José María Maza Sancho (born 1948) is a Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist. His work has focused on the study of

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

s, the execution of a search for objects with emission lines, dark energy, and

quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

s with an objective prism, which led him to be awarded the National Prize for Exact Sciences in 1999. Since 2017 he gained popular following with books aimed to the general public and podcasts.

Biography

After studying at the

Internado Nacional Barros Arana The Internado Nacional Barros Arana (INBA), also known by its code A-17, is a high school located in Santiago, Chile, particularly in front of Quinta Normal Park. It began its operations independently on 20 May 1902, under the presidency of Germ� ...

, he entered the University of Chile as an astronomy student. He did his doctoral studies in astronomy at the University 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 at

Cerro El Roble Cerro El Roble is a mountain in central Chile. Much of the land area associated with this mountain was incorporated into the La Campana National Park in the late 1990s. A station of the National Astronomical Observatory of Chile, Cerro El Roble ...

and 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 for

s. 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, being part of the theory of accelerating expansion of the universe by dark energy. He has not been recognized as such since all his mathematical calculations were provided to Harvard University on the condition that they would only perform a

mathematical model A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, ...

ing, which allowed that group of American scientists to win the Nobel Prize in 2011. Apart from being a professor and being a member of the (CATA), he has given astronomical talks to young people to get them interested in science, one of which he did at the boarding school in which he studied. The astronomer

Rafael Ferrando Rafael Ferrando (born 1966) is a Spanish astronomer, credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of numerous minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct o ...

baptized the asteroid 108113 as "Maza", in honor of José Maza Sancho.

Awards

* Presidential Chair in Sciences, 1995 * Rector's Medal, University of Chile, 1996 * National Prize for Exact Sciences, 1999 * Rector's Medal, University of Chile, 1999 * Active Member of the Academy of Sciences since 2002

Published books

* ''Supernovas'', Ediciones B, 2008. Coauthored with Mario Hamuy Wackenhut. * '' Astronomía contemporánea'', Ediciones B, 2009. * '' Somos polvo de estrellas'', Editorial Planeta, 2017. *''Marte: la próxima frontera'',

Editorial Planeta Planeta Corporación, S.R.L., doing business as Grupo Planeta (), is a Spanish mass media conglomerate operating in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin America. It is the world's leading Spanish-language book publisher. Editorial Planeta, founded in ...

, Santiago, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maza Sancho, Jose 1948 births Chilean astrophysicists Living people People from Valparaíso University of Chile alumni University of Toronto alumni