María Teresa Vigón was a Catholic scientist, daughter of General Vigón, a Catholic monarchist who participated in the education of the children of Alfonso XIII and who promoted scientific research, being president of the Nuclear Energy Board and of the National Institute of Aeronautical Technology.
María Teresa was a woman of deep Catholic convictions, received as a child in her family environment, and worked with women such as Piedad de la Cierva, of Opus Dei, or with her sister, María Aránzazu Vigón, also very religious. She had to do with the development of nuclear energy in Spain, with the Optics Institute of the CSIC and the Laboratory and Research Workshop of the General Staff of the Navy, as well as with José María Otero Navascués, who selected her to participate in the research tasks at the Optics Institute, so she is part of the group of "Las ópticas de Otero", a large group of pioneering women in scientific research that was formed around him, given his firm commitment to the incorporation of women into the scientific world.
She had eight siblings, all of whom - including her three sisters - attended university. María Teresa was trained, between 1947 and 1948, in the photography laboratory of the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich, and was responsible for setting up and equipping the photography and photochemistry laboratory of the X-ray and magnetism section of the "Daza de Valdés" Institute of Optics. This laboratory became, as of 1948, the Photography and Photochemistry Section of that institute, and María Teresa directed it. In 1947, she attended the Barcelona Trade Fair to exhibit the prototypes manufactured at the Institute of Optics: sextants, different types of binoculars, and rangefinders.
From 1949 onwards, she participated as a teacher in the Advanced Optics Course that the CSIC Institute of Optics began to offer. She also taught Photography and Sensitometry in the Higher Optics Course. When the time came, she left everything and became a nun in the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicated to confessional teaching.
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
