Juan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras

Invitado de Honor

Arsuaga has a PhD in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), where he teaches Paleontology. He is the director of the UCM-Carlos III Health Institute Mixed Center for Human Evolution and Behavior. Most of his scientific career has been dedicated to the sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca, which he co-directs. He is the scientific director of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos.

He has received numerous awards, including: Prince of Asturias for Scientific and Technical Research; Castile and León; Community of Madrid; Sent Soví; Sociedad Geográfica Española; Ciudad de Alcalá; COSCE a la Difusión de la Ciencia; Cruz del Mérito Medioambiental de España; Medalla de Plata de la Comunidad de Madrid; GHR von Koenigswald Lecture (Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt); “Drago de Oro” from the Ateneo de Cádiz; Zilarrerezko Luma from the Bilbao Book Fair.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the Board of Directors of the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine in Paris, the Real Academia de Doctores de España, and the Reales Academias de Medicina de Zaragoza y de Andalucía Oriental.

He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Burgos, Polytechnic of Valencia and Zaragoza.

He has written hundreds of scientific publications, including eight papers in Science and ten in Nature. He has directed twenty-one doctoral theses.

His popular science books have been translated into multiple languages: Chosen species: the long march of human evolution, Neanderthal's necklace: in search of the first thinkers, Los aborígenes, Al otro lado de la niebla, Amalur. Green fire: the life force, from the atom to the mind, El reloj de Mr. Darwin, El primer viaje de nuestra vida, Breve historia de la Tierra con nosotros dentro, El sello indeleble, Vida. La gran historia, Life as told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal, La muerte contada por un sapiens a un neandertal and Nuestro cuerpo.

Other activities involving the participant:

If I were a Neanderthal

Leonardo López Luján

Es arqueólogo. Director del Proyecto Templo Mayor desde 1991, ha dedicado su vida al estudio de la política, la religión y el arte de las sociedades prehispánicas del centro de México, y a la historia de la arqueología en este país. Es miembro de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, la Academia Mexicana de la Historia y la British Academy, así como miembro honorario de la Academia Estadounidense de las Artes y las Ciencias. En 2015 recibió el Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Award. Ingresó a El Colegio Nacional el 15 de marzo de 2019.

Other activities involving the participant:

Journey to the origins of Mexican archeology