Teresa Rodrigo Anoro

On 28 December 1956, Teresa Rodrigo Anoro was born in the village of Almacelles. She was the youngest of four sisters and decided to study physics at the Universidad de Zaragoza. She combined her studies with feminist activism, participating in feminist assemblies and marches. In 1980 she graduated and moved to Madrid, where five years later, in 1985, she obtained her doctorate under the supervision of Antonio Ferrando, at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and CIEMAT, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, also located in the capital. There, she continues her more mature and stronger feminist activism.

In 1988 she moved to Geneva after obtaining a postdoctoral fellowship from CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), the European particle physics laboratory. She continued this scholarship until 1990, focusing her work on the UA1 experiment, where she participated in the design of a calorimeter and took her first steps in the search for the top quark, the sixth and last elemental particle of matter according to the standard model. Her impeccable work at CERN gave her the opportunity to work as an associate scientist in 1990 on the CDF experiment at the American laboratory Fermilab.

In 1994 Teresa Rodrigo began her career in Cantabria, to occupy the position of full professor at the University of the city, also taking part in the creation of Universidad de Cantabria and CSIC. That same year, IFCA joined CERN's CMS experiment, where she led the development of an alignment detector for muon reconstruction.

The culmination of her work at Fermilab came in 1995 with her participation in the discovery of the top quark, the last great discovery in particle physics of the 20th century. She did this by analysing collisions produced by the Tevatron accelerator and detected by the CDF experiment. Thanks to her tenacity, in 1999 IFCA became the first Spanish institute to participate in an experiment of Fermilab, the American institute. In 2002 Teresa Rodrigo became a professor at the University, being one of the few Spanish women to reach the elite in her field.

Thanks to her leadership qualities, Teresa Rodrigo is elected president of the CMS Collaboration Board and member of the CMS Management Board. CERN's board of directors appointed her as a member of the institution's Scientific Policy Committee between 2012 and 2017, being the first Spanish woman on this body.

In 2012 and under the direction of Teresa Rodrigo, the IFCA Particle Physics group participates in the discovery of the Higgs boson. After 50 years of research and thanks to the joint work of 3,000 people in the CMS experiment, and the same number in the ATLAS experiment, this fundamental particle has been found to better understand the Universe. For more than 15 years Teresa will coordinate the IFCA particle group at CMS, and in 2016 she succeeds in becoming the first director of the Institute, earning the María de Maeztu seal of excellence.

One of the last challenges facing Teresa is to open, in 2018, a new line of research on the search for dark matter particles in the underground experiment DAMIC-M. A year later, in 2019, she was forced to reduce her scientific activity due to health problems until she passed away on 21 April 2020.

Scientific and Technological Contributions

Teresa made very relevant contributions in the field of High Energy Physics. Noting her crucial role at CERN and Fermilab, which demonstrated the existence of the Higgs boson in the LHC accelerator, and of the top quark in the Tevatron accelerator; her support for advances in computing and data processing, her incessant work, her effort capacity, her leadership abilities, her vocation as a feminist and also as a teacher, have been the contributions of Teresa Rodrigo. In addition, at the end of her career she was challenged to investigate dark matter, despite her illness.

Her work with students is also relevant, awakening the scientific vocation of many students towards particle physics, and opening the doors of Fermilab and CERN to so many Spanish researchers.

In addition, Teresa Rodrigo combined her dedication to science with her commitment to equality, women's rights and feminist activism. The shelves of her private library were littered with publications on the work of women scientists, gender issues and feminism.

National and international recognition

Teresa has been awarded with a large number of distinctions and awards. Among her recognitions, in 2016 she won the First Prize Julio Peláez to Pioneers of the Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences, with which Teresa is recognized for her work in cutting-edge experiments in the field of elementary particles. And that same year she joined the committee of the Princess of Asturias Awards.

In 2018, another of the most relevant recognitions of her career came, when she was named honorary doctorate by the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, along with soprano Ainhoa Arteta, as a "reference for women", and, in the words of the then vice-chancellor of the UIMP, Emilio Lora-Tamayo, "a proof that, regardless of any other quota or consideration, dedication and value are recognized when excellence shines in them." In 2019 he received the Silver Medal of the University of Cantabria, in recognition of her career.

She has been recognized at CERN with her appointment as Chair of the CMS Collaboration Council and appointed member of the Board of Directors of the Center's Scientific Policy Committee.