SciencEkaitza

2021 Edition

Distinguished speakers 

• José Manuel Sánchez Ron – Member of the Royal Spanish Academy and Professor of the History of Science at the Autonomous University of Madrid. Academician of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences and Full Member of the International Academy of the History of Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Presentation on Science and Culture in the 21st Century 

• Juan Luis Arsuaga – Prince of Asturias Award and Scientific Director of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos. Doctor of Science and Professor of Palaeology at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. Lecture: A journey through the labyrinth of evolution. 

• Londa Schiebinger – Professor of the History of Science at Stanford University and elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Alexander Humboldt Research Award. Presentation: Gender dimension for better Science and Technology. 

• Isabel Sola Gurpegui – Co-Director of the Coronavirus Laboratory of the National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB) at the CSIC. Doctor of Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid and Research Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council. Lecture: Science, vaccines and their timing. 

• Pep Gatell – Founder of La Fura dels Baus and President of the Epic Foundation. Lecture: Technology and performing arts.  

2019 Edition

Distinguished speakers 

• John Cleese – Known worldwide as a founding member of MONTY PYTHON and for his role in the film “THE LIFE OF BRIAN” and other creations such as “The Flying Circus of Monty Python”, the Fawlty Towers series, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “A Fish Called Wanda”, among others. 

• George F. Smoot  – Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006, together with John C. Mather, for his study of microwave background radiation using the artificial satellite COBE, showing that shortly after the Big Bang, there were irregularities in the Universe that were the seeds of the subsequent formation of galaxies. 

• María Blanco Prieto – Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Nutrition of the University of Navarre. She holds a degree in pharmacy from the University of Santiago de Compostela and a doctorate from the “Université de Paris-Sud”, France. Since 2017, she has been a member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of France, one of the most prestigious entities in the world in its field. 

• Carlos Magdalena – Botanist of the Royal Gardens of Kew. He says of himself that in every molecule of his body is a passion to conserve plants on the brink of extinction. This Spanish botanist has achieved what other scientists thought impossible. 

2018 Edition

Distinguished speakers 

• Sophia – The latest and most advanced robot from Hanson Robotics, is a cultural icon. Astonishingly life-like Artificial Intelligence. 

• Mario Molina – Scientist who discovered the hole in the ozone layer. Co-author of the original article predicting the thinning of the ozone layer as a result of the emission of certain industrial gases. 

• James Rothman – Biomedical and research scientist. Discovered, together with other researchers, the molecular principles that govern the delivery of vesicular cargo in the cell, at the right place and time. 

• Sue Black – Academic, computer scientist and social entrepreneur. Advocate for women in the field of computing. She played a key role in saving Bletchley Park, where German codes were deciphered during World War II. 

• José Ángel Ávila – Engineer awarded for the development of signalling track technology that gives greater precision to the European Galileo GNSS satellite positioning system, which works alongside GPS and GLONASS. 

• Margaret Efferman – Entrepreneur, CEO, TV producer, mentor and author of several books and TED talks. Named among the top 100 on the internet by Silicon Alley Reporter and a several-time finalist for the “Best business books of the decade” by the Financial Times.