Returning Home, Looking Forward
Former Centre member Sebastian Cespedes reflects on returning to Chile and on a scientific connection with ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ that reaches back more than sixty years.
A few months ago, I left ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and moved back home, where I started a new position as Assistant Professor.
The transition has not been completely easy. There are many new responsibilities that come with starting a permanent academic job, from teaching and supervising students to getting used to a different university system. At the same time, it has been very rewarding to return and feel that I can contribute directly to the community where I first studied physics.
The theoretical cosmology community has grown steadily over the last few years, and this felt like a good moment to come back. There is now a very active group of researchers working on cosmology and related areas, with strong international connections. I wanted to be part of that growth, not only through research, but also by helping to train younger researchers and future physics teachers. More broadly, the country has developed an increasingly visible role in science across Latin America, and it feels important to contribute to strengthening that position from within.
One thing I found particularly interesting after returning is that there is actually a long history connecting ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ with the Chilean physics community. One of the key figures in the early development of modern physics in Chile was Igor Saavedra, who worked as a postdoctoral researcher at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ in the late 1950s, during the early days of Abdus Salam’s group.
More than sixty years later, I have followed a similar path, returning from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ to the same department that Saavedra helped build.
There is a story that Saavedra was offered the possibility of staying at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ in a permanent position, but decided instead to return to Chile. Whatever the exact details, what followed is clear: he became one of the most important figures in the development of physics in the country and helped establish the Department of Physics that I have now joined.
His contribution went far beyond one department. Saavedra was part of the generation that helped build much of the scientific structure that Chile has today. He contributed to the creation of iinstitutions, to the training of new scientists, and to establishing a culture in which research could develop more strongly. That work helped Chile become one of the most important scientific hubs in Latin America, particularly in areas such as astronomy and physics, and created opportunities that have benefited researchers well beyond the country itself.
The circumstances are very different, but the underlying idea of bringing experience back home and helping strengthen the local scientific community feels unexpectedly familiar.
I find that connection quite striking. More than sixty years later, I have followed a similar path, returning from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ to the same department that Saavedra helped build. The circumstances are very different, but the underlying idea of bringing experience back home and helping strengthen the local scientific community feels unexpectedly familiar.