Catalan Society of Biology to receive Creu de Sant Jordi

By Biocat

The Government of Catalonia will recognize the Catalan Society of Biology (SCB), an affiliate of the Institute of Catalan Studies, with the Creu de Sant Jordi award for its contribution to research, dissemination and the international projection of the life sciences from Catalan-speaking areas. The SCB is one of the 15 organizations that, in addition to 25 figures, will receive this award this year. The awards ceremony will be held on 20 April at the Palau de la Generalitat.

First affiliate of the IEC

This recognition coincides with the one hundredth anniversary of the SCB. Founded in 1912, then known as the Society of Biology of Barcelona, and presided over by Dr. August Pi i Sunyer, it was the first affiliates of the IEC. Initially, the center mainly focused on medicine and quickly came to play a key role as a scientific institution. Some of the most noteworthy Spanish scientists have been part of this affiliate, including Severo Ochoa and Gregorio Marañón, as well as foreign scientists like J. J. McLeod, Otto Meyerhof and Jean Perrin.

The SCB is currently affiliated with the IEC Department of Biological Sciences and has more than 1,500 members, 7 territorial sections, 5 transversal sections and 15 thematic sections. In recent years, the SCB has had links with figures like Lynn Margulis, Mariano Barbacid, Eudald Carbonell, John Ingraham, Stanley Miller, Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Valentí Fuster.