Isabel Pérez Farfante (July 24, 1916 – August 20, 2009) was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n-born carcinologist. She was the first Cuban woman to receive her Ph.D. from an

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

school. She returned to Cuba from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

only to be blacklisted by

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

's government. She and her family escaped Cuba, and she became one of the world's foremost zoologists studying prawns. She discovered large populations of shrimp off the coast of Cuba and published one of the most noted books on shrimps: "Penaeoid and Sergestoid Shrimps and Prawns of the World. Keys and Diagnoses for the Families and Genera."

Early life and education

Farfante was born July 24, 1916, in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Asturias, Spain to attend high school. Farfante went on to attend the Complutense University of Madrid, only to be sent back to Cuba, since her family were Republicans, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Upon her return to Cuba, she finished her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in 1938 from the

University of Havana The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...

. After graduation she worked as an associate professor at the University. She married

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, Gerardo Canet Álvarez in 1941. Farfante was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1942 for

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

. This award, along with an Alexander Agassiz Fellowship in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

and zoology, and a fellowship at the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

, helped support her attendance at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. She received her master's in biology in 1944. This made her one of the first women to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She then went on to get her Ph.D. from Radcliffe.

Career

While at Radcliffe, Farfante met Thomas Barbour in Washington, D.C. Farfante was struggling to garner support for her projects in her department, and Barbour advised she work at

. Barbour promised to help her obtain work there, and followed through, from 1946 until 1948 she was Associate Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. In 1948, she earned her Ph.D. from Radcliffe, making her the first Cuban woman to obtain her doctoral degree from an

school. Following graduation, she returned to Cuba. Upon return to Cuba, Farfante served as full professor at the

until 1960. She also served as a

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

researcher and then the director of the Cuban Fisheries Research Center until 1960, while still serving as professor. During this time, Pérez Farfante and husband Gerardo Canet supported the change of government with

. Pérez Farfante began having conflicts with the newly appointed co-director of the Research Center. Around that time, it was requested that Canet accompany

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

on trips abroad. Canet declined, wanting to be close to his wife and two sons. This led to the couple's inclusion on the Cuban government's

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

. They sent their sons to the United States and a month later the two fled Cuba, leaving behind all their personal items, except one suitcase. Farfante and her family returned to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where she began working at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, serving as an associate in invertebrate zoology from 1961 until 1969. She did independent research, receiving funding from Radcliffe College and the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. She started working as systematic zoologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service lab at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

(NMNH) in Washington, D.C. In 1986, she became Carcinologist Emeritus at the Fisheries Service, before leaving in 1990. She had become a research associate at NMNH, working in the Division of Crustacea. She retired in 1997, moving to Key Biscayne, Florida. Farfante continued participating in the field by assisting with collections at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Research

Pérez Farfante researched the

systematics Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...

of penaeid shrimp. However, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, she studied

foraminifera Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are unicellular organism, single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class (biology), class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell bio ...

ns and mollusks. For the latter, she studied under Carlos de la Torre Huerta, helping him with his later work. In the 1940s, while working at the Museum for Comparative Zoology, Pérez Farfante worked with Henry Bryant Bigelow on his research about lancelets. By 1950 she had started focusing on commercial shrimp. She discovered large shrimp populations in the Gulf of Batabanó and

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; ) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Island). The island was ...

. After escaping to the United States, she focused on the

of penaeid shrimp, focusing on reproductive morphology. She researched shrimp from shrimp farms in America on behalf of the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

from 1961 until 1962. While at the National Museum of Natural History she completed her "masterpiece," "Penaeoid and Sergestoid Shrimps and Prawns of the World. Keys and Diagnoses for the Families and Genera," alongside Brian Kensley and illustrator Molly Kelly Bryan. In her later years, while assisting at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, she co-authored a paper about Sergestoidea and Penaeidae shrimp in the Tongue of the Ocean.

Death

She died in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, on August 20, 2009, at age 93.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Farfante, Isabel 1916 births 2009 deaths American carcinologists American curators Complutense University of Madrid alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States Harvard University faculty National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration personnel People from Havana People from Key Biscayne, Florida Radcliffe College alumni Radcliffe fellows Smithsonian Institution people American women curators Cuban women curators Women zoologists Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution