Brief scientific bio

I am an ICREA Professor of Astrophysics based at the Institute of Space Sciences.

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I studied there up to obtaining my doctoral degree in physics from the National University at La Plata, working on cosmology and astrophysics of extended gravitational theories. After several fellowships (Astronomy Centre of Sussex University in UK, Institute for Radioastronomy in Argentina, Princeton University and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the USA) and some stays in Italy (International Center for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Salerno University at Baronissi), I moved to Barcelona right at the end of 2005 to work at the Institute of Space Sciences and start a research group on high-energy astrophysics.

My research focuses on compact objects, relativistic environments, and cosmic rays. My earlier research includes gravitation and cosmology; particularly, scalar-tensor theories and non-minimal couplings, primordial nucleosynthesis, scalar dark matter, boson stars, gravitational lensing, non-extensive statistics, and wormholes.

I published several papers on all these topics (>310 peer review papers in journals), edited 7 books, wrote 8 reviews, and supervised the work >50 research associates.

Scientific Awards

Individually, I have received the

Tsung-Dao Lee Visiting Professorship of the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute in Shanghai,
Chinese Academy of Sciences Presidential Initiative Fellowship,
Chinese Academy of Sciences Senior Visiting Professorship,
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award of the Humboldt Foundation of Germany,
Shakti Duggal Award on Cosmic Ray Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics,
Guggenheim Fellowship,
NASA Group Achievement Award,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Award for Excellence in Research,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Award for the Best Contribution by a Fellow,
Ernesto Galloni Medal in Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Argentina,
Young Investigator Awards of Argentina (Programa IM-40, for scientists under 40 years).
I also received Honorable Mentions in the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition on several occasions
Giambiagi Prize (Argentinian Physical Society) to the best theoretical physics Ph.D. thesis of Argentina in the biennial including the year of its defense
Dottori Prize (Joint Award of the Argentinian and Brazilian Astronomical Societies) to the best astronomy Ph.D. of Argentina or Brazil in the triennial including the year of its defense.

As part of a collective,

Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society, awarded to the Fermi-LAT collaboration
Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize of the European Physical Society, awarded to the Fermi-LAT collaboration.
As director of the institute and Principal Investigator, I received the María de Maeztu Excellence Award for the Institute of Space Sciences (which included a grant and Ph.D. student fellowships for 2.8 Million Euros).

Selected responsibilities

I was Director of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC) for two mandates in the period 2016-2023. Before, I have been Head of the Department of Astrophysics for 2 years, and participated in numerous committees and other posts of responsibility.
- See the Institute of Space Sciences' Directorship summary (2016-2023)
Part of my work along my career was done as a member of large collaborations building and operating high-energy astrophysics instruments both in space and in the ground. I have held several responsibility posts for these, including being the Physics Coordinator for the Cherenkov Telescope Array for 8 years, and the Galactic Observations Convener for MAGIC for its first 4 years of operation.
- See a summary of my work as Physics Coordinator of CTA (2007-2014)
- Browse MAGIC Galactic papers (2006-2010)
I have been the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier's Journal of High-Energy Astrophysics (2013-2023) having oversight responsibility over all aspects of launching the journal, edition, publication and assembling of the Editorial Board.
- The journal rise up to an impact fact of 3.8 (Clarivate) and Citescore metric of 5.7 (Scopus) in 2023, when I was succeeded by Prof. Bing Zhang (from UNLV) as Editor-in-Chief.

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