Reed Gail
MEDICC Rev. 2019 Oct;21(4):15-17. doi: 10.37757/MR2019.V21.N4.3.
She was a country girl from the northeast-ern Cuban province of Holguín, her father a farmer, her mother a teacher. Fast forward a few decades: Dr Lilliam Álvarez mastered mathematics, physics and nuclear science, finally specializing in numeric solutions to differential equations. She spent 20 years at the Cybernetics and Physics Institute in Havana, half that time as deputy director. For another eight years, she served as di-rector of science in the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. Full professor and senior researcher at the Uni-versity of Havana, she is a member of the national academic authority that awards doctoral degrees in math and is Cuba ́s ambassador to the International Math-ematical Union. In 2000, she was inducted into the Caribbean Academy of Sciences, and in 2008, was elected a full member of the Third World Academy of Science (now The World Academy of Sciences). But over time, her rich bibliography, with titles the likes of Anumerical technique to solve linear and non-linear singularly perturbed problems began to be peppered with other provoca-tive gender-informed work: Women doing hard sciences in the Caribbean, Are Women Good for Math? and her 2011 book Ser mujer científi ca o morir en el intento (Be a Woman Scien-tist or Die Trying). Her focus on women in science-and their rights to belong in its leadership as well as its ranks-is also reflected in her activist approach internationally and in Cuba. She is a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World and heads its Cuban chapter. After her designation as a Distinguished Member of the Cuban Acad-emy of Sciences, she was elected Secretary in 2010 and also chairs its Commission on Women in Science.The Cuban Academy of Sciences was the right place to hear her story and to explore the way she sees women scientists in today's Cuba-and the country she would like to see in the future.
她是一名来自古巴东北部奥尔金省的乡村女孩，父亲是农民，母亲是教师。几十年后：莉莉亚姆·阿尔瓦雷斯博士精通数学、物理和核科学，最终专长于微分方程的数值解。她在哈瓦那的控制论与物理研究所工作了20年，其中一半时间担任副所长。在接下来的八年里，她担任科学、技术和环境部的科学主任。作为哈瓦那大学的正教授和高级研究员，她是授予数学博士学位的国家学术权威机构的成员，也是古巴驻国际数学联盟的大使。2000年，她入选加勒比科学院，2008年，当选为第三世界科学院（现世界科学院）的正式成员。但随着时间的推移，她丰富的著作，如《求解线性和非线性奇异摄动问题的数值技术》等，开始夹杂着其他具有煽动性的、关注性别的作品：《加勒比地区从事硬科学研究的女性》《女性擅长数学吗？》以及她2011年出版的《要么成为女科学家，要么在尝试中死去》。她对科学界女性以及她们在科学界领导层和队伍中所占份额的关注，也体现在她在国际上和古巴的积极行动中。她是发展中世界妇女科学组织的成员，并领导该组织的古巴分会。在被任命为古巴科学院杰出成员后，她于2010年当选为秘书，并担任科学院科学领域女性委员会主席。古巴科学院是聆听她的故事、探讨她如何看待当今古巴女科学家以及她希望未来看到的国家的合适场所。
