devoted the issue to Prat de la Riba and stated that through him it aimed to showcase ‘the Cata­ lonia of tomorrow.’

[48], the italics are from the original text.

[49], the italics are from the original text.

Regarding the IEC’s science policy, see [32].

Regarding Fargas, see Casassas Simó, 1999.

Regarding Pi i Sunyer and the Catalan biology school, see [38].

The first few issues feature, for example, August Pi i Sunyer’s survey of the physiological research conducted during the first decade of the 20th century and Esteve Terradas’ review of relativity.

Today Joan Cadevall i Diars (1846–1921) is primarily known as the author of Flora de Catalunya (1913–1937), an unquestionably important work but one that is largely marginal within Cadevall’s professional and civil life as a whole. Joan Cadevall’s efforts as a generalist naturalist and educator, the true forerunner to what we call environ­ mental education today, and his civic activities in his city of Terrassa (as the promoter of the Municipal Arts and Crafts School and the Industrial School, the founder of the local Red Cross assembly, the President of the Offi­ cial Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Director of the local Meteorological Centre, and the list goes on) have never been sufficiently valued by his biographers, almost all of them botanists who have stressed his achievements in the field of botany.

IEC Archive. Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 1, p. 9 The first copies were received on 14 July (IEC Archive.

Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 2, p. 89). On 16 July 1913, Cadevall sent to Carlos Pau a copy of this first installment (letter from Cadevall to Pau dated 16.07.1913.

Pau Collection. Archive of the Botany Institute of Barce­ lona).

The Terrassa-based painter Pere Viver (1873–1917), one of the exponents of the Terrassa modernist landscape school. He was the brother of painter Tomàs Viver (1876– 1951), who at that time was the director of the Municipal Arts and Crafts School of Terrassa, which had been founded in 1886 upon Cadevall’s initiative.

IEC Archive. Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 1, p.

122.

IEC Archive. Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 2, p.

7-8. Regarding [43].

IEC Archive. Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 3, p.

127. Regarding [44].

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16. And unquestionably the lower degree of political under­ standing between the new president of the Mancomuni­ tat. Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and August Pi i Sunyer, es­ pecially after the latter’s February 1918 election as a deputy to the Courts for the district of Figueres repre­ senting a Catalanist Republican coalition.

17. [35]. Regarding the IEC’S affiliate organizations, see [54].

18. IEC Archive. Minutes of the Sciences Section. Book 1, p.

193. He was probably referring to the Spanish Biology Society founded the year before by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Gregorio Marañón, and other physicians who con­ ducted biomedical research in different centers in Ma­ drid. Pi i Sunyer might have wanted to bolster his argu­ ments in favor of creating the Barcelona-based society by holding up their Madrid-based colleagues as an ex­ ample, or perhaps he had spoken with them regarding the possibility of mutually strengthening each other in view of their French colleagues.

19. The 1920 and 1921 papers were published together in a single volume in 1922, although the following year things returned to normal with the publication of the volume for 1922.

20. Despite this, apart from Maccheroni and Szilárd, between 1915 and 1918 the German anthropologist Diedrich Westermann participated in the Monographic Courses on High Studies and Exchange on the suggestion of the Sciences Section. In 1919 the Belgian psychologist Georges Dwelshauvers and the Belgian educator Leon de Paeuw participated, and in 1920 the Italian educator Maria Montessori and the Belgian psychologist Georges Dwelshauvers did, too. It should be borne in mind that in 1917, the Biology Society began to organize its own se­ ries of short courses and the biological sciences disap­ peared from the programs of the Monographic Courses on High Studies and Exchange. As part of these courses run by the Biology Society, in 1917 the French physiolo­ gists Éugène Gley and Hyacinthe Vincent, and in 1919 the veterinarian Paul Dechambre, the physicians A. Bos­ san and A. Balvay, and the physicist Jean Perrin, all of them French, came to Barcelona.

21. See, for example, [34].

22. In the extensive literature on the expulsion of Eugeni d’Ors, see [53], which analyses it from the vantage point of the Sciences Section, or [24]. Casassas [37] and Ca­ marasa [31] analyze the role of the clash between Turró and d’Ors in this expulsion. A very serious analysis of the conflict within the general frame of Spanish culture in the first quarter of the 20th century can be found in Cacho Viu [27].

References 23. Aragonès E (2005) El mapa geològic i tipogràfic de la província de Barcelona: la sèrie 1:40.000 (1888-1914).

Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona (vol. 13) pp. 155-280

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Roca-Rosell, Camarasa

24. Balcells A, Pujol E (2002) Història de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (vol. 1). Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Catarroja: Editorial Afers, Barcelona 25. Balcells A, Izquierdo S, Pujol E (2007) Història de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (vol. 2). Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Catarroja: Editorial Afers, Barcelona 26. Bohigas J (2011) Per Déu i per la ciència. L’església a la Catalunya de la Restauració. Universitat de Girona, Giro­ na. Doctoral thesis 27. Cacho Viu V (1998) El nacionalismo catalán como factor de modernización. Publicaciones de la Residencia de Estudiantes-Quaderns Crema, Madrid-Barcelona 28. Camarasa JM (1995) Josep Maluquer i Nicolau (Barcelo­ na 1883-1960). La gestió empresarial en la ciència, la gestió científica en l’empresa. In: Camarasa JM, Roca Rosell A (directors) Ciència i tècnica als Països Catalans: una aproximació biogràfica als darrers 150 anys. Fun­ dació Catalana per a la Recerca, Barcelona, pp. 12091243 29. Camarasa JM (1997) Ramon Turró, un modernista al la­ boratori. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona [Sem­ blances biogràfiques, 2] 30. Camarasa JM (2000) Cent anys de passió per la natura: una història de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural.

1899-1999. Institució Catalana d’Història Natural, Barce­ lona 31. Camarasa JM (2007) Turró i les primeres passes de l’’escola biològica catalana’. In: Terricabras JM (ed) Ra­ mon Turró, científic i pensador. Universitat de Girona, Gi­ rona, pp. 63-91 32. Camarasa JM, Roca Rosell A (2008) L’Institut d’Estudis Catalans al llarg de cent anys de polítiques científiques.

Coneixement i Societat 14:6-51 33. Camarasa JM (2009) Josep M. Bofill i Pichot : metge i naturista (Barcelona, 1860 - Sant Julià de Vilatorta, Oso­ na, 1938): semblança biogràfica. Institut d’Estudis Cata­ lans, Barcelona [Semblances biogràfiques, 51] 34. Camarasa JM, Roca Rosell A (2010) La Junta para Am­ pliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas y el Ins­ titut d’Estudis Catalans (1907-1939). In: Sánchez Ron JM, Garcia-Velasco J (eds) 100 JAE. La Junta para Am­ pliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas en su Centenario. Actas del II Congreso Internacional celebra­ do los días 4, 5 y 6 de febrero de 2008, Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, pp. 384-421 35. Camarasa JM, Casassas O, Junyent C (2012) Cent anys de la Societat Catalana de Biologia. Treballs de la Socie­ tat Catalana de Biologia 63:299-324 36. Casassas O (1999) Miquel A. Fargas i Roca i els nous horitzons, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona [Sem­ blances biogràfiques, 6] 37. Casassas O (2007) Ramon Turró: l’home que treballa i que no juga. In: Terricabras JM (ed) Ramon Turró, cientí­ fic i pensador, Universitat de Girona, Girona, pp. 93-114 38. Casassas O (2009) L’Escola Biològica Catalana. In: Ver­ net J, Parés R (dirs.) La Ciència en la història dels Països Catalans (Vol. 3: De l’inici de la industrialització a l’època

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39.

