Science

Scientist, best-selling author, speaker and consultant on new perspectives on technology and the future. He is the author of the novel «The Postman» (filmed in 1997 in Portugal as "The Postman: O Mensageiro») and the author of the Hugo Award-winning novels «Startide Rising and The Uplift War», as well as many others. He is a leading commentator and speaker on contemporary trends and his non-fiction book «The Transparent Society» was awarded the Freedom of Speech Award by the American Library Association. His latest novel, «Existence» explores a big question: there are billions of planets capable of supporting life. So where is everyone? The book is a reflection on questions such as: how will we build the days and years to come – and how will we be shaped by the future?


Last updated: June 2015

She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Genspace, a non-profit community laboratory dedicated to promoting science and access to biotechnology for the public. Her efforts to make Genspace a centre for entrepreneurship, innovation and citizen science have been documented by the media in publications such as Nature Medicine, Science, Discover Magazine, Wired, Make, BBC News, Dan Rather Reports, PBS News Hour, The Discovery Channel and The New York Times. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from New York University, worked for several years in the biotechnology industry and is currently Adjunct Professor at New York Medical College, Scientist-in-Residence at the School of Visual Arts, and Visiting Professor at The Cooper Union. She frequently mentors teams participating in DNA-based scientific competitions, such as iGEM and the Urban Barcode Project.

Last updated: June 2015

Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST).
His primary focus is engineering sciences and technologies, with a particular interest in computer engineering, especially robotics and artificial intelligence.
He has published over 200 articles in journals, book chapters and scientific conferences. He is co-author of two books. He has received seven awards and honourable mentions.
He completed his Bachelor's and pre-Bologna Master's Degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at IST. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA.

An astrobiologist and international expert on the origin and evolution of life in the universe, she is Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), where she created Portugal’s first astrobiology and chemistry of the cosmos research department. She is also Co-Director of the MIT-Portugal programme, a partnership between IST and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With a PhD from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, she has dedicated herself to studying the potential contribution of organic compounds present in meteorites and comets to the origin of life on Earth and searching for signs of life on Mars, the moons of the Solar System and extrasolar planets. She has participated in several space missions as a NASA Guest Scientist (2005/6), taught at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis in France and was Researcher at Imperial College in London between 2009 and 2017. She currently collaborates on various European Space Agency missions and is part of the national science team for the Japanese Hayabusa2 space mission. A member of the Committee of the Astrobiology Society of Great Britain and national representative of the Executive Committee of the European Astrobiology Association, she was appointed an Officer of the Military Order of Sant'Iago de Espada (2015).

Last updated: November 2019

Holder of the Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York, he has taught at CUNY School, Harvard and Princeton for several decades. He has specialised in Einstein's unified field theory (which he has been trying to complete) and in predicting trends in business, medicine, financial dynamics and our way of life in general. Co-author of string theory, Kaku's greatest ambition is to make Einstein's dream come true: to find a «theory of everything» that encapsulates all the physical laws of the universe. His many books include «The Future of Humanity», «Cyberspace», «The Future of the Mind», «The Physics of the Future» and «The Physics of the Impossible», all of which have been huge commercial successes . He regularly participates in television programmes and moderates science programmes on television and radio. The public face of the Science Channel, Michio Kaku also presented the BBC’s Visions of the Future, a documentary about the future of science, and a 12-part science series based on his best-selling book «The Physics of the Impossible», as well as regularly appearing on Fox News programmes. His articles have appeared in Time, New Scientist Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post.

A journalist, he was Director of News at RTP and TVI, simultaneously editing and presenting Telejornal (RTP) and Jornal das 8 (TVI). He began his career in radio and, in 1992, was part of the team that founded the first private television station in Portugal, SIC, where he presented Jornal da Noite. He taught at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social and co-coordinated the Postgraduate Course in Journalism at ISCTE/Media Capital. At the invitation of the President of the Republic, he inaugurated the programme «Journalists in Belém Palace» in 2018.

Researcher in science and environmental communication at MARE – Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. He has a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a Master's Degree in Applied Ecology and Conservation from the University of Kent and a degree in biology from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

A developmental and evolutionary biologist, he is a scientist, teacher, author of books on science and science communication and film producer. He directs the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science Education Department and the HHMI Tangled Bank Studio. He is Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland and Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin. He was awarded the Rockefeller University's Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science in 2016.

Last updated: April 2021

He graduated from, obtained his doctorate and taught at the Instituto Superior Técnico (1971-97). In 1998, he became Full Professor at the Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology (ITQB-Nova) where, now retired, he still runs a laboratory. He was a NATO fellow at Oxford University (UK) and an A. v. Humboldt Foundation fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Coal Research and the Technical University of Munich, both in Germany. His research focuses on the application of organometallic chemistry and inorganic chemistry to catalysis and medicine. Co-founder of a start-up dedicated to discovering carbon, monoxide-based drugs for treating inflammatory diseases. Co-author of around 220 scientific articles and patents.

Last updated: November 2018

He was Professor of Physical Chemistry at Oxford University from 1965 until his retirement in 2007. His research focused on theoretical chemistry and magnetic resonance, but his interest eventually turned to writing. He published over 70 books, including university textbooks and science books for the general public. His best-known book for general readers is Atkins’ «Physical Chemistry», which is now in its eleventh edition and used all over the world. Atkins continues to give lectures and is an active proponent of various humanist and secular associations. In 2016, he received an award from the American Chemical Society for communicating chemistry to the public.

Last updated: November 2018