Born: 28 November 1899, Spain
Died: 26 March 1993
Country most active: Spain
Also known as: NA
The following was written by Nina Baker and is excerpted from the book From Alchemy to Transport Phenomena: A Global History of Women in Chemical Engineering.
The woman considered to be Spain’s first female to graduate in chemistry was María Cegarra Salcedo (1899-1993) but she is better known for her later career as a poet. Her career started in industrial chemistry, first working for a female industrial proprietor (1921-1924). In 1928 she became the first female to be granted the title of Chemical Expert at the Higher Polytechnic School of Alcoy (EPSA) and then set up her own mineral chemical analysis laboratory (Cegarra Salcedo Laboratory), where she devised a cementitious repair material, Konglutina. Her poetry often had chemical themes and language.