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actual). Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Universitat de Valèn­ cia, Valencia, Barcelona, pp. 627-653 Fiter i Inglès J (1875) La ciència astrològica en Catalunya: breu descripció dels fets més notables á cap portats per los astrólechs catalans, desde’l segle x fins á nostres dias. Barcelona Font i Sagué N (1908) Historia de les ciencies naturals á Catalunya del sigle ix al sigle xviii. Estamp. de La Hormiga de Oro, Barcelona [facsimile edition, Barcelona: Alta Fu­ lla, 1978] Galí A (1983) Història de les institucions i del moviment cultural a Catalunya 1900-1936. Llibre IX: Ensenyament universitari. Fundació Alexandre Galí, Barcelona Glick TF (1994) Ciencia, política y discurso civil en la Es­ paña de Alfonso XIII. In: Cortázar G (ed) Nación y estado en la España liberal. Editorial Noesis, Madrid, pp. 255275 Gómez-Alba J (1995a) Jaume Almera i Comas. La geolo­ gia apologetic. In: Camarasa JM, Roca Rosell, A (dir) Ciència i Tècnica als Països Catalans. Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca, Barcelona, pp. 595-621 Gómez-Alba J (1995b) Marià Faura i Sans. El Servei del Mapa Geològic i Topogràfic de Catalunya. In: Camarasa JM, Roca Rosell A (dir) Ciència i Tècnica als Països Cata­ lans. Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca, Barcelona, pp.

1119-1146 Iglésies i Fort J (1964) Els primers excursionistes. Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona Martí Henneberg J (1994) L’excursionisme científic. Alta Fulla, Barcelona Montaner, MC (2000) Mapes i cartògrafs a la Catalunya contemporània (1833-1941). Rafael Dalmau Editor/Insti­ tut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, Barcelona [d’]Ors E (1911) El renovamiento de la tradición intelec­ tual catalana. Cataluña, revista semanal, year V, no. 170171, 7 and 14 January 1911, pp. 2-7

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49. Pi Suñer A (1911) El ideal científico de Cataluña. Ca­ taluña, revista semanal, year V, no. 170-171, 7 and 14 January 1911, pp. 15-16 50. Prat de la Riba, E (2000) Obra completa. (vol. 3) (19061917). In: Balcells A, Ainaud de Lasarte JM (ed). IECProa, Barcelona 51. Roca Rosell A (1988) Historia del Laboratori Microbiolò­ gic Municipal de Barcelona. De Ferran a Turró. Ajunta­ ment de Barcelona, Barcelona 52. Roca Rosell A, Sánchez Ron JM (1990) Esteban Terra­ das. Ciencia y Sociedad en la España contemporánea.

INTA-El Serbal, Madrid-Barcelona 53. Roca Rosell A, Casassas O, Simó E (1995) Introducció.

Els primers 100 números dels Arxius de les Seccions de Ciències. In: Amat J, Casassas O, Simó E (coords) Tren­ ta-dos aspectes de ciència i tecnologia. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, pp. 9-40. (Arxius de les Seccions de Ciències, no. 100) 54. Roca Rosell A (May 1999) Las sociedades científicas del IEC: asociacionismo e investigación científica. Arbor 163(641):61-75 55. Roca Rosell A, Salavert Fabiani VL (2003) Nacionalisme i ciència als Països Catalans durant la Restauració. Afers 46:549-563 56. Roca Rosell A, Batlló Ortiz J, Arús Dumenjó J (2004) Bio­ grafia del doctor Eduard Fontserè i Riba (1870-1970). As­ sociació Catalana de Meteorologia, Barcelona 57. Roca Rosell A (2005) Einstein en Barcelona. In: Sánchez Ron JM (coord). Einstein en España. Residencia de Estu­ diantes, Madrid, pp. 41-61 58. Roca Rosell A (2007) El discurso civil en torno a la ciencia y la técnica. In: Suarez Cortina M, Salavert Fabiani VL (eds) El regeneracionismo en España. Universitat de València, pp. 241-159

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CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 7 (2): 205–214 (2011) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.7010.01.128 ISSN: 1575-6343 www.cat-science.cat

Biography and bibliography

Professor IGNASI PONSETI I VIVES (1914–2009)* Ignasi Ponseti i Vives, pioneer in pediatric orthopedics and the inventor of the Ponseti Method for the treatment of clubfeet, was born on 3 June 1914, in Ciutadella, Minorca, one of the Balearic Islands. His father, a watchmaker by trade, was from Palma de Mallorca but his mother’s family had lived in Minorca for generations. When he was three his father’s jewelry busi­ ness was not doing well and the family decided to move to Mallorca. One of Dr Ponseti’s earliest recollections was the panic caused by the flu epidemic of 1918–1919 and the little bonfires built on the streets to purify the atmosphere. He was sent to primary school at six. It was a traumatic experience.

Classes were in Spanish, a language he did not understand, yet he spoke a language—Catalan—he did not read or write.

What a paradox! He overcame this linguistic confusion by de­ voting his efforts to the universal language of mathematics.

When he was eight, the family moved again, this time to Bar­ celona. They rented an apartment on Llibreteria street, near St. Jaume square and what was at that time the center of a thriv­ ing city, both economically and intellectually. At eleven he be­ gan his secondary studies—a seven-year program in those days—at one of the best public high schools in the city, the Insitut Balmes. One of his classmates was Ernesto Corominas, who was to become a professor of mathematics of interna­ tional renown at the University of Lyon in France. Dr. Ponseti would spend the summers working at his father’s shop repair­ ing watches, where he learned to handle the file and the lathe

* Frances Luttikhuizen. Independent scholar. E-mail: fluttikhuizen@tel­ efonica.net

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 205

with great precision, a skill that would later contribute to his abilities as a surgeon. He finished top in his class, and as a re­ sult the first year entrance fee at the School of Medicine (Uni­ versity of Barcelona) was remitted. The following year he re­ ceived a scholarship from the city, which also came in handy.

His favorite subject was biology. He especially enjoyed dis­ secting animal and vegetable tissues, making histological cuts of frog brains, dying them and analyzing them under the micro­ scope. These studies were basic later for his biological focus in medicine and his many contributions to the pathology of skel­ etal growth disorders in children, in particular, the biomechan­ ics of the clubfoot deformity.

On 17 July 1936, at the age of twenty-two, Ignasi Ponseti took his final exams. The next day the Spanish Civil War broke out and within a week he found himself mobilized and as­ signed to the team working under Dr. Jimeno Vidal at the Pedro Mata Hospital in Reus (province of Tarragona). Vidal had studied under the Austrian surgeon Lorenz Böhler—cre­ ator of modern accident surgery—in Vienna and had ample experience. Vidal also practiced a technique to treat wounds developed by the American orthopedic surgeon Winnett Orr during World War I, and improved further by Josep Trueta in Barcelona. The technique consisted of a thorough cleansing of the wound rather than the use of antiseptics. Instead of suturing wounds, fractures were set and immobilized with plaster-soaked bandages that would harden quickly. This was revolutionary. Although penicillin had been discovered, it was not administered to humans until 1941 and infection and gangrene were the most dreaded consequences of a broken limb. It is calculated that between 1936 and 1939 Vidal’s

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team treated some 4000 wounds and fractures with hardly any failures or amputations.

In 1938, after the Battle of the Ebro, the longest and bloodi­ est battle of the Spanish Civil War, Ponseti was transferred to Barcelona to work with Adolfo Ley Garcia, a neurosurgeon who had just recently returned from the United States where he had studied under Percival Bailey at Chicago and Harvey Cushing at Boston. Under professor Ley, Ponseti learned to perform nerve sutures as well as tendon transfers, but soon a promising career in neurosurgery was cut short. Franco’s troops were advancing and the wounded had to be evacuated.

Ponseti—along with Dr. Josep Trueta and others—took an ac­ tive part in this. He was assigned a large ambulance and a driver to transport men from the military hospital at Olot (some 10 miles from the French border) to Prats de Molló, on the French side of the Pyrenees. They drove all night and arrived in Olot shortly after dawn. There was a nice fire burning in the fireplace in the front hall of the hospital and Ponseti decided they should rest a while before continuing. He was so exhaust­ ed that he fell asleep. When he awoke an hour later to his great surprise both the driver and the ambulance had vanished. Left without transportation, he had to resort to private cars and drivers who were willing to take them part way up the moun­ tains. From there, with the help of local smugglers Ponseti managed to take the injured—some on mules and some on makeshift crutches—over the Pyrenees into France. It took him three days to get all his men safely there.

At Prats de Molló they were first accommodated in City Hall under the vigilance of a young French doctor from Montpellier.

One night Ponseti, not pleased with the medical treatment his men were getting, secretly drained an abscess. The following day the young French doctor found out and in retaliation sent him to the nearby concentration camp. Two days later the French doctor was dismissed and Ponseti was called back and put in charge of his wounded men. Shortly after that they were moved into another building and a month later into an old bar­ racks near Béziers rehabilitated to hold some 300 beds to meet the needs of the many refugees in the nearby concentra­ tion camps. There, along with other exiled doctors, Ponseti performed all sorts of operations during the day and at night joined the group that gathered around professor Soler Vicens, who instructed them in internal medicine.

