María Inmaculada Paz-Andrade (

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

, 14 November 1928 – Pontevedra, 24 November 2022) was a Spanish physicist and researcher. She was the first person to be named a professor of the Compostela Faculty of Physics, and became an international authority in microcalorimetry, which is a technique for the measurement of very small quantities of heat.

Life and work

Paz-Andrade (sometimes written as Paz Andrade) earned a doctorate in physics (1963) and became a Professor of Applied Physics (specializing in Thermodynamics) and a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela. She also earned a certificate of higher studies at the University of Marseille (France). She furthered her studies at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

(UK) (where she was the first woman to be appointed a visiting research professor) and at the Institute of Microcalorimetry and Thermogenesis of the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

(CNRS) in Marseille. Having learned about microcalorimetry abroad, in 1964 she was the first to teach the subject to researchers in Spain. Specifically, she carried out work on applied

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

, calorimetric studies and determinations of specific heat of solids and liquids. At the University of Santiago de Compostela, she served as department director of Fundamental Physics at the Faculty of Sciences (1964–1970 and 1972–1974) and then director of the Department of Applied Physics (1986–1992). In 1999 she created the multidisciplinary THOR group, to develop computer tools to fight against forest fires in all their stages in Galicia and

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. In 1999, more than 40 specialists from different universities were collaborating in the group. In 2018, Paz-Andrade was awarded an

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the University of Vigo. Paz-Andrade authored more than 200 scientific publications and supervised 39 doctoral theses. She was the niece of Valentín Paz-Andrade.

Honors

* Gold Medal of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (1992) * Antonio Casares and Rodrigo Galicia Research Award (1999) * Gold badge of the University of Santiago de Compostela (2000) * Castelao Medal, awarded by the Government of Galicia (2008). * Arts. presented in honor of Professor María Inmaculada Paz Andrade. Vol. 26, No. 8 of Journal of chemical thermodynamics. Publisher Academic Press, 911 pp. 1994 * Maria Josefa Wonenburger Planells Prize, awarded by the Government of Galicia (2008). * Honorary doctorate from the University of Vigo (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paz Andrade, Maria Inmaculada 1928 births 2022 deaths Spanish physicists 20th-century women physicists 20th-century Spanish physicists People from Pontevedra University of Santiago de Compostela Scientists from Galicia (Spain) Educators from Galicia (Spain)