On Friday CAF-Elhuyar Awards were awarded on Friday

2004/01/19 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Sariak

X. Winners of the CAF-Elhuyar Awards.

Scholarship for Kepa Altonaga

The scholarship for the writing of the informative book has been granted by the biologist and disseminator Kepa Altonaga, Etxepare, doctor of Aldune. The jury unanimously decided that the project was worthy of the prize, since "the sample and the explanation of the work, besides being round, the proposal becomes attractive from the same starting point. It invites us to know in depth a character that has had a prominent place in our history, but so far quite unknown. And not only that: taking advantage of the person's trajectory and thought, in the book we will be given some general aspects of science, the history of Euskal Herria of the time and many others, all very interesting". In the opinion of the jury, Kepare's work will be complete, rich and entertaining.

Kepa Altonaga has received a scholarship to write an informative book

In view of the trajectory of Kepa Altonaga, it does not seem that the announcement will fail, since it has extensive experience in scientific disclosure. He has already written two outreach books about unknown and interesting characters. However, on this occasion he wanted to return to his former acquaintance, the doctor and writer Jean Etxepare. Peter believes that this will be the most difficult part of the three books and, in principle, one might think that it is more interesting than the scientific part of Etxepare. "With Etxepare, cultivating the character, there is danger of not making a very natural book. And if they touch on several topics I have in mind, Etxepare himself may be eclipsed in the book."

Pain in meanders wins in the articles section

As for outreach articles, the work of biologists Oihana Izaguirre and Oihane Lakar has received the first prize, "because it combines with mastery how to monitor the health status of our rivers, our treasures of our land, how to keep track of our health."

OIhana Izaguirre and Oihane Lakar won the first prize in the artiukulo category.

The work that has analyzed the ecology of rivers has been titled Meandroen mine. In addition to describing what is a healthy river, he has realized the situation in Euskal Herria and the work carried out in the development of a methodology that allows systematically measuring the state of the rivers. The development of these methodologies will be of great importance for compliance with the European Water Directive. According to the norm, European rivers must be in good ecological condition by 2015 and, given the current situation of ours, "their compliance would be sufficient work for all biologists of the Basque Country".

The second prize went to Jazz Arima, from Replicante. Aitzol Ezeiza, Karmele López de Ipiña and Montxo López de Ipiña have analyzed the paths that are being followed to develop the intelligence and feeling of computers and have opened a box office for the future. The jury valued the current issue, the quality of the scientific content, the style of the writing used and the simple and comprehensive presentation of a hard and heavy topic.

The third prize has been awarded by the jury to pleasure that can become a necessity. The Jury considers that the article is a good reflection of the aspects and aspects of interest related to caffeine, such as historical aspects, physiological mechanisms of influence and all situations of dependence and abstinence that derive from it. Aitziber Mendiguren, Luis F. Callado, and Joseba Pineda.

Special prize under 25 for Gorka Azkun

Gorka Azkun has won the Izarren Energia special award for young communicators for another year. Physics lover Gorka has already received a CAF-Elhuyar award three times for his ability to easily explain difficult issues. On this occasion he has addressed nuclear fusion, a current issue. He explained what are the intentions to carry out and exploit in a controlled way the reaction that occurs in the stars, explaining first the basis of the nuclear fusion, to publicize the latest advances of the international project ITER. The award has been "an elegant article", "easy to read, but without losing the accuracy of the subject".

No boredom

Nineteen articles have been disputed this year at the CAF-Elhuyar awards, and according to the jury, it has been a wide variety of topics and ways to address them. They say that they have not been bored, and that although not all the works have been completely satisfied, they have stressed that in general the works have been of great quality.

The jury is composed of five people: Koldo Nuñez-Betelu, PhD in Geology and Scientific Disseminator; Pili Calzada, Journalist and Scientific Disseminator; Mikel Álvarez, Physician and General Director of the Hospital of Basurto; Jesús Ugalde: , Professor of Chemistry and Euskadi Research Award this year; and Julián Florez, Doctor of Industrial Engineering, professor at the University of Navarra and manager of the VICOMTech research center.