When the French authorities became aware that war with Germany was inevitable, they began recruiting doctors. The Catalan exiles were invited to enlist in the French army with the same rank they had had in Spain. This was a tempting offer, especially because as exiles they had no valid passports, which left them in a very precarious situation. If they appealed for po­ litical asylum they would probably be drafted anyhow. To make sure there would be no misunderstandings, Ponseti asked point blank if after the war those who enlisted would be grant­ ed French citizenship. The answer was ‘No.’ Faced with this alternative, Ponseti decided to take advantage of Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas’s generous offer to grant citizen­ ship to all Spanish refugees willing to come to Mexico, and on 14 July 1939, along with many other Republican exiles he boarded the Mexique in Bordeaux bound for Veracruz.

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Luttikhuizen 

It was impossible to find work in Veracruz, or Mexico City either for that matter, and he had to accept a job as rural family doctor in Juchitepec, a small town at the foot of the beautiful Popocatepetl volcano, some 100 miles south of Mexico City.

While he was in Mexico City, however, he met two men who would be decisive in his life. One was Wenceslao Dutrem, an exiled Catalan pharmacist who had arrived two years earlier and was the manager of a large pharmaceutical company, the Farbar Laboratories. The other was Juan Faril, head of the chil­ dren’s orthopedic hospital. Since there was no pharmacy in Juchitepec once a month Ponseti would go back up to Mexico City for medicines that Dutrem would supply him with. On one of these occasions, precisely 21 August 1940, Dutrem, who knew of Ponseti’s experience with head injuries and his work with Adolfo Ley in Barcelona, rushed him to the hospital where Leon Trotsky lay dying as the result of a head injury received in an attempt to assassin him with an ice axe. When they arrived, however, Trotsky was already dead.

Ponseti’s monthly visits also included spending time with Juan Faril, who had begun a program of rehabilitation for chil­ dren with restricted mobility and bone problems. They also talked about Ponseti’s future. Faril had studied orthopedic sur­ gery in Iowa City and knew Arthur Steindler, head of the Ortho­ paedic Department at the University of Iowa. Faril encouraged Ponseti to spend time in Iowa, but entry into the United States after 1940 was not easy. The Alien Registration Act required all aliens to either have a sponsor (which he didn’t have) or to de­ posit the required 1000 US$ entrance fee. By May 1941 he had saved up enough money for the fee so he left Juchitepec on an old guagua bound for the USA. During the two days it took to get to Laredo, he never took his eyes off his suitcase and was a bit wary when at the border the Greyhound bus driv­ er took it and put it in the luggage compartment, fearing he might never see it again. As he neared Iowa City Ponseti was impressed with the tidy white farmhouses, the green lawns and the straight rows of budding corn. But what most impressed him was to find his suitcase in a corner of the station, unat­ tended, waiting for him. It was 1 June, classes were not in ses­ sion, but professor Steindler was expecting him.

Dr. Steindler was Austrian. He had studied orthopedics un­ der Adolfo Lorenz before going to the USA in 1907. His clinical interests spanned the entire range of musculoskeletal disor­ ders including developmental, genetic, infectious, neo-plastic and neuromuscular diseases, and their surgical and non-surgi­ cal treatment. As a conservative surgeon, Steindler’s pioneer­ ing application of biomechanics to the evaluation and treat­ ment of musculoskeletal disorders was to play a pivotal role in Ponseti’s later approach. The University of Iowa offered a three-year residency-training program, but Steindler required one year of post-graduate studies before students were al­ lowed to apply for the program. This requisite posed a real problem for Ponseti. He had no credentials. The Civil War had broken out the day after he finished his last exam and there had been no time to issue diplomas. The admissions department was at a loss about what to do and called in the Dean of the School of Medicine, who, after only a few minutes was totally aware of Ponseti’s capabilities to pursue post-graduate stud­

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Professor Ignasi Ponseti i Vives

ies. They took him on his word and by 1944 he had completed his residency and had become a member of the orthopedic faculty. Two years later, thanks to the mediation of the Spanish Consulate in Chicago, he received his official diploma and his position was legalized, which made him eligible to apply for American citizenship, which he attained in 1948.

When the Dean of the Faculty found out that Ponseti was taking private English lessons to improve his linguistic skills, he demanded that he stop the classes then and there. His reason­ ing was as follows: “When Steindler retires, which will be soon, we’re going to need another professor with a strong foreign ac­ cent to keep up our prestige in the academic world.”

Ponseti arrived in Iowa City in the summer of 1941. Soon word reached Winnet Orr, the surgeon who had invented the ‘plaster cast’ method for the treatment of broken bones and was now head of the Children’s Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, that an exiled Catalan doctor was in Iowa City. He invited Pon­ seti to spend the summer of 1942 with him in order to hear a first-hand report of the application and results of his method.

He knew that Josep Trueta had improved the method for he himself had written the preface to Trueta’s Treatment of War Wounds and Fractures (London, 1940). Now, about ready to retire, Orr was anxious to know what other improvements were possible. That year the USA had officially entered World War II and any innovations regarding war-wound management, based on the Spanish experience, were critical to American doctors. Literature on the topic was scarce. Orr published his findings in five articles between 1919 and 1928; Trueta pub­ lished his major work confirming Orr’s method in 1940. On his return to Iowa City, Ponseti and José Puig-Guri, who had worked with him during the Spanish Civil War and had followed him to Iowa, published several articles based on their front-line experience: “General Principles in the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures in the Spanish War” in The Military Surgeon 91:39 (1942), and “Treatment of War Wounds and Fractures” in Northwest Medicine 42:73 (1943). Ponseti’s experience was extremely valuable and he was invited to give training courses to army surgeons at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. For sev­ eral years, he divided his time between those courses and his activities in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Uni­ versity of Iowa under the mentorship of Dr. Steindler.

Ponseti’s first research assignment was to study the inci­ dence of intervertebral disk protrusions in 32 cadavers. Stein­ dler suspected that too many operations were being performed to correct disk herniation. His second research project involved a follow-up study of the results of surgical interventions for in­ fant clubfoot that had been performed twenty years earlier. The findings fell far short of satisfaction: patients could walk, but only with difficulty. They experienced stiffness, pain, arthritis, and lack of mobility. Some even required further surgery. Pon­ seti’s friend, Faril, was a victim of clubfoot, and after several surgeries still experienced pain and was forced to walk with a cane. Clearly, a better treatment was needed and Ponseti, who favored nonsurgical solutions, set out to find one. He began by studying the complex mechanics of the human ankle and foot.

He next focused on the fact that the thickened ligaments in a child’s clubfoot contain a type of collagen that allows them to

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Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 207

be stretched. This led him to the idea that the bones of the in­ fant clubfoot could be manually manipulated into their normal alignments, with each new positioning held in place by carefully molded plaster casts. The procedure would spare the child the pain of surgery and it would allow the bones to align them­ selves in their normal weight-bearing positions. It was not only much cheaper than surgery, but it was simple enough to be done by a well-trained technician. Moreover, its ‘low tech’ na­ ture would allow for the treatment in places where other treat­ ments were almost impossible. This was significant, consider­ ing that nearly 80% of children born with clubfoot live in poor, nonindustrial nations.

Meanwhile, however, there were other disorders that inter­ ested him. The Department of Orthopedics had a well-supplied bone pathology laboratory established by Ernest Freund, who had studied in Vienna under the eminent bone pathologist, Ja­ kob Erdheim. Ponseti starting working nights in the lab. His previous training in pathology with Ricardo Roca de Vinyals in Barcelona had prepared him well for this sort of work. In the summer of 1943 he went to the University of Chicago to further his studies in bone pathology. When the war ended in 1945 many medical officers, who had had experience in wound treatment, came to Iowa City for formal training in orthopedic surgery. Ponseti took an active part in their instruction.

In the 1920s the state of Iowa had had frequent outbreaks of osteoarticular tuberculosis produced by infected domestic live­ stock. The number of cases decreased sharply after the slaughter of hundreds of cows in the 1930s, nevertheless, Ponseti still treated patients that required surgical solutions, which led him to do an exhaustive study of tuberculosis of the hip. By the time his research paper finally appeared in 1948 his conclusions had already become obsolete because strepto­ mycin and vaccines had been discovered, which soon eradi­ cated the disease.

