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In this paper I explore the early circulation of penicillin. I review the early distribution in Spain of a scarce product, reflect on the available sources about the illegal penicillin trade and discuss some cases of smuggling. I argue the early distribution of penicillin involved time and geography, a particular chronology of post Second World War geopolitics. Penicillin practices and experiences belong to this period, in a dictatorship that tolerated smuggling and illegal trade of other products, some, like penicillin, produced in neighbouring countries. As a commodity that crossed borders, penicillin, transiting between the law and hidden trade, between countries and social domains – between war fronts and from a war front to an urban site to be sold – reveals practices of the early years of prosperity in the 1950s. These transits were permanent tests of a society based on taxes and exchanges, law and bureaucracy, control, discipline and the creation of standards. Key words: Penicillin in Spain - Post Second World War - Smuggling - Black market - Bureaucracy

The influence of Severo Ochoa in the establishment of biochemistry and molecular biology in Spain is the central topic of this essay. From the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959, Ochoa's links with Spanish scientists and top authorities in education and science became instrumental to the development of these areas in the country of his birth. Ochoa's influence is analyzed through investigation of three "events": the reception of the award in Spain and some of its immediate consequences; his role in the VIth Meeting of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies, held in Madrid in 1969; and the international scientific symposium, held in Madrid and Barcelona, that celebrated his seventieth birthday in 1975. After an account of Ochoa's biography up to 1959, analysis of these events shows that Ochoa's influence cannot be understood without taking into account the political and scientific context of its reception. ; Peer reviewed

Santesmases, M. J. (1997). Influencia y redes de la bioquímica en España 1950-1975: práctica experimental y política científica en la periferia europea. Redes, 4(9), 77-92. ; Este trabajo describe el proceso de construcción de las redes nacionales e internacionales que permitieron la promoción del área científica de la bioquímica en España, las conexiones entre el poder político y las autoridades científicas en aquella materia y de éstas con las autoridades académicas preexistentes. Por otro lado, analiza el desarrollo científico de la periferia, es decir, la participación de sus científicos más productivos e influyentes en las líneas de investigación abiertas por el centro. Finalmente, señala que cuando se indaga sobre cuáles pudieron ser las carencias que justificaran ese carácter esencialmente dependiente del centro del desarrollo científico, las contingencias propias de la historia política de las naciones resulta ser un factor digno de estudio detallado y de análisis, susceptible de ser añadido a la ausencia de tradición y estrechamente relacionado con ella. ; This article describes the process of construction of national and international networks which allowed the promotion of the biochemical scientific area in Spain, the links between political power and scientific authorities in this field and links between the latter and already existing academic authorities. On the other hand, it analyzes the outer boundaries of scientific development, i.e., the participation of its most productive and influential scientists on the research lines introduced by the center. Finally, it states that, when examining which could have been the true needs that justified the essentially dependent character of scientific development, then the contingencies typical of political history become a factor deserving a detailed study, capable of being added to another one: the absence of a tradition and closely linked to it.

instead of looking for allies among their Mediterranean colleagues, close to their geographical, political and economic situation, Spanish biochemists took as their model Northern Europe and then AngloAmerican science. The foundation of their discipline, in the midst of a franquist dictatorship, is characterised by the dedication to research, the desire to obtain international recognition, the precariousness of resources and the support of the politico-scientific authority established by Franquism. ; Peer reviewed ; instead of looking for allies among their Mediterranean colleagues, close to their geographical, political and economic situation, Spanish biochemists took as their model Northern Europe and then AngloAmerican science. The foundation of their discipline, in the midst of a franquist dictatorship, is characterised by the dedication to research, the desire to obtain international recognition, the precariousness of resources and the support of the politico-scientific authority established by Franquism. ; Au lieu de chercher des alliés parmi leurs collègues méditerranéens, proches par leur situation géographique, politique et économique, les biochimistes espagnols ont pris pour modèle l'Europe du Nord, puis la science angloaméricaine. La fondation de leur discipline, en pleine dictature franquiste, est marquée par le dévouement à la recherche, le souci d'obtenir une reconnaissance internationale, la précarité des moyens et le soutien de l'autorité politico-scientifique mise en place par le franquisme.

Au lieu de chercher des alliés parmi leurs collègues méditerranéens, proches par leur situation géographique, politique et économique, les biochimistes espagnols ont pris pour modèle l'Europe du Nord, puis la science angloaméricaine. La fondation de leur discipline, en pleine dictature franquiste, est marquée par le dévouement à la recherche, le souci d'obtenir une reconnaissance internationale, la précarité des moyens et le soutien de l'autorité politico-scientifique mise en place par le franquisme. ; Peer reviewed

Through a study of Spanish scientific organizations and the involvement of Spanish scientists in international ones, the beginnings of biochemistry and molecular biology in Spain are explored. The centre-periphery dichotomy is useful in explaining the progress of the establishment of these disciplines, together with the political context, both national and international, in which such establishment took place. It is suggested that international ties and national support are both necessary, but not sufficient conditions to overcome the distance between the Spanish scientific community and the centres of development and productivity in biochemistry and molecular biology. The interplay between both national and international factors has proved to be crucial. As a tool to study the whole scientific community of biochemists and molecular biologists, scientific societies allow us to analyze the role of that interplay in Spanish scientific development.

Coordinators: Francisco Ferrándiz Martín, (ILLA, CSIC), Reyes Mate Rupérez (IFS, CSIC). ; Memory processes —as selective displays of the past in the present— are an essential component of the configuration and development of all human societies and affect areas that range from everyday gestures to high-level politics. The unfolding of memory is especially important in the constitution of individual and collective identities, and its enormous potential for cohesion is only comparable to its great capacity to generate exclusion, difference, and dispute. It is impossible to understand historical or contemporary conflicts in depth without analyzing the memory processes in which they are or have been immersed. Hence the strategic importance of this challenge for an institution such as CSIC. The approach to memory and memory processes is necessarily interdisciplinary, as it can be analyzed through the scientific fields of neurobiology, philosophy, sociology, political science, psychology, literary studies, religious studies, cultural studies, historiography, social anthropology, archeology, or cultural geography, among others. By reviewing the main historical, theoretical and thematic anchors of memory studies –with a special emphasis on CSIC-based research–, as well as their prospects for the future, this challenge proposes to proactively foster this interdisciplinarity to build a common analytical language substantially richer and more sophisticated than each of its individual parts.