Interesting Facts about Irene Bernasconi; Google Doodle is celebrating an Argentine marine biologist and the first echinoderm specialist

Google Doodle celebrates Irene Bernasconi, an Argentine marine biologist specializing in Echinoderm research and most famous for her work in the Antarctic, on November 2022. She was the first echinoderm specialist in Argentina and spent 55 years researching echinoderms tracked down in the Argentine Sea. Here are some interesting and fun facts about Irene Bernasconi.

Here is a look at the life and work of Irene Bernasconi.

Personal

Birth name: Irene María Bernasconi
Birth date: 29 September 1896
Birthplace: La Plata, Argentina
Died on: 7 July 1989 (aged 92)
Death place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality: Argentina
Famous as: Marine biologist

Interesting Facts about Irene Bernasconi

Irene Bernasconi was born on September 29, 1896 in La Plata, Argentina.

She became a teacher in 1918, specializing in natural studies, and started working at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in the mid-1920s.

She published her first scientific work about molluscs and marine invertebrates in 1925.

Irene Bernasconi’s first taxonomic publication, where new species from the genus Pteraster were described, was published in 1935.

In 1941, Bernasconi depicted two new species from the genus Luidia.

Somewhere in the range between 1937 and 1980, Bernasconi reexamined the taxonomy of various families: Pterasteridae, Luidiidae, Odontasteridae, Gonisasteridae, Ganeriidae, Asterinidae, and Echinasteridae.

In 1965, Irene Bernasconi depicted the new genus of Vemaster alongside four new species.

At age 72, Bernasconi became the first Argentine woman to lead an Arctic expedition. She and three other female researchers set off to Antarctica to investigate the continent’s biodiversity close to the South Pole.

Bernasconi was one of the principal female Argentinean researchers to conduct research in Antarctica after travelling there in 1968, at 72 years old.

Irene Bernasconi was joined by three different scientists Microbiologist Maria Adela Caria, Marine Biologist Elena Martinez Fontes, and Botanist Carmen Pujals.

Throughout her career, Bernasconi depicted various new genera and species.

All through the expedition, Irene Bernasconi and her team gathered over 2,000 echinoderm specimens, as well as plant life and other living samples, in Antarctica’s ecosystem. To achieve this, they involved diving equipment to set up nets and hooks in very cold waters. The trip’s most outstanding discovery was a new echinoderm family in the Arctic region.

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In 1969, the Embassy of Women in America awarded the team with a commemorative medal. On International Women’s Day in 2018, which likewise happened to be the 50th anniversary of the polar expedition, the National Directorate for Antarctica, the Argentine Antarctic Institute, and the Naval Hydrographic Service additionally recognized Bernasconi and her team for their achievements. Her name was integrated into Argentine maps of Antarctica with the establishment of Bernasconi Cove.

On November 7, 2022, Google featured a Google Doodle on its homepage for celebrating Irene Bernasconi. For Irene Bernasconi, the world was her oyster — or maybe she’d say starfish.

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Argentina’s first echinoderm specialist, who spent over 50 years studying sea stars and other marine creatures. On this day in 1968, she became the first Argentine woman Argentine lady to lead a marine biology expedition in Antarctica.