Renán Arcadio Poveda Ricalde (15 July 1930 – 24 March 2022Fallece a los 91 años el astrónomo mexicano Arcadio Poveda Ricalde
) was a Mexican prominent

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

who developed a method to calculate the mass of

elliptical galaxies An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hubble sequence and 1936 work ''The Re ...

. He received Mexico's National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1975, chaired its National Astronomical Observatory from 1968 to 1980 and was elected to The National College in 1989. Poveda was born in Mérida,

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

. He initially enrolled at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

but ended up graduating with both a Bachelor of Arts degree (1953) and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

(1956) from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Afterward, he moved back to Mexico and enrolled at the Institute of Astronomy of the National Autonomous University, where he has worked as a researcher since 1956. As a visiting scholar, he has lectured at the Institute of Astrophysics in France (

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

, 1963),

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(1967),

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...

(1981–82, 1983–84), and at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

(1982–83). A public

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

in his native Mérida, is named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poveda Ricalde, Arcadio 1930 births 2022 deaths Mexican astronomers Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico) Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico People from Mérida, Yucatán 20th-century Mexican scientists 20th-century astronomers National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni