Eugenio Coronado, professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Valencia and director of the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol), has been included by Forbes magazine in its Top-50 List of the most awarded Spaniards. In this list, Forbes recognizes the talent of professionals from different disciplines highlighted in the last five years by prestigious institutions outside Spain and whose work generates global impact.

The figure of Coronado (Valencia, 1959) stands out in the select group of eleven Spanish personalities dedicated to research in a wide variety of fields such as Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Geology, Economics and Mathematics. Among the recognitions accumulated by Coronado, the magazine highlights the Humboldt Research 2021 award, granted by the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the impact of his work and the expectation that he will continue to produce cutting-edge achievements in the future.

The Forbes list is an established tradition of the U.S. edition of this magazine and now arrives for the first time in Spain with names of singers, chefs, writers or very popular athletes. For its preparation, the selection committee identified the main awards granted internationally to Spaniards in different professional fields. It then selected the entities with the greatest relevance and authority in their sector. In addition, the list of award winners was examined to compile a list of all the recognized candidates. Finally, the winners with the greatest impact in the international arena were selected with the aim of recognizing "virtuosos who transcend borders".

In addition to the Humboldt Research award cited in the jury's resolution, the ICMol director has received two Advanced Grants and one Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in addition to the Blaise Pascal International Chair in France, a scientific mention created by the French government to attract foreign researchers of international prestige to the Ile-de-France centers.

In Spain, Coronado has received the Enrique Moles National Prize in Chemistry, the Rey Juan Carlos I National Prize, the medals of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) and the Spanish Royal Society of Physics (RSEF) and the Rey Jaime I Prize for New Technologies. Coronado has published more than 640 research papers and has more than 34,500 citations, according to the Scopus database of scientific references.

Coronado's work stands out in the fields of Nanoscience, Nanotechnology and Molecular Magnetism. The professor and his team designed, for example, the first molecular materials in which magnetism and electrical conductivity, two properties of technological interest, coexist for the first time. Nature magazine described them as a 'hybrid material that opens a new frontier in molecular electronics' or a 'dream come true'.

Eugenio Coronado has been founding director of the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol). It is the only center in the Valencian Community recognized as a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. It is located in the Science Park of the academic institution, from where he develops most of his research work at the frontier between physics, chemistry and materials science.

 José Fresneda Sánchez, a fourth year of secondary education student at the Cristo Rey de Benifaió School, has been the winner of the nano-tales contest organised by the “10alamenos9” Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Festival, which in the Valencian Community coordinates the Institute of Molecular Science of the University of Valencia (ICMol). His story “A diminutively huge transport” thus accesses the international phase of the contest. Edurne López San Félix, from IES Almussafes, has obtained second prize.

The jury has mainly highlighted the originality and scientific rigor of the story of José Fresneda, the young high school student winner of the award “There are many stories in the nanoworld: tell us about them”, in modality A aimed at 3^rd and 4^th year of secondary education students, convened within the framework of the Festival “10alamenos9”. “A diminutively huge transport” –title of the story– addresses the issue of nanomedicine and the encapsulation of drugs for the treatment of cancer. The story competes in the international phase of the contest.

In the same category, to which 35 stories have been submitted, the 3^rd year of secondary education student Edurne López San Félix, from the IES Almussafes, has obtained a second prize with “Lost Particles”, a narrative about the quantum world. The award has been left vacant in modality B, intended for Baccalaureate students and training cycles.

The contest, which has the collaboration of the University’s Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i), aims to foster interest in the world at the nano-scale –the nano-world among the educational community.

The “10alamenos9” Festival, which is held annually in different cities with the aim of bringing nanoscience and nanotechnology closer to citizens, encompasses different informative actions that take place throughout the months of April and May. The Festival has 16 venues in Spain and Latin America.

For this year’s Valencian edition, the ICMol has organised three types of activities. In addition to the nano-tale contest, they are holding a cycle of “Nanodialogues” among young students and researchers, and a “Nanoscience Vermouth” that offers different talks and seminars. The complete program can be consulted on the Festival website or at the ICMol.



PARC CIENTÍFIC UNIVERSITAT DE VALÈNCIA

El jurado de los XVI Premios Científicotécnicos «Ciutat d’Algemesí» ha decidido otorgar el «Premio de la Ribera» para jóvenes investigadores residentes o nacidos en la Ribera del Xúquer a Javier López Cabrelles por su trabajo «Polímeros de coordinación magnéticos bidimensionales isoreticulares preparados a través de una pre funcionalización de ligando» 

El joven investigador está realizando su tesis doctoral en el ICMol bajo la dirección de Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas y Eugenio Coronado.