Claudio Bunster Weitzman (; born April 15, 1947) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an theoretical physicist. Until 2005 his name was Claudio Teitelboim Weitzman.

Biography

Claudio Bunster attended at

Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, often shortened to Instituto Nacional (National Institute), is a public boys' school in downtown Santiago, Chile which teaches 4.400 students between 7th and 12th grade. 170 teachers are employed ...

, a prestigious public high school of Santiago. Bunster was educated at the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, where he earned his doctorate in physics in 1973. Bunster has conducted frontier research and taught at

and at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. He has also been "Long Term Member" of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

at Princeton. Bunster has been Director of the Center for Scientific Studies (CECS) from its inception in 1984. Originally operating from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, in 2000 this autonomous institute moved South of

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...

, in the 40S parallel, where the search has expanded and deepened in the areas of life, our planet and the cosmos. In addition to his research in theoretical physics and his work as Director of CECs, Bunster has engaged in public service. He was Scientific Adviser to the President during the administration of President

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz–Tagle (; born 24 June 1942) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who served as president of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He was also a Senator, fulfilling the role of President of the Senate from 2006 ...

(1994–2000). During his tenure as presidential adviser the Presidential Chairs in Science and the Millennium Science Initiative were established. He was also a member of the Panel on

Human Rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, established by the government, and involving both the civilian and the military, to address outstanding human rights issues. Bunster has been especially involved in incorporating the armed forces in scientific endeavors, as a way of strengthening democracy through science. This interest has led to joint work in science among CECs, the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

of Chile and distinguished foreign institutions. Among the fruits of these collaborations are several unprecedented expeditions to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

in which Bunster was directly involved. He received Chile's National Prize for Exact Sciences in 1995 and was elected to the Academy of Sciences of the United States in 2005 and was made Honorary Member of the Solvay Institutes in Brussels in 2007.

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

for the advancement of science in developing countries, awarded Bunster in 2013, with the TWAS-Lenovo Prize.TWAS-Lenovo Prize

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunster, Claudio 1947 births Living people 20th-century physicists 21st-century physicists Chilean physicists Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences University of Chile alumni Princeton University alumni Chilean Jews Chilean people of German-Jewish descent Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Chilean people of Moldovan-Jewish descent Chilean people of Russian-Jewish descent People from Santiago 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists