José Mariano Gago#

Obituary, Academia Europaea
Obituary, EuroScience
Homage to Prof. José Mariano Gago

Biography#

Professor José Mariano Gago is an experimental high energy physicist and a Professor at IST (Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon). He graduated at IST and obtained a PhD in Physics at École Polytechnique and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris. He worked as a researcher at the European Organisation for Nuclear Physics (CERN), Geneva, and in Portugal’s Laboratory for Particle Physics (LIP) that he created and currently chairs.

Former Minister of Portugal, in charge of Science and Technology, Information Society and Higher Education (1995-2002 and 2005-2011), he launched the Ciência Viva movement to promote S&T culture and S&T in society. He was responsible for the reform of Higher Education and for the policies leading to the fast development of Science and Technology in Portugal. As Portuguese EU presidency (2000), he prepared, along with the European Commission, the Lisbon Strategy for the European Research Area and for the Information Society in Europe. Prof. Gago has also prepared, with UNESCO, a new initiative for the advanced training of scientists from developing countries, Ciência Global.

He chaired the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE) and campaigned for the creation of the European Research Council. Prof. Gago was the first President of the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) in Geneva and is a member of IRGC Board. He is a member of the Board of INSERM (France), a policy advisor to the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO), a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cyprus Institute, and a member of the Governing Board of Euroscience. He is special advisor to the European Space Agency (ESA) Director-General. He is a member of the Academia Europaea and was elected Honorary Member of the European Physical Society.