Born in Barcelona (Spain) on January 27, 1934. Spanish nationality. Married, father of three children.

MAIN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

1956 Degree in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid. Special Award.

1958 Doctorate in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid. Special Award.

1963-1973 Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada.

1966-1967 Visiting Professor at the laboratory of Professor H. A. Krebs, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Appointed Senior Fellow of Trinity College.

1967-1968 Director of the Interfaculty Department of Pharmacy at the University of Granada.

1968-1972 Rector of the University of Granada (from 1972, Honorary Rector).

1973 Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

1974-1975 Undersecretary of Education and Science.

1974-1978 President of the Advisory Commission on Scientific and Technical Research of the Presidency of the Spanish Government.

1974-1978 Director of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, Autonomous University of Madrid.

1976-1977 Member of the UNESCO Advisory Committee on the “Scientific Research and Human Needs” program (Moscow, 1976; Paris, 1977).

1976-1978 Member of the Advisory Committee of the UNESCO European Center for Higher Education (CEPES) in Bucharest (Romania).

1976-1979 Member of the Royal Board of Trustees for Special Education.

1977-1978 Member of the Spanish Parliament. Chairman of the Education and Science Committee of the Congress of Deputies.

1978-1981 Deputy Director-General of UNESCO.

1980-1981 Representative of the Director-General of UNESCO on the Council of the United Nations University, Tokyo (Japan).

1981-1982 Minister of Education and Science.

1981 Vice-President of the Scientific Committee of the Ramón Areces Foundation.

1983-1987 Director of the Institute of Human Sciences (Madrid).

1983-1987 Scientific President of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center.

1987 Spanish Member of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Director-General of UNESCO; re-elected for a second term on November 6, 1993.

1996 Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

1999-2000 Director of Education for a Culture of Peace at the Regional Ministry of Education of the Community of Madrid.

MEMBER OF THE FOLLOWING ACADEMIES AND ASSOCIATIONS:

Spanish Society of Biochemistry (1964-). (President from 1970 to 1974).

French Society of Biological Chemistry (1965-).

American Chemical Society (1965-).

American Association for the Advancement of Science (1965-).

Biochemical Society (United Kingdom) (1966-).

Royal Spanish Academy of Pharmacy (1975-).

International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) (1980-).

Club of Rome (1981-).

European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters (Founding Member) (1981-).

French Academy of Pharmacy (1984-).

International Cell Research Organization (ICRO) (1984-).

World Academy of Art and Science (1985-). Signatory to the Seville Manifesto on Violence (1986).

Issyk-Kul Forum (Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union) (Founding Member) (1986-).

Ateneo Veneto (Italy) (1990-).

Royal Society of Chemistry (United Kingdom) (1991-).

Philippine Academy of Language (1991-). National Academy of Sciences of Bolivia (1992-).

Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Spain) (1992-). Argentine Academy of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (1992-).

European Academy (1993-).

American Academy of Microbiology (1994-).

SCIENTIFIC AND RESEARCH ACTIVITY:

Doctoral thesis supervised by Prof. Ángel Santos Ruiz. Student in the first course on Enzymology taught by Prof. Alberto Sols (1957). Stay at the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner Hans A. Krebs in Oxford, United Kingdom (1966-1967).

Supervision and guidance of more than forty doctoral theses. His disciples include more than a dozen professors of biochemistry.

Principal investigator and promoter of numerous research projects.

He has published more than 80 scientific articles in specialized journals and numerous popular works, mainly on brain metabolism, perinatal biochemistry and molecular pathology of the newborn, enzymopathies, and receptoropathies.

Development and implementation, on a pilot scale and subsequently on a national scale, of the National Plan for the Prevention of Childhood Subnormality (1967) for the early detection of metabolic disorders.

Founder, together with Prof. Antonio García Bellido, David Vázquez, and Eladio Viñuela, of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center of the Spanish National Research Council-Autonomous University of Madrid.

Director (1974-1978) and Scientific President (1983-1987) of the Molecular Biology Center.

DISTINCTIONS:

Honorary Doctorate from several universities.

Honorary Doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (1990).

Decorations from various countries.