Profiles

The moon is often understood in two very different ways. The more romantic ones usually think in a magic moon with hidden secrets; another, that the moon even affects our mood and health. There is also a less romantic vision and more realistic one. Ignasi Casanova is an expert on this more ‘scientific’ moon.

Casanova, who for a time was doing research for NASA, thinks that Neil Armstrong got to the Moon in 1969, and he doesn’t think that the moonstone he has personally touched should be false. He is convinced it is real and in fact he can afford it. His career gives him sufficient authority to be able to give his opinion with foundation about this controversial subject. He graduated in Geology and did a Master of nuclear engineering at the University of Barcelona. He later received a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the University of New Mexico, in the United States, a country where he stayed 10 years to do research on space. Specifically, he was working in the National Laboratory of Los Álamos, at the Johnson Space Centre of NASA and at the University of Chicago.

He got the National Research Council Award from the United States because of his work on chemical evolution of the terrestrial planets in early stages of formation.

In reference to his work, the collaboration with the European mission to the Moon stands out (SMART-1). The aim of the project is to make the first complete map of the chemistry of this natural satellite, provide data to better understand where it comes from and try to identify the future use of natural resources that help assist in the establishment of scientific bases and possible permanent settlements on the moon.

Ignasi Casanova is also an expert in nanotechnology. He travels from the biggest to the smallest. For what is in-between, he does not know. According to the researcher, this is the fun and magic about scientific knowledge. If it is about doing research and findings, we’d better leave it up to him then.

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