He holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Goethe University in Germany and he is a full professor of Physics at the University of Coimbra (UC), where he has held various management positions. He founded and directed the Centre for Computational Physics, where he installed the largest and fastest Portuguese supercomputer for scientific calculation. He is the director of UC's Rómulo Ciência Viva Centre and one of Portugal's most important science communicators, with books, textbooks and hundreds of articles published. He has lectured at universities in Brazil and the USA and he was scientific coordinator of the "Knowledge" area of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos and a member of the Scientific Council of the Foundation for Science and Technology. He chaired the regional board of the Portuguese Physics Society, through which he promoted scientific experimentation activities for school laboratories, created the "Mocho" portal for teaching and promoting science and was a consultant for television programmes. He is a member of the International Forum of Portuguese Researchers. Distinguished with the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator and the Golden Globe for Merit and Excellence in Science (2005), he also received the Ciência Viva Grand Prize (2017) and the José Mariano Gago Award from SPA (2018).

Last updated: November 2019