Martin Guzman: founder of the faculty

2000/09/01 Kortabarria Olabarria, Beñardo - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Kimika
• Biografiak
• Unibertsitateak

When talking about the history of the Faculty of Chemistry it is necessary to talk about Martin Guzman, the first dean of the faculty who structured the faculty and organized it as he thought.

Most of Gipuzkoa's faculties have been created quite rarely and chemistry is no exception. Around 1968-69 the Gipuzkoa Chamber of Commerce commissioned 6 Matra 6 companies to analyze which areas of Gipuzkoa would be needed in the future. They were presented in the study of microelectronics, petrochemistry, etc. In view of this, the Chamber of Commerce created a commission with the aim of creating a Higher School of Petrochemistry. At one point, the interests of this commission and the patronage that was creating the faculty in Gipuzkoa came together to do something related to petrochemistry. After the first formalities, the team realized that if they did something they would have to make a fairly standard school, which did not allow them to organize anything special.

Thus, the University of Valladolid, which was responsible for the faculties of Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, was asked to authorize a school related to science and petrochemistry. The rector of the University of Valladolid saw with good eyes the idea and gave some kind of support, while the Provincial was willing to put money. So, you could actually intend.

He started looking for people and Martín Guzmán arrived in San Sebastián. He was from Madrid, but his wife was from San Sebastian and had a friend in Valladolid, so he came here. He came with the position of "Dean Commissioner", that is, with the mission of carrying the dean and organizing the faculty. Martin Guzman studied in Madrid and his thesis at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the CSIC. Once there, in the Institute itself the unit of polymers was constituted, which later would be the Institute of Plastics and Rubber of the CSIC. Martin Guzman knew the whole process. In the 1950s he completed his second doctoral thesis in Birminghan, England. He returned to Madrid, to the CSIC, and from there he went to the university, to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Then he came to Donostia.

Until his arrival, it seemed that the school was going to be something that could have to do with petrochemistry, which dealt with general chemistry, and when Martín Guzmán arrived things changed course. He tried to bring all the teachers here to the field of polymers to prepare them. He differentiated existing specialties within polymers and within the faculty he created several sections, all of them in the field of polymers. Around him he had teachers between 24 and 25 years old, so he was able to orient his work towards polymers. Based on the division of polymers, he organized the faculty. It was correct, because the current faculty has developed around this base, the only one specialized in polymers throughout the State and the one that has more and more weight within the UPV/EHU. Martin Guzman served as dean for six years until 1981. He continued to teach and research until his retirement in the 1989-90 year. The following year, one day in August, as usual, he swam from the beach to the island of Santa Clara. When he reached the beach he suffered a heart attack and there he was killed the man who turned him into the Faculty of Chemistry of San Sebastian.