NIHERST: Caribbean Icons in STI

Maura Cooke was born in Dublin, Ireland on January 14th 1929. The eldest of three children, Maura spent her school days – primary and secondary- at St. Louis Convent. She was a bright student who did well in exams and asked many questions in class but also had a mischievous streak that sometimes led to her being put out of class! She was a member of the school orchestra and played camogie – an Irish form of hockey played by females. Maura went to secondary school during World War II, at a time when almost everything was rationed. Food, cloth, gasoline and many other staples were in short supply. A new dress was a matter for celebration and cars were often laid up for a while, awaiting gasoline, while their owners cycled everywhere. Maura considered herself fortunate to have reliable, faithful friends that would keep her company even into her adulthood.

In some ways, Maura had a tough time growing up. Although she was the eldest child of very conservative parents, she was herself a non-conformist who broke barriers which did not exist for her siblings. She was particularly opposed to any form of prejudice (religious, class and colour) at a time when certain types of prejudice was considered normal or acceptable

Maura attended University College Dublin after doing her Leaving Certificate exams to study for a BSc, graduating with Honours in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Botany after three years. She left home after graduation and taught Chemistry and Botany at the Sacred Heart Convent in Kent, England, hoping to achieve a greater level of independence. She then returned to Ireland and the University of Central Dublin to do a Special Honours Degree in Chemistry. This endeavour was a success and Maura obtained a First Class Honours degree in Chemistry in 1953.

Here, as Maura herself puts it, fate stepped in. At this time, she had set her mind on a career in academic research and had even obtained a scholarship towards graduate studies but this was also the time when she first met Desmond Imbert, who was finishing his degree in Engineering at the University in 1973. To her surprise, six weeks after he first saw her, he told her that he wanted to marry her! They became engaged in April 1953 and she married him in Trinidad, 17 months later.

The new couple went to Antigua, where Desmond had been a Government engineer for over a year. Since 1926, there had not been any qualified chemists in Antigua and those who wished to study medicine had to travel to Barbados or Trinidad to obtain their qualifications in Chemistry. Maura found herself teaching Chemistry to the boys at the Grammar School two days a week, the girls at the High School two days a week and the teachers at the Training College on Fridays. Although resources and equipment were severely limited, she met the challenge, assembling equipment, synthesising chemicals and making chemistry practical and relevant to her students.

When the couple left for Barbados in 1959, the Minister of Education thanked Maura for “bringing Chemistry to the island”. She continued teaching Chemistry there until 1964, when the family moved to Trinidad. Desmond became one of the first lecturers in the Engineering Department of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Maura demonstrated in the Chemistry Department until she decided to do an MSc in Chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin University. She successfully completed her thesis in her first year and spent the additional year in Ireland doing research and tutoring in the Chemistry Department of Trinity College. She returned to Trinidad in 1968 where she became a research assistant in the Department of Biological Sciences. In 1970, she began research for her doctoral thesis in Biochemistry and obtained this degree in 1973.

Dr. Imbert lectured in the Chemistry Department before joining CARIRI in 1978. There, she conducted research on essential oils (such as thyme oil which is used in cosmetics), food products and medicinal plants. She developed a food preservative derived from spices, presenting a paper on this discovery in Zimbabwe and attracting the attention of Trinidadian soft drink manufacturers. She also carried out a project on Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery for what was then TRINTOC, which successfully used microorganisms to break down the waste products of the petrochemical industry. She applied herself to many challenges while at CARIRI and her productive career yielded many patents. She led a project in the full utilisation of mangoes which culminated in an international conference in 1994, the year in which she retired from CARIRI as Principal Researcher.

Since her retirement, Dr. Imbert has held faithfully to her philosophy that learning should never end. She pursued her hobby of astronomy diligently, serving as the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Astronomy Society since 1972 and completing an online Master’s Degree in Astronomy at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia in April 2005. She popularised astronomy through her weekly newspaper column and currently teaches a course in Basic Astronomy for the School of Continuing Studies. She authored the book Caribbean Skies in 1998 and edited Trinidadian Skies and Tropical Skies in 1987 and 1990 respectively. Currently, she is researching the Archaeoastronomy of the Arawaks and Caribs and is investigating the possible existence of a prehistoric astronomical observatory similar to Stonehenge in Antigua.

Aside from astronomy, Dr. Imbert was an active sailor and rock climber in her youth. She loves gardening and is a writer of fiction. She has taken courses in Creative Writing and published some poems and short stories. She hopes to one day write a novel set in the West Indies.

An admirable individual, Maura Imbert lives by the maxim: “with God’s help, all things are possible.”

Maura Imbert - Biochemist & Astronomer

Maura Imbert
- Biochemist & Astronomer