The 1940s were very productive years for Ponseti. He also carried out clinical studies regarding dislocation of the hip and curvature of the spine. His nonsurgical approach was not al­ ways well accepted by American surgeons who favored spinal fusions. In England, however, where the deformity was more common, his procedure received a better press. As a result, he decided to spend the spring of 1953 in the UK working with J.I.P. James of Edinburgh, professor of orthopedic surgery. On his way back to Iowa, Ponseti stopped at Barcelona to see his family. It was the first time he was back since he had left in 1939. Friends and classmates of his who had stayed in Spain after the war were eager to talk with him and to hear his story.

His detailed reports of medical studies and research in Ameri­ can universities prompted many to ask him to find them visiting fellowships. Of the many scholarships and short-term fellow­ ships he was able to arrange, the case of his cousin, Fernando Aleu, deserves mention.

Aleu arrived in Iowa City in 1955 to train in orthopedics, but he soon found that his real interests lie in neuropathology. From 1955 to 1964 he was associate professor in the Department of Pathology, where research led him to begin work on the biolo­ gy of elastin, the key protein responsible for the maintenance of skin tone by allowing tissues in the body to resume their shape

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after stretching or contracting. Later Aleu returned to Catalonia and founded the Aleu-Winkler Labs, in Molins de Rey, dedicat­ ed to the development of anti-aging products based primarily on the curative properties of olive-leaf extracts and peas.

Ponseti continued his studies of scoliosis and the pathogen­ esis of spinal deformities in Iowa. The Department of Ortho­ pedics was gaining international prestige. Ponseti’s discover­ ies in the area of the biochemistry of connective tissue were being widely accepted and in the fifties he began receiving invi­ tations to lecture around the country and abroad. He spent less time in Iowa now. However, back for Christmas holidays, in 1960, he met the woman who was to be his life’s compan­ ion. Helena Percas was the ideal match for him. She was a scholar herself, professor of Spanish literature at Grinnell Col­ lege, some 50 miles from Iowa City. Helena was also an exile, though her story was not as dramatic as his. Her parents had first gone to Venezuela, but seeing that limited opportunities of a university education, she had decided to go to the US to study at Barnard College, in New York, and later to do post graduate work at Columbia University. Meanwhile her father, a prestigious linguist, was offered a position to teach Greek, Lat­ in and comparative literature at Grinnell College. Helena, being an only child and very attached to her parents, followed them to Iowa after receiving her Ph.D. at Columbia. The two had many things in common. They even came to find out that this was not their first encounter. As young teenagers they had shared the same beach in Cala Molins, Mallorca, while on sum­ mer holidays! But above all, they shared a boundless admira­ tion and gratitude for the country that had given them the op­ portunity and the freedom to pursue their goals.

Research, lectures and involvement in many learned societies occupied most of Ponseti’s time now. His first lecture tour after they were married took them to Guatemala, where he delivered a series of lectures on children’s orthopedic surgery. He never renounced his early interest in clubfeet. In 1948, he had begun applying his method to the treatment of infant clubfoot. Each cast remained in place for four or five days, followed by the fitting of a Foot Abduction Brace, consisting of a bar with high-top shoes attached at each end, which was to be worn for three months and thereafter each night until the patient was four years old. From the beginning, Ponseti kept records of the long-term development of his patients. He practiced his method ‘quietly’ until he had enough data to describe his technique in medical journals. Finally, in 1963, he published his ten-year follow up: “Congenital Clubfoot: The Results of Treatment,” in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 45 (1963). The article drew little atten­ tion from the orthopedic community and was considered con­ troversial by others who preferred the traditional method of ag­ gressive surgical intervention. Some doctors even went so far as to say that the method might be acceptable for Iowa farmers, who wore big boots, but not for urbanites. This, though insulting, did not deter him. On the other hand, it must be remembered that in the fifties and sixties surgery became increasingly more aggressive and ‘heroic.’ Surgeons lived by the principle “when in doubt, cut it out.” It seemed that almost every patient needed a major operation to remove an organ or part of a limb. For exam­ ple, surgeons advised all women with breast cancer to have a

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radical mastectomy, that is, removal of the whole breast, the muscle of the chest, and several blood vessels and lymph nodes. Some surgeons even amputated the arm as well. The era of minimally invasive therapy only began in the early 1980s. If before people judged a surgeon’s skill by how deep he/she could cut and how much he/she could remove. Today, a sur­ geon is judged not by what is removed, but by what is left intact.

In the spring of 1966, Ponseti was granted a scholarship by the Commonwealth Fund to visit the main research centers in Europe to study growth disorders and to exchange information with leading scholars in musculoskeletal research. It was an enriching experience to meet scholars, as well as old friends and acquaintances who had in the past spent time in Iowa City as visiting professors. In France, the Ponsetis were surprised to still find so many cases of polio, a disease that had been very prevalent in Iowa in the early 1950s, but was practically eradi­ cated thanks to the Salk vaccine. In Germany, they witnessed first-hand the tragic effects caused by talidomide. The United States had been spared this drama thanks to a biologist from the University of Chicago, Frances O. Kelsey, who had joined the FDA early in 1961. At that time, federal law required that a proof of safety be sent to the FDA before a medication could be approved for sale in the USA. Kelsey had strong reserves con­ cerning the effects of thalidomide on human embryos and re­ peatedly refused to grant approval.

Back in Iowa again, Ponseti continued practicing his non­ surgical methods on patients with clubfeet, curvature of the spine and congenial hip dysplasia. More awards and honors and speaking engagements followed: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Madrid, Rome, Naples, Paris, Toulouse, Montpellier, Quebec, Exeter, etc. But, in 1984, at seventy came mandatory retire­ ment. In his honor, the University of Iowa organized an Interna­ tional Symposium; the ‘Ignacio V. Ponseti Professorship’ was established in recognition for his outstanding work; the Univer­ sity of Barcelona named him Doctor Honoris Causa; Ciutadel­ la—the city where he was born—honored him with its Gold Medal for Honorable Citizens.

The following lists are of honors and awards that Ponseti received throughout his life, and the numerous organizations he belonged to: Honors and Awards 1955 – Kappa Delta Award for outstanding orthopedic re­ search 1960 – Ketoen Gold Medal, American Medical Association 1966 – Commonwealth Fellowship 1966 – Lawrence Pool Price, University of Edinburgh, Scotland 1975 – Shands Award Lecture, Orthopaedic Research Society 1983 – Ignacio V. Ponseti International Symposium 1984 – Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Barcelona, Barce­ lona, Spain 1984 – Honorary member, Spanish Society of Orthopaedics and Trauma 1985 – Gold Medal, City of Ciutadella, Minorca, Spain 1988 – Honorary member, Pediatric Orthopedic Society 1989 – Honorary member, Official College of Physicians of the Balearic Islands

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1989 – Honorary member, Balearic Association of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Organizations 1950 – American Medical Association 1948 – Iowa State Medical Society 1954 – Sigma XI (past president of Iowa Chapter) 1950 – American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 1950 – American College of Surgeons 1954 – American Academy for Cerebral Palsy 1954 – Orthopaedic Research Society (past president) 1955 – Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1956 – International College of Surgeons 1956 – New York Academy of Science 1956 – Mexican Society of Orthopaedics (honorary) 1957 – International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Trau­ ma 1957 – Argentine Association for Surgery (honorary) 1957 – Chilean Surgical Society (honorary) 1957 – Chilean Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (honorary) 1963 – Brazilian Society of Orthopaedics (honorary) 1970 – Midwest Connective Tissue Club 1970 – Scoliosis Research Society 1988 – Pediatric Orthopedic Society (honorary) As professor Emeritus, now he had more free time to spend on his somewhat neglected hobby, the history of art. Vacations were also longer and farther away. To get away from the cold Iowa winters, at least one month was spent at Cala Molins, near Pollença, where Helena still had property. On their way back to Iowa they would stop off at Barcelona to see Ponseti’s younger brother Miguel, a city architect and professor of resist­ ance material at the School of Architecture.

