This Monday, June 3, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, professor Manuel Heitor, distinguished four Técnico professors with a Medal of Scientific Merit  for their outstanding scientific works.

Professor Diamantino Durão was one of the most applauded. He was president of Instituto Superior Técnico for 14 years and played a pioneering role, at international level, in the development of velocimetry. Carlos Varandas, was the founder and president of the Nuclear Fusion Centre at IST, which is now the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion. He also played a very important role in research, in Portugal.

In the field of Mechanical Engineering, two professors were distinguished: António Falcão, who has been working for 40 years in harnessing marine renewable energy and Carlos Mota Soares, who was distinguished for his important and proactive work in this field.

Professor Carlos Varandas took the opportunity to express his gratitude: “I am very pleased to receive this award and that the government recognises not only the value of my work, but also the work of all my colleagues”. A career of over 25 years that “started from nothing and ended in the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion, a research unit whose competence is now recognised at international level”, he recalls. “I feel fulfilled and available to work on what I like, as I always did in my career”, he concluded.