Millán Millán was the director of the Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM) and was one of the main environmental assessors for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Life

He graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

with a BASc in 1967, an MASc in 1969, and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics and Spectroscopy in 1972, and from the School of Engineering, Bilbao with a Dr. Ing. Industrial Engineering in 1986.

Work

In Industry

From 1966 he worked at Barringer Research Ltd in Toronto, specializing in design of instruments for geological exploration. While working there he designed electro-magnetic reels to measure

nickel sulfide Nickel sulfide is any inorganic compound with the formula NixSy. These compounds range in color from bronze (Ni3S2) to black (NiS2). The nickel sulfide with simplest stoichiometry is NiS, also known as the mineral millerite. From the economic ...

at a mine. Following the Munich terrorist attacks the design was adapted for

metal detector A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. A metal detector consists of a control box, an adjustable shaft, and ...

s, and is still used in airports today.

COSPEC

From 1967 he designed electro-optical instruments to measure gases in

industrial process Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical, physical, electrical, or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacturing of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy ...

es, and in 1968-1970 he designed the COSPEC (COrrelation SPECtrometer) instrument to measure pollutant plumes in the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

. This work was financed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, and was used as his thesis in atmospheric physics. COSPEC was the first commercial instrument to measure remote atmospheric

contaminant Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that renders something unsuitable, unfit or harmful for the physical body, natural environment, wiktionary:Workplace, workplace, etc. Types of contamina ...

s in movement in real time. It received many prizes and was given the IR-100 for ‘One of the best instrumental designs in 1970' by the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

panel in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. COSPEC appears in the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

, is currently used in more than 40 countries, and has more than 500 scientific references, including journals such as ''Science'' and ''Nature''. It has also appeared in the movie ''

Dante's Peak ''Dante's Peak'' is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitant ...

'' and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary ''Surviving St. Helen's'', and remains widely used in

Volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geology, geological, geophysical and geochemistry, geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin language, Latin ...

Other Work

In 1972, Millán began working for the National Meteorological Center of Canada, responsible for the study of contaminant dispersion in the atmosphere. In 1973, he was asked by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

to be its main advisor on environment and climate. He studied and optimized the system of atmospheric dispersion and contaminant measurement of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and RDA. He co-organized six campaigns of atmospheric contaminants in Europe from 1974-1983. From 1974, he was named adviser “ad personam” of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, choosing the science priorities of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Marco programs. Millán was the first person to measure the dispersal of a contaminant plume more than 400 km in 1976. This was fundamental for the realisation that atmospheric contamination is not limited by the small area in which it is produced, but affects – to varying degrees – the entire planet.

CEAM

From 1991 to 2012, he was the director of the CEAM ( Center of Environmental Studies of the Mediterranean) supervising 90 investigators. He was considered a specialist of the Mediterranean basin and of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

processes of the Mediterranean coast. He coordinated various I+D (Investigation and development) programs in the European Community, from NATO / CCMS

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

modelling, and was a member of the board of directors of the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes science in Europe. It was e ...

from 2003. He was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Elche in 2009.

References

External links

CEAM
*http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2783184717_822502caac_o.jpg
"Guest Post – Climate Change Predictions, Including Extreme Hydrometeorological Events By Dr. Millán Millán"Climate change and torrential rains in Spain
15 January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Millan, Millan 1941 births 2024 deaths Atmospheric physicists 20th-century Spanish physicists NASA people People from Granada University of the Basque Country alumni University of Toronto alumni