But retirement did not mean abandoning his life’s work. He kept his office and his biochemistry lab at the university, where, with the purpose of finding possible anomalies in idiopathic scoliosis, he returned to the study of elastin—the protein that allows tissues in the body to resume their shape—in the spinal ligaments. He also continued to publish his findings. Indeed, his research articles—some 150—show that his work in the field of orthopedics was well received, nevertheless, few sur­ geons approached him with the desire to learn how to put his method into practice. This, after fifty years of application and thirty of follow-up, was a great frustration for him. In the early 1990s, one orthopedic surgeon who did believe in him—Stu­ art Weinstein, who specialized in spinal deformity in children, children’s hip and foot problems, and the natural history and long-term outcome of pediatric musculoskeletal conditions, and the first to occupy the Ignacio V. Ponseti Chair at the Uni­ versity of Iowa—, asked him to return to the department to show how to correct clubfeet properly. This was a significant breakthrough.

Ponseti had written articles and given lectures on the sub­ ject for years, now people were actually interested in putting his method into practice. One day, his wife told him point blank that it wasn’t enough to write articles and give workshops, he

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had to write a book and she would help him do it. They bought a computer and she typed while he dictated the content to her.

By 1995 the manuscript was ready but they couldn’t find a publisher. Publishers were more interested in putting out books on the latest kinds of aggressive surgery. Finally, on the recom­ mendation of two of Ponseti’s colleagues—Stuart Weinstein and Jody Buckwalter—Oxford University Press accepted the manuscript and the following year Congenital Clubfoot: Fundamentals of Treatment (Oxford University Press, 1996) was out.

Rapidly his nonsurgical technique began to gather interest and respect as more and more orthopedists began to adopt it. It seemed that people were hearing about it for the first time. His 1963 article was being cited for the first time. Contemporary proponents reprimanded him for not having promoted his technique more aggressively earlier on. Surgeons began flock­ ing to Iowa City to learn the technique first hand. Then Charles Saltzman, one of Ponseti’s colleagues, suggested he should describe the treatment on the Internet.

In 1997, he was invited to lecture at Sant Joan de Déu, a large children’s hospital in Barcelona. A newly appointed as­ sistant, Anna Ey, enthusiastically embraced the method and became the first to apply the Ponseti Method in the Iberian Pe­ ninsula and to promote it through workshops and conferences.

Today there are two specialists in Spain that apply the Ponseti Method: Dr. Anna Ey in Barcelona and Dr. Rafael Casielles at the Hospital Materno-Infantil in Malaga.

Coinciding with all this euphoria in the medical world, and as a result of it, Martin Egbert, a wealthy developer from Las Ve­ gas, was told to take his three-month old son to Iowa City if he wanted his clubfeet corrected safely. Egbert was so delighted with the outcome that he and his wife created a nation-wide support group: ‘The Ponseti International Association - Pro­ moting the Ponseti Method and other best practices for Club­ foot Treatment (PIA).’ What had not been accomplished in fifty years was accomplished in five thanks to the Internet and to parents who began alerting other parents of the risks involved in surgical solutions for clubfeet.

Not only was it impossible to treat all the patients that re­ quested attention at Iowa, but it was vital to train medical per­ sonnel. The first step was to help doctors understand the bio­ mechanics of the joints for the correction of the deformity. In order to illustrate how to bring the bones back to their normal position a model was necessary. For this Ponseti resorted to a gifted craftsman, John Mitchell, who made plastic skeletons for anatomy professors. The clubfoot model, made of plastic bones and elastic bands as ligaments, became a very useful tool to teach proper manipulation of the foot. Most of the early training courses were hands-on workshops put on by Ponseti himself, but after 2001 he turned them over to his colleague, José Morcuende, a young Spanish doctor and faculty member at the University of Iowa. It is estimated that some 200,000 in­ fants are born with clubfeet each year. Thanks to hundreds of enthusiastic practitioners—many who have been to Iowa to learn the procedure first-hand—, the non-surgical Ponseti Method is now being implemented in more than 50 countries around the world. At the 2007 International Clubfoot Symposi­ um attended by 200 doctors from 44 countries, papers were

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presented regarding an estimated 10,000 children successfully treated with the technique around the world in the past few years.

As training courses, conferences and websites multiplied, and the Ponseti Method was becoming a standard procedure all over the world. Ignasi Ponseti—now in his mid-nineties— was finally reaping the fruit of his labors when, on 15 October 2009, as he was walking into his office at the University, just three days before he was to give the inaugural address at the annual Ponseti Training Symposium, he had a stroke. He was rushed to the emergency ward. Again, Helena Percas-Ponseti, his inseparable companion of nearly 50 years, rose to the oc­ casion. She mounted the platform, excused the absence of her husband and before a deeply moved audience proceeded to read the lecture he had prepared for the event. The following day he was gone. He will be remembered by all those who knew him as a cultured, soft-spoken, visionary doctor and a man of deep tenderness, curiosity and dedication.

7.

Acknowledgements

14.

I would especially like to thank Professor Helena Percas-Pon­ seti (unexpectedly deceased 01/01/11) for facilitating much of the information that appears in this article both in personal communication and in her book Homage to Iowa. The Inside Story of Ignacio V. Ponseti (University of Iowa, 2007). I would also like to thank Timothy Barrett, of the University of Iowa Center for the Book, as well as Dr. Stuart L. Weinstein and Lin­ da O’Connor of the Department of Orthopedics of the Univer­ sity of Iowa, for their support.

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Publications by Ignasi Ponseti i Vives

18.

Books 1. Ponseti IV (1996) Congenital Clubfoot: Fundamentals of Treatment. Oxford University Press

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Articles 1. Ponseti IV, Puig Guri J (1942) General Principles in the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures in the Spanish War. The Military Surgeon 91:39-48 2. Ponseti IV, Puig Guri J (1943) Treatment of War Wounds and Fractures. Northwest Medicine 42:3-7 3. Ponseti IV (1944) Causes of Failure in the Treatment of Congenital Dislocation of the Hip. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 26:775-792 4. Ponseti IV ( 1946) Pathomechanics of the Hip After the Shelf Operation. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 28:229-240 5. Ponseti IV (1947) Evolution and Treatment of Giant Cell Tumors. Boletines y Trabajos de la Sociedad Argentina de Cirugia Ortopedica 22 6. Ponseti IV, Gillies CL (1947) Tabes dorsalis with a Charcot fracture. Journal Iowa State Medical Society 37(12):539544

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Ponseti IV, Barta CK (1947) Osteoid osteoma. The Jour­ nal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 29(3):767-776 Ponseti IV, Barta CK (1948) Evaluation of treatment of slipping of the capital femoral epiphysis. Surgery, Gyne­ cology & Obstetrics 86:87-97 Ponseti IV (1948) Evolution and treatment of tuberculosis of the hip. Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics 87:257-276 Ponseti IV (1948) Evolución y tratamiento de los tumores de células gigantes. Revista de la Asociación Médica Ar­ gentina 62:15-30 Ponseti IV (1948) Bone lesions in eosinophilic granuloma, Hand-Schüller-Christian disease, and Letterer-Siwe dis­ ease. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 30:811-833 Ponseti IV (1948) Treatment of Congenital Dislocation of the Hip in the Young Child. Anales de Cirugia 13 Ponseti IV, Friedman B (1949) Evolution of metaphyseal fibrous defects. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 31(3):582-585 Ponseti IV, Friedman B (1950) Changes in the scoliotic spine after fusion. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 32(4):751-766 Ponseti IV, Friedman B (1950) Prognosis in idiopathic scoliosis. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Ameri­ can Volume 32(2):381-395 Ponseti IV (1950) Early diagnosis of congenital dislocation of the hip. Journal Iowa State Medical Society 50(11):520522 Ponseti IV, Baird WA (1952) Scoliosis and dissecting an­ eurysm of the aorta in rats fed with Lathyrus odoratus seeds. The American Journal of Pathology 28(6):10591077 Ponseti IV (1953) Congenital Dislocation of the Hip in the Infant. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. In­ structional Course Lectures X Ponseti IV (1954) Estudios sobre la escoliosis idiopática.

