Modesto Montoya (born 24 February 1949) is a

nuclear physicist Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

and former president of the Peruvian Institute for Nuclear Energy in Lima,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. He is a former president and current member of the Peruvian Academy of Nuclear Sciences, former president of the Peruvian Physical Society and member for Peruvian National Academy of Sciences. In 2021, he became an advisor to President

Pedro Castillo José Pedro Castillo Terrones (; born 19 October 1969) is a Peruvian politician, former elementary school teacher, and union leader who served as the president of Peru, President of Peru from 28 July 2021 to 7 December 2022. On 7 December 2022, ...

on science matters. He is the current

minister of the environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated ...

Academic activities

Modesto Montoya was born in Salpo, La Libertad. At age 12, he began studies to be an electrical technician at the current National Polytechnic of

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

. At age 17, he received a scholarship to study at the José Pardo Principal Polytechnic. At the age of 18, he entered the

National University of Engineering The National University of Engineering ( es, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, UNI) is a public engineering and science university located in the Rímac District of Lima, Peru. History The National University of Engineering was founded in 1 ...

. He holds a BSc, a Lic. a MSc in physics from the

, a

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

, a

doctorat A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

de 3eme cycle and a

d'Etat from the

Paris-Sud 11 University Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

. He is affiliated as professor to the National University of Engineering and he teaches scientific and technological subjects at Centro de Preparación para la Ciencia y Tecnología (Ceprecyt).

Research

Montoya's research work was on

cold fission Cold fission or cold nuclear fission is defined as involving fission events for which fission fragments have such low excitation energy that no neutrons or gammas are emitted. Cold fission events have so low a probability of occurrence that it is ...

at the

CEA Saclay The CEA Paris-Saclay (formerly CEA Saclay) center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The Saclay site hosts the administrative headquarters of the CEA. Historically, it was the hea ...

and he participated in the discovery of nucleon-pair breaking in cold fission, phenomenum studied also by Hervé Nifenecker in cold fission of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

233,

uranium 235 Uranium-235 (235U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists ...

and

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

239. He also studied the mass and kinetic energy distribution of fragments in cold fission. Between 1985 and 1986 he was guest scientist at ( GSI) in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

in the group led by

Peter Armbruster Peter Armbruster (born 25 July 1931) is a German physicist at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) facility in Darmstadt, Germany, and is credited with co-discovering elements 107 ( bohrium), 108 (hassium), 109 (meitnerium), 110 (d ...

, dedicated to research on transuranides nuclei. At GSI published his work on Coulomb and shell effects in low energy fission., As guest scientist at the Institut de Physique Nucléaire,

Orsay Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. A fortifie ...

, in the Bernard Borderie's group, he participated in research on deeply inelastic collisions. He was also invited by the Carnegie-Mellon Institute in the Morton Kaplan group dedicated to ternary fragmentations in nuclear collisions. Montoya now studies the effects of neutron emissions on measurements of fission fragments.M. Montoya, J. Rojas, I. Lobato, "Neutron emission effects on final fragments mass and kinetic energy distribution from low energy fission of U 234", Revista Mexicana de Física, 54(6) dic 2008

Promoting science and technology

Montoya has had his opinions on science and technology published in a number of articles in the main Peruvian newspapers. As part of his promotional activities he found the International Scientific Meeting (ECI) Encuentro Científico Internacional for which is recognized by international institutions.

References

External links

peruvianscientists.orgUniversidad Nacional de Ingeniería - UNIInstituto Peruano de Energía Nuclear - IPENInternational Scientific Meeting (ECI), since 1993.Promoviendo la ciencia y la tecnología desde 1984
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Modesto 1949 births Living people Peruvian physicists Peruvian Ministers of the Environment