Arcadio Poveda

Arcadio Poveda

Born 15 July 1930
Mérida, Yucatán [1]
Residence Mexico City
Nationality Mexican
Fields Astronomy
Institutions National Autonomous University of Mexico
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley[2]
Known for Poveda's formula[3]
Notable awards National Prize for Arts and Science (Mexico, 1975)

Arcadio Poveda Ricalde (born on 15 July 1930) is a prominent Mexican astronomer who developed a method to calculate the mass of elliptical galaxies.[1] He received Mexico's National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1975, chaired its National Astronomical Observatory from 1968 to 1980 and was elected to The National College in 1989.[2]

Poveda was born in Mérida, Yucatán. He initially enrolled at the National Autonomous University of Mexico but ended up graduating with both a Bachelor of Arts degree (1953) and a PhD in Astronomy (1956) from the University of California, Berkeley.[2] Afterward, he moved back to Mexico and enrolled at the Institute of Astronomy of the National Autonomous University, where he has worked as a researcher since 1956. As a visiting scholar, he has lectured at the Institute of Astrophysics in France (CNRS, 1963), Columbia University (1967), Kitt Peak National Observatory (1981-82, 1983-84), and at the University of California, San Diego (1982-83).[2]

A public planetarium in his native Mérida, Yucatán, is named in his honor.[4]

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