To commemorate the Cajal Year, Correos dedicated a philatelic tribute to the Cajal School in 2023, issuing a block of stamps featuring the master and eight of his first disciples. In 2025, it completed the tribute, issuing a block of stamps dedicated to the women who were part of the Cajal School.
At the beginning of the 20th century, at a time when women were relegated from professional life, especially in the scientific field, several young women worked with Santiago Ramón y Cajal at the Biological Research Laboratory, the birthplace of the Cajal School and currently home to the National Museum of Anthropology.
The first was Australian doctor Laura Forster, who arrived from Oxford to learn the histological techniques that the Spanish Nobel Prize winner had perfected, and with which she had managed to unravel the mysterious structure of the nervous system. At the scientist's suggestion, she studied spinal cord degeneration and regeneration in birds, and published an article on the subject in the laboratory's journal, "at the suggestion of Professor Cajal, in whose laboratory I had the honor of working for several months." He cited her work several times.
Later, sisters Carmen Serra and Manuela Serra joined the laboratory as assistants. The latter stood out for her intelligence and technical skill, so much so that Cajal offered to pay for her medical studies, which her family refused. Her great worth was captured in the article "Notes on the Gliofibrils of Frog Neuroglia," illustrated by her and published, as the sole author, in 1921 in the laboratory's journal.
In 1922, Cajal compiled a list of his students, including Laura Forster and Manuela Serra.
Among the scientific illustrators of the Cajal School, Conchita del Valle stands out. She collaborated with Cajal's students, who lacked artistic talent, drawing images of the histological preparations they had created.
Dr. María Soledad Ruíz-Capillas worked with Gonzalo R. Lafora. She studied sleep problems resulting from brain injuries, was the first woman to run a spa, and eventually dedicated her professional life to dentistry. Later came Dr. Mª Luisa Herreros, who worked with Fernando de Castro. She primarily focused on neuroscience in psychiatry and was a pioneer in psychoanalysis.
The face value of this issue appears on the stamp depicting the portrait of Ramón y Cajal painted by Ricardo Madrazo, which belongs to the Ateneo de Madrid.
Belén Yuste