Acta Ortopédica-Traumatológica Ibérica, Vol. II, Fasc. 1 Ponseti IV, Shepard R (1954) Lesions of the Mesodermal Tissues in Rats Fed Lathyrus Odoratus Seeds. Federa­ tion Proceedings 13:473 Ponseti IV, Shepard R (1954) Lesions of the skeleton and of other mesodermal tissues in rats fed sweet-pea (Lath­ yrus odoratus) seeds. The Journal of Bone and Joint Sur­ gery, American Volume 36(5):1031-1058 Chang CY, Witschi E, Ponseti IV (1954) Teratological De­ velopment in Xenopus Larva Caused by Sweet Pea (Lathyrus Odoratus) Seeds and Their Extracts. Anatomi­ cal Record 120:816 Chang CY, Witschi E, Ponseti IV (1955) Teratogenic ef­ fects of Lathyrus odoratus seeds on development and regeneration of vertebrate limbs. Proceedings of the So­ ciety for Experimental Biology and Medicine 90(1):45-50 Wawzonek S, Ponseti IV, Shepard RS, Wiedenmann LG (1955) Epiphyseal plate lesions, degenerative arthritis, and dissecting aneurysm of the aorta produced by ami­ nonitriles. Science 121(3133):63-65

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Professor Ignasi Ponseti i Vives

25. Bean WB, Ponseti IV (1955) Dissecting aneurysm pro­ duced by diet. Circulation 12(2):185-192 26. Stearns G, Chen JT, McKinley JB, Ponseti IV (1955) Met­ abolic studies of children with idiopathic scoliosis. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 37(5):1028-1034 27. Ponseti IV, McClintock R (1956) The pathology of slipping of the upper femoral epiphysis. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 38(1):71-83 28. Ponseti IV, Wawzonek S, Shepard RS, Evans TC, Stearns G (1956) Further studies on lathyrism in the rat. Proceed­ ings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 92(2):366-369 29. Ponseti IV (1956) Legg-Perthes disease; observations on pathological changes in two cases. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 38(4):739-750 30. Ponseti IV, Winnick RE, Winnick T, Wawzonek S (1957) Distribution of C14-Labeled Aminoacetonitrile in Tissues of Rat, Metabolism and Mode of Elimination. Proceed­ ings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 93(3):515-519 31. Ponseti IV (1957) Skeletal lesions produced by aminoni­ triles. Clinical Orthopaedics 9:131-144 32. Ponseti IV (1957) Prevention of aminonitrile lesions in rats with l-triiodothyronine. Proceedings of the Society for Ex­ perimental Biology and Medicine 96(1):14-17 33. Ponseti IV (1957) Suppression of Aminonitrile Lesions in Rats with Triiodothyronine. VII Congrés de la Société In­ ternationale de Chirurgie Orthopedique et de Traumatol­ ogie, Barcelona, pp. 599-604 34. Ponseti IV, Aleu F (1958) Fracture healing in rats treated with aminoacetonitrile. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 40(5):1093-1102 35. Ponseti IV, Castellani C, Castellani-Bibi C (1958) De­ crease in Hexosamine Content of Epiphyseal Plates in Experimental Lathyrism. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 98(2):318-320 36. Ponseti IV (1958) Experimental Scoliosis. Bulletin (Hospi­ tal for Joint Disease) 19(2) 37. Ponseti IV (1959) Studies on the nature of skeletal lesions produced by aminonitriles. Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Diseases 20:1-8 38. Ponseti IV (1959) Studies of the suppression of aminoni­ trile lesions in rats by throxine analogues. Endocrinology 64(5):795-806 39. Ponseti IV, Frigerio ER (1959) Results of treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 41(5):823-846 40. Ponseti IV (1959) Studies on the Nature of Skeletal Le­ sions Produced by Aminonitriles. Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Diseases 20:1-8 41. Ponseti IV (1959) Lesiones Esqueléticas Producidas Por Aminonitrilos. Ortopedia y Traumatología Latino-Ameri­ cana, Vol. IV 42. Burian HM, Von Noorden GK, Ponseti IV (1960) Chamber angle anomalies in systemic connective tissue disorders.

Archives of Ophthalmology 64:671-680

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43. Von Noorden GK, Zellweger H, Ponseti IV (1960) Ocular findings in Morquio-Ullrich’s disease. With report of two cases. Archives of Ophthalmology 64:585-591 44. Ponseti IV, Cotton R (1961) Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease: Pathogenesis and Evolution. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 43(1):261-274 45. Ponseti IV (1961) Diagnosis and treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip in the infant. The Journal-Lancet 81:298-301 46. Zellweger H, Ponseti IV, Pedrini V, Stamler FS, Von Noorden GK (1961) Morquio-Ullrich’s disease. Report of 2 cases. The Journal of Pediatrics 59:549-561 47. Ponseti IV (1962) Patogeneze a Etiologie Idiopaticke Sko­ liosy [Pathogenesis and etiology of idiopathic scoliosis.].

Acta Chirurgiae Orthopaedicae Et Traumatologiae Cech­ oslovaca 29:95-100 48. Bolognani L, Ponseti IV (1962) Extractable collagen in the fracture callus of normal and aminoacetonitrile-treated rats. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 109:509-510 49. Bolognani L, Ponseti IV (1962) Ca45 uptake in fracture callus of normal and aminoacetonitrile-treated rats. Pro­ ceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 109:933-935 50. Bado JL (1962) The Monteggia Lesion (translated by I.V. Ponseti). Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Spingfield, Illinois 51. Ponseti IV, Smoley EN (1963) Congenital Clubfoot: The Results of Treatment. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 45:261-344 52. Hogshead HP, Ponseti IV (1964) Fascia lata transfer to the erector spinae for the treatment of flexion-abduction contractures of the hip in patients with poliomyelitis and meningomyelocele: evaluation of results. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 46:13891404 53. Tapia J, Stearns G, Ponseti IV (1964) Vitamin-D resistant rickets. A long-term clinical study of 11 patients. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 46:935-958 54. Lenzi L, Pendrini-Mille A, Ponseti IV (1965) Acid Muco­ polysaccharides in the Skin of Lathyritic Rats. Proceed­ ings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 118:270-273 55. Ponseti IV (1965) Mucopolysaccharide Defect in Experi­ mental Lathyrism. Proceedings of the Society for Experi­ mental Biology and Medicine 119:322-325 56. Ponseti IV, Becker JR (1966) Congenital metatarsus ad­ ductus: the results of treatment. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 48(4):702-711 57. Ponseti IV (1966) Non-Surgical Treatment of Congenital Dislocation of the Hip. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 48(7):1392-1403 58. Hunt DD, Ponseti IV, Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini V (1967) Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia in two siblings. Histological and biochemical analyses of epiphyseal plate cartilage in one. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 49(8):1611-1627

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59. Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini V, Hunt DD, Ponseti IV (1967) Chemical studies on the ground substance of human epiphyseal-plate cartilage. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 49(8):1628-1635 60. Ponseti IV, Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini V (1968) Histological and chemical analysis of human iliac crest cartilage. I. Observations on trunk growth. Calcified Tissue Research 2(3):197-213 61. Ponseti IV (1968) Pathogenesis of Adolescent Scoliosis.

Proceedings of a Second Symposium on Scoliosis. E & S Livingstone, London 62. Collis DK, Ponseti IV (1969) Long-term follow-up of pa­ tients with idiopathic scoliosis not treated surgically. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 51(3):425-445 63. Ponseti IV (1969) Treatment of Congenital Hip Subluxa­ tion. Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie XI Congress, Mexico 64. Ponseti IV (1970) Skeletal growth in achondroplasia. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 52(4):701-16 65. Ponseti IV (1971) Skeletal Growth in Morquio’s Disease.

