Luís Oliveira e Silva, Técnico professor (Department of Physics – DF) and president of the Scientific Board (CC), was elected corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. The election took place this Thursday, December 5, during the meeting of the Class of Physics . “I am deeply honoured to be a member of the Academy. Many intellectuals I admire are part of the Academy, including distinguished Técnico professors”, stresses professor Luís Oliveira e Silva, who also recalls that professor Alfredo Bensaude, Técnico first director, was member of the Academy. “I hope I will live up to the trust placed in me and to work towards the Academy mission”.

The corresponding members of each class are nominated by the effective members of their class, anytime there is a vacancy. The nominees are then presented to the suffrage. In order to be elected, it is necessary an absolute majority of effective members. Some duties of a corresponding member are: attendance at plenary sessions and class sessions to which they belong; participation in the works of the Academy, performing the functions to which they have been designated or elected by deliberation of the Academy or the class to which they belong; and the presentation of communications, reports, proposals, projects and work suggestions.

Besides professor Luís Oliveira e Silva, the list of corresponding members of the Academy includes professors João Pedro Conde (Physics), Adélia Sequeira (Mathematics), Afzal Suleman (Earth and Space Sciences), Isabel Sá Correia (Biological Sciences), Joaquim Sampaio Cabral (Biological Sciences), Hélder Rodrigues (Engineering and Applied Sciences), Maria da Graça Carvalho (Engineering and Applied Sciences) and António Reis (Engineering and Applied Sciences). As full members of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Técnico has 5 representatives: professors Paulo Peixeiro de Freitas (Physics), Armando Pombeiro (Chemistry), Jorge Calado (Chemistry), Carlos Salema (Engineering and Applied Sciences) and Luís Aires Barros (Engineering and Applied Sciences). Professor Bernardo Herold, jubilee professor at Técnico, is part of the Class of Letters and he is full member of the section “Sociology and other Social and Human Sciences”. Professor Carlos Salema is also the president of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.