Francesca Figueras, new president of the Spanish Society of Astronomy

2016-07-25 00:00:00
Francesca Figueras, new president of the Spanish Society of Astronomy
The researcher and vice-director of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (IEEC-UB), Francesca Figueras, has been elected as new president of the Spanish Society of Astronomy (SEA) in its XII scientific meeting that was held last week in Bilbao. Figueras will take over as president of the SEA in January 2017 replacing Javier Gorgas who chaired the company since 2013.

First woman president of the SEA

It is the first time that a woman becomes president of SEA in the 24 years of existence of the society. “Our community of professional astronomers has had a sustained and significant growth since the seventies until today. We have achieved and consolidated not just a prominent role for our researchers at international level but also the participation of Spanish companies in the development of large infrastructure projects in astronomy , some of which are now fully operational and others spectacular, come. The astronomers, from the beginning and throughout this process, we fully participated in this collective effort thanks largely to the passion for astronomy and perseverance in our work. There are many challenges that lie ahead, since the determination of the mass of the neutrino and its involvement in cosmological models to full equal opportunities for men and women. We of course would meet these challenges short term, and are therefore essential our young postdoctoral and predoctoral “said Francesca Figueras.

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XII scientific meeting of the SEA

Approximately 350 professionals astronomy have gathered in Bilbao and have participated in a total of 220 lectures and presentations, including plenary lectures and specialized parallel sessions in galaxies and cosmology, the Milky Way and its components, planetary science, solar physics, instrumentation and supercomputing and dissemination and teaching of astronomy. During the meeting also it presented its Plan for Gender Equality of the SEA.

More information on the website of SEA

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