Antonio García-Bellido y García de Diego

Premio México de Ciencia y Tecnología

2006

He was born in 1936 in Madrid, son of historian Antonio Garcia y Bellido, was a disciple and good friend of Severo Ochoa. He is one of the most widely quoted and internationally recognized Spanish scientists and creator of important work in the field of genetic development and cellular differentiation.

One of his most important contributions is his approach to explain the paradox that, beginning with a single cell, other cells are formed in successive divisions and are different in their configuration and function. These cells later group themselves in very precise structures, giving way to the various tissues and organs. His work has opened the way to understand the genetic mechanism of differentiation and morphogenesis of live beings.

He is also recognized for actively divulging his knowledge, has been invited as a professor by numerous universities and has delivered hundreds of conferences around the world. He has tutored 22 doctoral dissertations and has 160 publications in refereed journals and books.

He studied Biological Science at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid [Complutense University of Madrid], where he graduated in 1958, and from then on became part of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) [High Council of Scientific Research], thanks to a scholarship awarded for his high academic performance. In 1962 he obtained his PHD in Science at the Universidad Complutense [Complutense University] of Madrid with his doctoral dissertation “Phenogenetics of the locus “Drosophila melanogaster furrowed (fw)”. Later, he underwent prolonged stays at the universities of Cambridge and Zurich, as well as in Cal Tech in California.

Research Professor of the CSIC since 1974, he has been the head of the Instituto de Genética [Genetics Institute] and the Centro de Biología Molecular [Center of Molecular Biology], and at present he is Profesor Vinculado Ad Honorem [Attached Professor Ad Honorem], and heads the Laboratorio de Genética del Desarrollo [Genetics of Development Laboratory] at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa [Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center] in Madrid.

García Bellido is the main protagonist of Spain’s important school of Biology of the Development, as he has been a pioneer and preeminent in exploring an “apogenetic” notion of Development: the genoma, active in individual cells, determines a specific cellular behavior which, in turn, determines the organization of these cells into supracellular systems, patterns, forms and size of the organs.

He has received important academic and honorary awards such as:  the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Investigación Científica y Técnica [Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research] in 1984; Premio Leopoldo Mayer de L’Academie des Sciences de Paris [Leopoldo Mayer Award from the Academy of Sciences of Paris]; Premio Nacional a la invención de la Fundación García Cabrizo [National Invention Award of the García Cabrizo Foundation]; Premio Nacional de Investigación Ramón y Cajal [Ramón y Cajal National Research Award]; Cátedra Severo Ochoa en Biología [Severo Ochoa Chair in Biology]; Premio de Investigación de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid [Research Award from the Autonomous Community of Madrid]; Medalla de los Premios de Investigación “Rey Jaime I” Valencia [Medal of the “King James I” of Valencia Research Awards]; Encomienda con Placa de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio [Commendation with Plaque of the Civil Order of Alphonse X the Wise]; Premio México de Ciencia y Tecnología 2006 [2006 Mexico Award for Science and Technology].

As of this date, he has received the Honoris Causa Doctorate awarded by the Academia de Ciencias de la URSS [USSR Academy of Sciences], the universities of La Coruña, Barcelona, Oviedo, Salamanca and Alicante. He is also a foreign member of the National Academies of Sciences of the United States, France, and the Royal Society of London, Honorary President of the Spanish Society of the Biology of Development, President of the Scientific Council of the Centre de Génetique Moléculaire of CNRS in Paris, founder of the European Academy and member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican.