Carlos Varsavsky
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
astrophysicist.
Early life
Varsavsky was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1933. After completing secondary studies in the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the tradition of the European gymnasium it provides a free education that includes classical languages such as Latin and Greek. The school is one of the most prestigious in Argentina...
, he settled in the United States. In the US, Varsavsky graduated in Physical Engineering in which he also obtained a Masters Degree from the University of Colorado. In 1959 he did his doctorate in Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
In Argentina
In 1960, Carlos M. Varsavsky returned to Argentina where he joined the newly-created group of Astrophysics at the University of Buenos AiresUniversity of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
and worked as Senior Lecturer in Physics until 1966. He was the founder and first director of the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy, founded in 1964, and President of the Association of Physics in Argentina. Furthermore, he participated in the construction of the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, which is located in Villa Elisa, Buenos Aires.
During the Periodo de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
(the military juntas of 1966-1973 and 1976-1983) and in a university environment, Carlos M. Varsavsky maintained a consistent democratic attitude – even during the incident that is known as “la noche de los bastones largos
La Noche de los Bastones Largos
La Noche de los Bastones Largos was the violent dislodge of five faculties of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina on July 29, 1966 by the Federal Police...
” in which the military of Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
government attacked the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences of Buenos Aires. Students, graduates and professors were beaten with the aim of dismantling the reformist project of building a university of science of excellence.
In United States
In 1977, during the Dirty WarDirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
(Guerra Sucia) that caused the kidnapping and brutal murder of his nephew, David Horacio Varsavsky, Carlos M. Varsavsky saw no choice but to leave Argentina. He emigrated with his family to the United States where Wassily Leontief
Wassily Leontief
Wassily Wassilyovich Leontief , was a Russian-American economist notable for his research on how changes in one economic sector may have an effect on other sectors. Leontief won the Nobel Committee's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1973, and three of his doctoral students have also...
, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner in Economics, made him the Associate Director of the Institute of Economic Analysis at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Carlos M. Varsavsky had two children: Paula Varsavsky, author and cultural journalist, and Martin Varsavsky
Martín Varsavsky
Martín Varsavsky is an Argentine entrepreneur based in Spain.Born to Carlos Varsavsky and Silvia Waisman-Diamond, Varsavsky attended primary school at the New Model School and the Colegio Nicolás Avellaneda high school....
, entrepreneur and founder of the Varsavsky Foundation. Carlos M. Varsavsky died in 1983, at the age of 49, when he was still working as Associate Director of the Institute of Economic Analysis at New York University.
Work and contributions
His doctoral thesis on atomic transitions has been a reference for many generations of students of astrophysics. His predictions about abundant molecular hydrogen in clouds, though controversial at that time, have been verified with modern methods of observation.Some of his working papers include:
- “Vida en el Universo” (Life in the Universe). Buenos Aires: CEAL, 1971.
- “Una Introducción al Universo” (An Introduction to the Universe). Buenos Aires: Estrada, 1973.
- “Astronomía Elemental” (Basics of Astronomy). Buenos Aires: Estrada, 1969.
- “Sobre la Posibilidad de Cambiar la Actual Semana de Siete Días” (On the Possibility of Changing the Present Seven Day Week - unpublished), sponsored by the Ford FoundationFord FoundationThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
in 1975.
Carlos M. Varsavsky Award
The National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences (Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales - ANCEFN) of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, together with the Varsavsky Foundation, gives every 2 years Carlos M. Varsavsky Award to the best PhD thesis in Astronomy.