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]