In 1950 Professor Federico Rutllant was appointed Director of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional. He was a very active and enthusiastic person who had in mind many ambitious programmes which in the long run could contribute to modernise the astronomical activities of the Observatory. Perhaps his most important dream was to see an international astrophysical observatory established in Chile.

The doctorate is what enables you to do research and she got it at great personal cost. She had the support of her husband, Hugo Moreno, who stayed in Chile with her children while she studied. At that time, 50 years ago, it was something heroic.

It is an honour for this Academy to be the first to incorporate a lady into its list of members, because all of us recognise in the female sex the same intellectual qualities and human conditions that were attributed for a long time, in my opinion with a false sense of superiority, only to men.

The great scientific advances are usually linked to the invention of new instruments. That is why when we think of the telescope we immediately recall its long and successful association with astronomy. Were it not for this interaction, our current knowledge of the heavens would be similar to that of Renaissance astronomers, who thought that the Solar System reached as far as the orbit of Saturn and that the outer limit of our universe was the stars visible to the naked eye.

They worked together. For my mother, the fact of having taken an unusual option for the female environment filled her with pride.

She loved talking about astronomy, so much so that she explained the theory of black holes to us in a simple way for us to understand. My mother narrated a wonderful world and it was impressive how she taught it.

I remember reading some poems that my mother wrote to the Virgin Mary.

I had no references at that time, but I had read Asimov's books with great interest. Then Dr Adelina Gutiérrez, the only woman in the Department of Astronomy, the only astronomer who had a doctorate, made a great impression on me, the rest of the professors had not studied abroad. She was dedicated to an area that did not motivate me much, but the fact that she was a woman, mother of three children, that she had managed to advance her career, travelling abroad, at that time was very pioneering. She was a great encouragement to me.

For Adelina the sky was not the limit, and at Google we are proud to be able to celebrate the life and work of this woman who undoubtedly left a great mark in her field of action. With this doodle we want to continue fulfilling our mission of contributing to the conservation and democratisation of the legacy of women like Adelina Gutiérrez and we extend an invitation to learn more about her enormous legacy to national science.

... all of us who passed through the Observatory in the late 1960s and early 1970s had courses with Adelina Gutiérrez. She made a very solid scientific career and we owe her for having started this path for all of us. ... She was very active in the 1970s and 1980s at the Chilean Academy of Sciences. I have heard that she went to all the meetings, she was always worried about what was going on and she was secretary, treasurer and even got to be vice president.

Today, when we begin to say goodbye to the International Year of Astronomy, Chile's leading role in the world astronomical concert is recognised. It is, then, the right time to remember and honour the first national astronomer, a pillar of the development of current astrophysics, whose ability and discipline were stronger than the prejudices and limitations of the time.