Justiniano Casas Peláez

His field of scientific activity was mass spectrometry, separation of stable isotopes and optics.

From 1934 to 1954 he taught at various levels (national teacher, school teacher, assistant lecturer) and started doing research at the CSIC (Fellow of the Daza de Valdes Institute, and a research assistant at the Torres Quevedo Institute).

From 1954 until his retirement in 1985 he was Professor of Optics at the Department of Applied Physics, University of Zaragoza. He remained associated with this institution throughout his professional and academic life, being Dean of the Faculty of Sciences (1967-1968) and later Rector of the University (1968-1972). In April 1986 he became professor emeritus of Applied Physics.

His publications include over a hundred articles and a manual of optics used for teaching on many university courses.

He was a member of various scientific institutions: corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences (1969); Spanish Optical Society, of which he was President (1981-1984); Academy of Sciences of Zaragoza (1956), an institution he was president of between 1975 and 1984; and the Academy of Medicine of Zaragoza.

He held a number of awards: Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise (1969), National Physics Prize, Aragón Prize for Scientific and Technical Research (1989) and Gold Medal from the University of Zaragoza (1998).