Research on fats and oils has a long tradition in our Department. Two references exemplify this:

• Ramón Casamada Mauri (1874-1936), who was Full Professor on 1911, bought a copy (that we still preserve) of the 5th Edition (1913) of “Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats and Waxes” autored by Julius Lewkowitsch (1857-1913), a referent in the fats and oils field. It is an encyclopaedic work that contains extensive information on oil composition and technology.

• The other reference is a study by Casamada entitled “Espectros de absorción en ultravioleta para la diferenciación de los aceites de oliva vírgen de los refinados” [“Utraviolet absorption spectra for the differentiation of virgin and refined olive oils”] (Barcelona, Imp, Sobr. López Robert y Cia, 1935).

This shows that topics of our current research were already a concern 80 years ago, and that some of those results are still valid!

By Prof J Boatella