Prize Winners

Madrid, 1961. Doctor of Chemical Sciences. Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid and at IMDEA Nanoscience.A pioneer in establishing the theoretical foundations of a new scientific discipline, attochemistry, which involves observing and manipulating the movement of electrons in atoms and molecules on their natural time scale, the attosecond (10⁻¹⁸ seconds), thereby controlling the chemical properties of substances and modifying their natural behaviour.This discipline, which has become established over the last 6–7 years, has paved the way for a new branch of chemistry in which the synthesis of new compounds would be possible through reactions that do not follow conventional patterns.His research in attochemistry represented the first attempt to coordinate, at an international level, technologies based on the use of attosecond pulses, lasers and free electrons in physics, chemistry and biology.It is important to emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of Professor Martín’s research, which has led him to significant discoveries in various fields: laser physics, physical chemistry, quantum chemistry, atomic and molecular physics,surface physics, computational modelling, organic and inorganic chemistry, accelerator physics and biophysics. He is the recipient of the King Juan Carlos I Research Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2001, and the Spanish Chemical Society Prize in Physical Chemistry in 2010. He has nearly 400 publications in the leading international journals in his field and his H-index is 44 (29 since 2012). He has been invited to participate in the most important international conferences and his research work has attracted significant funding from the European Union over the last 10 years, including, amongst others, an ERC Advanced Grant, which has enabled him to establish what is perhaps the leading research group in Europe in the field of ‘Theoretical Attochemistry’.

The Jury of the Rei Jaume I Prizes for Basic Research has unanimously decided to award the 2017 Prize to Dr Martín for founding the field of theoretical actochemistry, which makes it possible to calculate the movement of electrons and, consequently, to predict chemical reactions.

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