Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECs; Center for Scientific Studies) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

based in

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 ...

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 eas ...

, devoted to the development, promotion and diffusion of

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...

. CECs research areas include

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

molecular physiology Systems biology is the computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological systems, using a holistic ap ...

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, c ...

and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The centre was created in 1984 as Centro de Estudios Científicos de Santiago, with a grant of 150,000 dollars a year (for three years) from the

Tinker Foundation Edward Larocque Tinker (New York City, September 12, 1881 – July 6, 1968, New York City) was an American writer and philanthropist who developed a deep interest in the culture of Latin America and spent much of his life exploring it. Tinker was th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. In 2004-2005 glaciologists from CECs organized the

Chilean South Pole Expedition The Chilean South Pole Expedition (2004–2005) was a Chilean expedition to Antarctica organized by the Chilean Navy, Centro de Estudios Científicos and INACh. The expedition travelled to Antarctica from Chile in a chartered Ilyushin Il-76 and tw ...

in collaboration with the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wa ...

and

Instituto Antártico Chileno The Chilean Antarctic Institute (in Spanish Instituto Antártico Chileno) is a public service institution in charge of managing and coordinating scientific activities in the Chilean Antarctic Territory. It is the national Antarctic operator and h ...

. CECs was founded in Santiago but is since 2000 housed in the recently modernized, German-style Hotel Schuster located by

Valdivia River The Valdivia River or Río Valdivia, as it is known locally, is a major river in southern Chile. It is the continuation of the Calle-Calle River, from the point where it meets the Cau-Cau River in the city of Valdivia. The Valdivia river ends in ...

Claudio Bunster Claudio Bunster Weitzman (; born April 15, 1947) is a Chilean theoretical physicist. Until 2005 his name was Claudio Teitelboim Weitzman. Biography Claudio Bunster attended at Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, a prestigious pub ...

, a physicist and winner of Chile's National Prize for Exact Sciences, is the director of CECs. In 2014 CECs discovered what would be a

subglacial lake A subglacial lake is a lake that is found under a glacier, typically beneath an ice cap or ice sheet. Subglacial lakes form at the boundary between ice and the underlying bedrock, where gravitational pressure decreases the pressure melting poin ...

in the

West Antarctica West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transant ...

, They investigated and concluded after a year that it is a lake, which was named

Lake CECs Lake CECs is a subglacial lake in Antarctica at approximately latitude 80°S. It has an estimated area of 18 km2. The territory where the lake is located, some 160 km from Union Glacier, is claimed only by Chile. The lake is located in ...

in honor of the institution. The conclusion was published in ''

Geophysical Research Letters ''Geophysical Research Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal of geoscience published by the American Geophysical Union that was established in 1974. The editor-in-chief is Harihar Rajaram. Aims and scope The journal aims for rap ...

'' on May 22, 2015. The authors of the discovery are Andrés Rivera, Jose Uribe, Rodrigo Zamora and Jonathan Oberreuter.

References

External links

* Research institutes in Chile Multidisciplinary research institutes Valdivia Research institutes established in 1984 Astrophysics institutes Earth science research institutes Biochemistry research institutes 1984 establishments in Chile {{science-org-stub