Dr. José Maza Exhibitor confirmed for annual meeting of the society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Chile

“After studying at theInternado Nacional Barros Arana, he entered theUniversity of Chileas an astronomy student. He did his doctoral studies in astronomy at theUniversity of Toronto.

Since 1968 he has been an academic of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile, and since 1987 he has been a full professor of that house of studies. He was director of the University of Chile’s Department of Astronomy from 1997 to 2000.

Between 1979 and 1984 he headed the Scientific Project of Search for Supernovas atCerro El Robleand was part of Project Calán Tololo, a Chilean-American initiative that featured the joint work of the University of Chile with the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, in the search forsupernovas.

The Calán Tololo project gave contemporary astrophysics tools for measuring the universe more precisely, calculations that years later would be key for a group of American astronomers to follow these supernova studies,^[2]being part of the theory ofaccelerating expansion of the universeby dark energy. He has not been recognized as such since all his mathematical calculations were provided toHarvard Universityon the condition that they would only perform amathematical modeling,^[3]which allowed that group of American scientists to win theNobel Prizein 2011.

Apart from being a professor and being a member of theCenter for Astrophysics and Related Technologies(CATA), he has given astronomical talks to young people to get them interested in science,^[6]one of which he did at the boarding school in which he studied.

The astronomerRafael Ferrandobaptized theasteroid 108113as “Maza“, in honor ofJoseMazaSancho.”