2016_09_20_CIE_catedra_timac_agro

goal The Chair Timac Agro-University of Navarra, promoted by both institutions, launches next September 29th its José María Albareda Lectures, which aim toattract leading scientists from the world of agrobiotechnology around lectures and meetings especiallyaimed at young researchers.

The first of these figures is the chemist, award Prince of Asturias of research Scientific and Technical (2014), Avelino Corma, professor of high school Technology Chemistry of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and honorary doctor by 13 national and international universities. Professor Corma will give his talk "From the finding in the laboratory to the industrial application" in an event that will begin at 11 30 h. in the auditorium of the Hexagon Building, and will include the participation of the Dean of the School of Sciences, Professor Luis Montuenga, and Professor Pablo Pérez, in charge of making a brief biography about D. José María Albareda.

Considered one of the most relevant scientists on the international scene -he holds the highest issue of citations in scientific articles-, Avelino Corma has just been awarded the 2016 Spiers Memorialaward by the Royal Society of Chemistry of the United Kingdom, one of the most important awards in the world of science.

Dr. Corma's field of study is catalysis. Specifically, he works in the field of zeolites, molecules that due to their crystalline structure have pores with dimensions similar to many other molecules, allowing reactions to occur in confined spaces. This research has been applied to the design of zeolites that improve the octane rating of gasoline and to the optimization of catalysts. 

 

First University Secretary of the CSIC and President of the University

José María Albareda, second President of the University of Navarra after his time as Estudi General, was the first University Secretary of the committee Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, created in 1939 to promote science in Spain. With this premise, Albareda promoted, in very difficult times and with very limited means, the construction and the development of scientific and research activity, and to encourage new scientific vocations in young people through the creation of groups and centers of research throughout the country. It also promoted the international experience of researchers at training.

As a scientist, José María Albareda established the instructions of Soil Sciences and Agrobiology in Spain from a multidisciplinary perspective: geological, Chemistry and biological. Author of several books and more than 200 scientific articles, he received national and international academic recognition, with honors such as his appointment as honorary doctor by the Universities of Louvain and Toulouse.

Through the José María Albareda Lectures, the University of Navarra wants to vindicate the bequest of a figure that Severo Ochoa described as someone without whom "biology, and within it the Spanish Biochemistry , would not have reached the Degree of development that they have at the present time".