The highest rank within Mexico’s National Research System (SNI for its initials in Spanish), which is part of the National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT for its initials in Spanish) is National Emeritus Professor. The UP is proud to announce that one of its professors, the first to date, has been awarded the rank of National Emeritus Professor, namely the researcher Dr. Evandro Agazzi.
According to CONACYT, the rank of National Emeritus Professor is only granted to researchers who have demonstrated an outstanding track record in the area of their specialty, in which they have made fundamental contributions to the generation of new scientific, humanistic or technological knowledge, resulting in national and international recognition and prestige.
Similarly, those who receive this appointment must have participated in training of new generations of students and researchers and stood out for their participation in the creation and development of academic institutions or research centers in Mexico. In that sense, Dr. Agazzi ticks every box.
Born in Bergamo, Italy, Dr. Agazzi has also held Mexican nationality since 2001 and, as he explains, “I am proudly Mexican.” He earned his Doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan and has studies in various areas, such as Physics, Formal Logic, and a postgraduate degree in the Philosophy of Science from Oxford (England).
He has a long trajectory as a chaired professor, teaching subjects such as Higher Geometry, Complementary Mathematics, Mathematical Logic, Symbolic Logic, Philosophy of Science and Bioethics. Currently, he is a professor at the Universidad Panamericana, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics and the journal Bioethics UPdate.
His current lines of research include the general philosophy of science, the philosophy of particular sciences (mathematics, physics, social sciences), the ethics of science, philosophical anthropology and bioethics.
His resume includes an extensive and robust publication list of over 100 books as author or co-editor and over 1,000 published articles. His works have been translated into nine languages.
As if that were not enough, he is Emeritus Professor at the universities of Friborg (Switzerland) and Genoa (Italy) and holds 12 honorary doctorates from various universities around the world. And this is just a part of his many credentials.
A life dedicated to research
Dr. Agazzi admits that, although recognition for his work provides him with some satisfaction, he points out that it cannot be the driving force for a researcher, and it certainly is not his motivation: “When one is committed to research, one is practically motivated by the search for something important.”
For him, the most important thing about the appointment he holds today is the fact that it serves as an example for other researchers and young people interested in research, showing them that, with passion for what they do, they can go far and achieve their goals.
“It is very important that people see a path for going further, of committing to something, without this implying that failure to achieve one’s goals ends in frustration,” he emphasized.
In the exercise of research, Dr. Agazzi sees much value in the synergy that exists at the university between teaching and research since “you cannot teach something you don’t know about.”
In the same way, he emphasizes the social responsibility needed for research and teaching “because we all live in dependence on one another and the other, and this pandemic has taught us that no one can be saved alone…”
In this way, it is important that researchers from all branches work together to enrich their findings: “I have worked on the foundations of mathematics and produced results related to mathematical logic and artificial intelligence, which were then later taken up by American researchers,” he noted.
Dr. Agazzi is currently finishing writing another of his many books and highlights that he has no plans to stop investigating: “Continuing to think and produce, reading comments and discussion all satisfy me,” he concluded.
