Roberto Carlos Salvarezza (born 30 January 1952) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

biochemist, researcher and politician. He was Argentina's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation from 2019 to 2021, in the cabinet of President

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, and academic who served as President of Argentina from 2019 to 2023. He was also the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 2003 to 2008. His tenure as Cabin ...

. Salvarezza was president of the

National Scientific and Technical Research Council The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (, CONICET) is an Argentina, Argentine Government of Argentina, government agency which directs and co-ordinates most of the scientific and technical research done in List of universities i ...

(CONICET) from 2012 to 2015, and then served as a member of the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

from 2015 to 2019 representing

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, sitting in the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were elected as representatives ...

bloc.

Early life and education

Roberto Carlos Salvarezza was born on 30 January 1952 in Lanús Oeste, in the southern side of the

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...

conurbation in

. He attended high school at the prestigious

Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (''National School of Buenos Aires'') is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European ''gymnasium'' it provides a free educatio ...

, and later finished his biochemistry ''

licenciatura A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. The Licentiate (Pontifical Degree) is a post graduate degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universit ...

'' at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

(UBA) in 1977. In 1981 he finished his PhD in the same university; his dissertation was titled "The microbiological corrosion of aluminium and alloys in water-combustion systems" ().

Academic work

In the late 1980s he specialized his work on new

scanning electron microscope A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that ...

technologies at the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid (; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious univ ...

; from then on his specialty was

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

. In 1992 he founded the Nanoscopy Laboratory of the Theoretical and Applied Physicochemical Research (; INIFTA) at the

National University of La Plata The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

. He worked as director of said laboratory and also of the INIFTA. Throughout his career, Salvarezza has authored over 300 publications. In April 2012 he was designated president of the

by then-

Minister of Science Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Lino Barañao Lino Barañao (born 28 December 1953) is an Argentine chemist and politician. He was Minister of Science, Technology and Innovative Production of Argentina from 2007 to 2019, under Presidents Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Mauricio Macri. Bi ...

. Salvarezza resigned from the post in 2015 upon the ascension of

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

to the

presidency of Argentina A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

, citing Macri's intended scientific policy as his main reason. In July 2016, Salvarezza was elected representative of the Exact and Natural Sciences area in the CONICET directory, but his designation was not approved by the government in an unprecedented move. This caused controversy among the scientific community, wherein it was decried as "political discrimination". Salvarezza received the backing of the Directive Council of the UBA

Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences The Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (''Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales''; FCEN), commonly and informally known as Exactas, is the natural science school of the University of Buenos Aires, the largest university in Argentina. It oc ...

, the

World Federation of Scientific Workers The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) is an international federation of scientific associations. It is an NGO in official partnership with Unesco. Its goal is to be involved internationally in all aspects of the role of science, the ...

and the CyTa group.

Political career

In June 2017 Salvarezza was selected to go second in the

Citizen's Unity Citizen's Unity () was a centre-left Kirchnerist political coalition in Argentina for the 2017 legislative elections led by the former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. This coalition existed in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Catama ...

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

candidates party list in

in the 2017 legislative election, following Fernanda Vallejos. The list received 37% of the votes, second to the

Cambiemos (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

list, but it secured enough votes for Salvarezza to be elected for the 2017–2021 term. In December 2019, Salvarezza was appointed Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation by newly elected president

, succeeding Barañao. The Ministry had been downgraded to a secretariat during the presidency of

, but it was restored to its ministerial status with Salvarezza's appointment. He was replaced with

Daniel Filmus Daniel Fernando Filmus (; born June 3, 1955) is an Argentine politician and academic, who served as the country's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, from 2021 to 2023. Filmus formerly served as a National Senator for the City of B ...

on 20 September 2021 as part of a cabinet reshuffle, following the government's poor showings in the 2021 legislative primary elections.

References

External links

*
Official website of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salvarezza, Roberto 1952 births Living people Argentine biochemists Argentine people of Italian descent Alberto Fernández administration cabinet members People from Lanús Government ministers of Argentina University of Buenos Aires alumni Academic staff of the National University of La Plata Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Argentine deputies 2017–2019