Proceedings of a Third Symposium on Scoliosis. Church­ ill Livingstone, London 66. Misol S, Ponseti IV, Samaan N, Bradbury JT (1971) Growth hormone blood levels in patients with idiopathic scoliosis. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 81:122-125 67. Misol S, Samaan N, Ponseti IV (1971) Growth hormone in delayed fracture union. Clinical Orthopaedics and Relat­ ed Research 74:206-208 68. Ponseti IV, Campos J (1972) Observations on pathogen­ esis and treatment of congenital clubfoot. Clinical Ortho­ paedics and Related Research 84:50-60 69. Maynard JA, Cooper RR, Ponseti IV (1972) A unique rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum inclusion in pseu­ doachondroplasia. Laboratory Investigation; a Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology 26(1):40-44 70. Cooper RR, Ponseti IV (1973) Metaphyseal dysotosis: description of an ultrastructural defect in the epiphyseal plate chondrocytes. The Journal of Bone and Joint Sur­ gery, American Volume 55(3):485-495 71. Maynard JA, Cooper RR, Ponseti IV (1973) Morquio’s disease (mucopolysaccharidosis type IV). Ultrastructure of epiphyseal plates. Laboratory Investigation; a Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology 28(2):194-205 72. Cooper RR, Pedrini-Mille A, Ponseti IV (1973) Metaphy­ seal dysostosis: a rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum storage defect. Laboratory Investigation; a Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology 28(1):119-125 73. Cooper RR, Ponseti IV, Maynard JA (1973) Pseudoa­ chondroplastic Dwarfism: A Rough-Surfaced Endoplas­ mic Reticulum Storage Disorder. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 55(3):474-484 74. Pedrini VA, Ponseti IV, Dohrman SC (1973) Glycosaminoglycans of intervertebral disc in idiopathic scoliosis.

Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 82(6):938-950

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75. Ionasescu V, Maynard JA, Ponseti IV, Zellweger H (1974) The role of collagen in the pathogenesis of idiopathic clubfoot. Biochemical and electron microscopic correla­ tions. Helvetica Paediatrica Acta 29(4):305-314 76. Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini VA, Ponseti IV (1974). Gly­ cosaminoglycans of iliac crest cartilage in normal children and in Morquio’s disease. The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 84(4):465-473 77. Ponseti IV (1974) Congenital dislocation of the hip. Amer­ ican Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Slide program no. 454-456 78. Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini VA, Ponseti IV (1974) Gly­ cosaminoglycans of iliac crest cartilage in spondyloepi­ physeal dysplasia congenita. Calcified Tissue Research 16(3):183-192 79. Wenger DR, Mickelson MR, Ponseti IV (1975) Idiopathic chondrolysis of the hip. Report of two cases. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 57(2):268271 80. Mickelson MR, Cooper RR, Ponseti IV (1975) Ultrastruc­ ture of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in muscular torti­ collis. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 110:11-18 81. Ponseti IV, Pedrini V, Wynne-Davies R, Duval-Beaupere G (1976) Pathogenesis of scoliosis. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 120:268-280 82. Osebold WR, El-Khoury G, Ponseti IV (1977) Aseptic necrosis of the humeral trochlea: a case report. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 127:161-163 83. Brown GA, Osebold WR, Ponseti IV (1977) Congenital pseudarthrosis of long bones: a clinical, radiographic, histologic and ultrastructural study. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 128:228-242 84. Mickelson MR, Ponseti IV, Cooper RR, Maynard JA (1977) The Ultrastructure of the Growth Plate in Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 59(8):1076-1081 85. Ponseti IV (1978) Growth and Development of the Acetabulum in the Normal Child: Anatomical, Histological and Roentgenographic Studies. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 60(5):575-585 86. Ponseti IV (1978) Morphology of the Acetabulum in Con­ genital Dislocation of the Hip: Gross, Histological and Roentgenographic Studies. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 60(5):586-599 87. Ishii Y, Ponseti IV (1978) Long-term Results of Closed Reduction of Complete Congenital Dislocation of the Hip in Children Under One Year of Age. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 137:167-174 88. Lindstrom JR, Ponseti IV, Wenger DR (1979) Acetabular Development after Reduction in Congenital Dislocation of the Hip. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 61(1):112-118 89. Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1979) Congenital dislocation of the hip: open reduction through a medial approach. Jour­ nal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 61(1):119-124

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Professor Ignasi Ponseti i Vives

90. Wheeler MW, Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1979) Congenital dislocation of the hip. Journal of the Iowa Medical Society 69(7):278-280 91. Wright CB, Lamberth WC, Ponseti IV, Hanson J (1979) Successful management of popliteal arterial disruption in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Surgery 85(6):708-712 92. Ippolito E, Ponseti IV (1980) Congenital Clubfoot in the Human Fetus: A Histological Study. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 62(1):8-22 93. Laaveg SJ, Ponseti IV (1980) Long-Term Results of Treatment of Congenital Clubfoot. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 62(1):23-31 94. Ippolito E, Ishii Y, Ponseti IV (1980) Histologic, histo­ chemical, and ultrastructural studies of the hip joint cap­ sule and ligamentum teres in congenital dislocation of the hip. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 146:246-258 95. Ishii Y, Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1980) Correlation be­ tween arthrograms and operative findings in congenital dislocation of the hip. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 153:138-145 96. Boyer DW, Mickelson MR, Ponseti IV (1981) Slipped cap­ ital femoral epiphysis. Long-term follow-up study of one hundred and twenty-one patients. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 63(1):85-95 97. Wehbé MA, Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1981) Tibial agen­ esis. Journal Pediatric Orthopaedics 1(4):395-399 98. Ippolito E, Ponseti IV (1981) Juvenile Kyphosis: Histologi­ cal and Histochemical Studies. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 63(2):175-182 99. Weinstein SL, Zavala DC, Ponseti IV (1981) Idiopathic scoliosis: long-term follow-up and prognosis in untreated patients. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Ameri­ can Volume 63(5):702-712 100. Maynard JA, Ippolito EG, Ponseti IV, Mickelson MR (1981) Histochemistry and ultrastructure of the growth plate in achondroplasia. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 63(6):969-979 101. Ponseti IV, El-Khoury GY, Ippolito E, Weinstein SL (1981) A radiographic study of skeletal deformities in treated clubfeet. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 160:30-42 102. Maynard JA, Ippolito EG, Ponseti IV, Mickelson MR (1981) Histochemistry and ultrastructure of the growth plate in metaphyseal dysostosis: further observations on the structure of the cartilage matrix. Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics 1(2):161-169 103. Ippolito E, Mickelson MR, Ponseti IV (1981) A histochem­ ical study of slipped capital femoral epiphysis. The Jour­ nal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 63:1109-1113 104. Brand RA, Laaveg SJ, Crowninshield RD, Ponseti IV (1981) The center of pressure path in treated clubfeet.

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 160:43-47 105. Ponseti IV, Wehbé MA, Weinstein SL (1981) Tibial Agenesis. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 1(4):395399

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 213

Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011 213

106. Ponseti IV (1982) Early Diagnosis and Pathology of Con­ genital Dislocation of the Hip. Pediatric Annals 11(6):512517 107. Catterall A, Pringle J, Byers PD, Fulford GE, Kemp HB, Dolman CL, Bell HM, McKibbin B, Rális Z, Jensen OM, Lauritzen J, Ponseti IV, Ogden J (1982) A review of the morphology of Perthes’ disease. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume 64(3):269-275 108. Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1983) Curve Progression in Idi­ opathic Scoliosis. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 65(4):447-455 109. Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini VA, Tudisco C, Ponseti IV, Wein­ stein SL, Maynard JA (1983) Proteoglycans of human scoliotic intervertebral disc. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 65(6):815-823 110. Ponseti IV, Maynard JA, Weinstein SL, Ippolito EG, Pous JG (1983) Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Histochemical and ultrastructural observations of the epiphyseal carti­ lage and physis. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 65(6):797-807 111. Dietz FR, Ponseti IV, Buckwalter JA (1983) Morphometric Study of Clubfoot Tendon Sheaths. Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics 3(3):311-318 112. Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1983) Congenital dislocation of the hip diagnosis, pathology, and obstacles to reduction.

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Library, Videotape Library PCE-VT-137 113. Ponseti IV (1983) Diagnóstico precoz y anatomía pa­ tológica de la luxación congénita de cadera. MTA-Pedi­ atría 4(11):609-619 114. Ippolito E, Bellocci M, Montanaro A, Ascani E, Ponseti IV (1985) Juvenile kyphosis: an ultrastructural study. Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics 5(3):315-322 115. Ponseti IV (1988) Bone Formation in Achondroplasia. Ba­ sic Life Science 48:109-122 116. Ippolito E, Maynard JA, Mickelson MR, Ponseti IV (1988) Histochemical and ultrastructural study of the growth plate in achondroplasia. Basic Life Sciences 48:61-71 117. Ponseti IV (1989) Fifty Years of Orthopaedics. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 9:79-85 118. Pedrini VA, Ponseti IV, Pyevich M, Pedrini-Mile A (1990) Function-related differences in elastin and collagen con­ tent of animal ligamenta flava. Transactions of the ThirtySixth Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Soci­ ety 15:52.

