Emeritus parasitologist Basilio Valladares, science journalist Carmen del Puerto, and physics professor Miguel Hernandez They became the first beneficiaries of I Villa de La Orotava Science Fair Awards.
The three Canary Islands were honored for their steadfast commitment to publishing and scientific research. This award comes after two decades of celebrating the La Orotava Science Fair, which has become the most important activity in Scientific publishing From the archipelago.
Its twenty-year continuous presence and the large number of participating institutions and audiences reflect the success of each edition. Thus, to celebrate this twentieth edition – which will be celebrated on the 12th Sunday – it was decided to create these awards, thus also to thank the work of people and institutions that work every day to bring science closer to citizens and put it into practice. Islands are at the center of international science. This new call for awards is like no other in Canary Islands society, so it fills a historical void.
Every year, the organization of the science fair, in collaboration with the City Council of La Orotava, will award three prizes that will not be awarded a monetary amount but a gift. The categories awarded are: Research Award; Publication Award and Teaching Award.
In this first edition, the 2023 Research Prize went to Basilio Valladares Hernández (Tacoronte, 1947), one of the most famous Spanish scholars. He is a professor of parasitology at the University of La Laguna, holds a diploma in health and specializes in clinical analysis. Valladares founded the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, the alma mater of the Africa Campus.
Carmen del Puerto Varela received the 2023 Publication Prize (Madrid, 1961). He has been writing about astronomy for more than three decades. This doctor of information sciences and specialist journalist combines her work at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) with a unique literary career.
The 2023 Teaching Award went to Miguel Hernández González, a professor of physics who has developed an impressive career in publishing and research in the history of science at the Canarian Orotava History of Science Foundation, where he has published numerous works.
