The biologist from Tenerife, Ana Crespo (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1948) has been chosen as the president of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain. She will be the first woman to hold this position since the Academy was established in 1847 and only the second Canarian, following physicist Blas Cabrera who held the position from 1928 to 1934.
Crespo left Tenerife at the age of 17 to explore the world beyond the island. This journey took her to Madrid in the 1960s, where she discovered her passion for biology at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1970, followed by her doctorate at the same university, which she completed in just three years. In 1973, she defended her thesis, Contribution to the knowledge of the flora and vegetation of epiphytic lichens in the Sierra de Guadarrama, earning the highest distinction. A decade later, at only 35 years old, she became a Botany professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at UCM.
Her research has focused on the evolutionary, systematic, and ecological study of lichens (lichenized ascomycetes, mycology). She was a pioneer in discovering cryptic species in lichens, a phenomenon now recognized as common. She has also contributed to the current evolutionary systematics of fungi, particularly in defining the modern concept of genus.
She has also worked on molecular identification of species (animals, plants, and fungi) and collaborated in the design of DNA barcoding. In recent years, her research group has made advances incorporating high-resolution genomic tools to traditional unknowns. Her unraveling of the reproductive genetic mechanism of lichens (lecanoromycetes) revealed these unique symbiotic fungi to be heterothallic, contrary to previous belief. Her extensive research has resulted in a prolific scientific career, with over 250 scientific articles published, over 110 of which are in prestigious international journals.
Unanimous Support
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The biologist received 37 out of 46 votes cast (80%). With this overwhelming support, her formal appointment as president will be announced on June 26 at an extraordinary session of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Madrid.
Crespo has been a part of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain since November 2012. Her reception speech was titled The progress of a kind Science and the relevance of its objectives: from Linnaeus to DNA barcoding passes through Darwin. Since then, she has held various management positions in the Academy. From 2014 to 2020, she was the president of the Natural Sciences Section and in 2020, she became the Secretary General of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain.
She has also held other high-level management positions such as Director-General of the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Universities and Research (1987-1991) and Director-General of Universities (1991-1993) for the Government of Spain, during the administration of socialist Felipe González.
The most prominent institution in science
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The Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain, founded during the reign of Isabel II, is the most significant institution in Spanish science. This institution has been led by prominent figures in Spanish science, such as mathematician José Echegaray; inventor Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1928-1934) and Canarian physicist Blas Cabrera (1934-1938). The Academy consists of 54 full members, 90 national corresponding members, and an undetermined number of supernumerary members and foreign corresponding members. Governance lies with all members jointly, who appoint a Board of Directors responsible for management and accountability. The Academy is structured into three sections: Exact Sciences, Physics and Chemistry, and Natural Sciences, as well as various committees assigned specific tasks.
Moreover, it maintains a library with over 27,000 volumes and various materials including scientific journals, manuscripts, and maps. Its collection comes from acquisitions by the Academy, exchanges, and private donations. One of the functions of the Academy outlined in its statutes is to “establish and define scientific and technical terminology, ensuring language propriety with the participation of Hispanic-American science academies, and collaborate with the Royal Spanish Academy in its role.”
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Crespo will succeed mathematician Jesús María Sanz Serna, who has been the Academy’s president since 2018. Her appointment marks a significant step towards gender equality in an institution that was historically male-dominated. The first female full member of the Academy was biochemist Margarita Salas, elected in 1986. The second was mathematician Pilar Bayer, elected in 2004. Ana Crespo herself became the third in 2010.