119. Hadley NA, Ponseti IV, Solursh M (1991) Ligamentous elastic fiber pathology in adolescent Scoliosis. Orthopae­ dic Research Society 16:616 120. Ponseti IV (1992) Treatment of Congenital Club Foot: Current Conceps Review. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume 74(3):448-454 121. Hadley NA, Mims B, Milewicz DM, Ponseti IV (1993) Liga­ mentous Elastic Fiber Pathology in Adolescent Scoliosis.

Transactions of the 39th Annual meeting, Orthopaedic Research Society 122. Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1993) Operative technique for anteromedial approach to reduction for developmental

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214 Contrib. Sci. 7 (2), 2011

dysplasia of the hip. Operative Techniques in Orthopaed­ ics 3(2):134-140 123. Farsetti P, Weinstein SL, Ponseti IV (1994) The long-term functional and radiographic outcomes of untreated and non-operatively treated metatarsus adductus. The Jour­ nal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 76(2):257-265 124. Ponseti IV (1994) The Treatment of Congenital Clubfoot.

Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 20(1):1-10 125. Morcuende JA, Midura RJ, Ponseti IV (1995) Proliferation Response of Chondrocytes to Dynamic Mechanical Stimulation in Vitro. Transactions of the 41st Annual meeting, Orthopaedic Research Society 126. Ponseti IV (1995) Differences in ligamenta flava among some mammals. The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 15: 141-6 127. Morcuende JA, Ponseti IV (1996) Congenital metatarsus adductus in early human fetal development: a histologic study. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 333:261-266 128. Ponseti IV (1997) Common errors in the treatment of con­ genital clubfoot. International orthopaedics 21(2):137-41 129. Ponseti IV (1998) Correction of the talar neck angle in congenital clubfoot with sequential manipulation and casting. Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 18:74-75 130. Ponseti IV (1999) Congenital idiopathic clubfoot. Ortho­ paedic Nurses 18(6):10 131. Saltzman CL, Fehrle MJ, Cooper RR, Spencer EC, Pon­ seti IV (1999) Triple arthrodesis: twenty-five and fortyfour-year average follow-up of the same patients. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume 81(10):1391-1402 132. Dobbs MB, Morcuende JA, Gurnett CA, Ponseti IV (2000) Treatment of Idiopathic Clubfoot: An Historical Review.

Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 20:59-64 133. Ponseti IV (2000) Clubfoot management. Journal of Pedi­ atric Orthopedics 20(6):699-700 134. Ponseti IV (2002) Relapsing Clubfoot: Causes, Preven­ tion, and Treatment. Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 22:55-56 135. Ponseti IV (2002) The Ponseti technique for correction of

091-214 Contributions 7-2.indd 214

Luttikhuizen 

congenital clubfoot. The Journal of Bone and Joint Sur­ gery, American Volume 84(10):1889-1890 136. Weinstein SL, Dolan LA, Spratt KF, Peterson KK, Spoon­ amore MJ, Ponseti IV (2003) Health and Function of Pa­ tients With Untreated Idiopathic Scoliosis: A 50-Year Natural History Study. Journal American Medical Associ­ ation 289(5):559-567 137. Dobbs MB, Corley CL, Morcuende JA, Ponseti IV (2003) Late Recurrence of Clubfoot Deformity: A 45-Year Fol­ lowup. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 411:188-192 138. Morcuende JA, Egbert M, Ponseti IV (2003) The Effect of the Internet in the Treatment of Congenital Idiopathic Clubfoot. Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 23:83-86 139. Morcuende JA, Dolan LA, Dietz FR, Ponseti IV (2004) Radical reduction in the rate of extensive corrective sur­ gery for clubfoot using the Ponseti method. Pediatrics 113(2):376-380 140. Ponseti IV, Morcuende JA (2004) Current management of idiopathic clubfoot questionnaire: a multicenter study.

Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics 24(4):448 141. Morcuende JA, Abbasi D, Dolan LA, Ponseti IV (2005) Results of an accelerated Ponseti protocol for clubfoot.

Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics 25(5):623-626 142. Ponseti IV, Zhivkov M, Davis N, Sinclair M, Dobbs MB, Morcuende JA (2006) Treatment of the Complex Idio­ pathic Clubfoot. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Re­ search 451:171-176 143. Ponseti IV (2008) Estudios sobre la escoliosis idiopática.

Revista de Ortopedia y Traumatología 52:188-192 144. Ponseti IV (2008) 50 years ago in CORR: Skeletal lesions produced by aminonitriles by Ignacio V. Ponseti MD CORR 1957. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Re­ search 466(1):255-256 145. Ponseti IV, Smoley EN (2009) The Classic: Congenital Club Foot: The Results of Treatment, 1963. Clinical Or­ thopaedics and Related Research 467(5):1133-1145 146. Ponseti IV, Campos J (2009) The Classic: Observations on Pathogenesis and Treatment of Congenital Clubfoot, 1972. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 467(5):1124-1132

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Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

contents

Volume 7 Issue 2

December 2011

Gonzàlez i Sastre F, Serrat D

foreword

97

Commemoration of the Centenary of the Sciences Section, 1911–2011 The Nobel Prizes of 2009

101

Telomeres, the beginning(s) of the end. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack Szostak

Vallmitjana S

109

Transmission of light by fibers for optical communication. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (I)

Herms A

117

The CCD sensor: A semiconductor circuit for capturing images. On the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Charles Kuen Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith (II)

Calisto BM, Fita I

125

The race to resolve the atomic structures of the ribosome. On the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath

Siguan M

131

Writing with the eyes. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Herta Müller

Mena FX

141

Companies, markets, and management of common property. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson The Nobel Prizes Of 2010

149

Changing the perception of our own nature. On the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Robert G. Edwards

Marco J

155

The role of autobiography, biography and history in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa. On the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa

Tugores Ques J

163

Unemployment and other challenges. On the Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides focus

Giner S

171

Piedmont and Catalonia: the unification of Italy and Spain. Some comparative remarks

CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE Volume 7 Issue 2 December 2011

December 2011

Santaló J

Volume 7 Issue 2

Tusell L

CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE

CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE

forum Lleonart J, Olivar MP

175

The history of Scientia Marina

Bolufer P

185

Science and technology in the 20th century as seen through the journal Ibérica (1914–2003)

March Noguera J

191

Science on the Balearic Islands. A collection on the past that looks toward the future historical corner

Roca-Rosell A, Camarasa JM

195

The Foundation of the Sciences Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (1911) and its early years biography and bibliography

Luttikhuizen F

Cub. Contrib 7-2.indd 1

205

Barcelona • Catalonia

Professor Ignasi Ponsetí i Vives (1914–2009)

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CONTRIBUTIONS to

SCIENCE

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Cover: All the participants and assistants to the inauguration of the Centenary of the Societat Catalana de Biologia (Catalan Society for Biology, SCB). The Society for Biology of Barcelona, the first affiliated society of the Institute for Catalan Studies, was initially presided by August Pi i Sunyer. In the beginning it was focused mainly in medicine, and after just a few years, gained a prominent role as a scientific institution. Through the Society passed some of Spain’s most outstanding scientists, including Severo Ochoa and Gregorio Marañón, and foreign scientists, such as J.J McLeod, Otto Meyerhof or Jean Perrin. Currently, the SCB is an affiliated society of the Biological Sciences Section of the IEC, is composed of more that fifteen hundred members, seven regional sections throughout the territories of Catalan language and culture, five transversal sections and fifteen thematic sections. In recent years, renowned personalities such as Lynn Margulis, Mariano Barbacid, Eudald Carbonell, John Ingraham, Stanley Miller, Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Valentí Fuster have been related to the SCB. Photo: Miquel Coll.

ISSN print edition: 1575-6343 ISSN electronic edition: 2013-410X Legal Deposit: B. 36385-1999

Cub. Contrib 7-2.indd 2

Contributions to Science is an open access journal that aims to promote the international dissemination of scientific research performed in Catalonia, in any of its branches, both pure and applied. Contributions to Science also publishes research performed in countries with linguistic, cultural and historic links with Catalonia. It also publishes scientific articles of international standing related with all such territories, especially considered as a whole. The journal also covers studies performed in all parts of the world by scientists from such countries.

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