Juan Carlos Carracedo graduated from the Universidad Complutense (Madrid) in 1968. After a postgraduate sojourn at the Department of Geology of the same University and followed by a spell as a visiting scientist at the Department of Geology, University of Toronto, he took up a permanent position on the staff of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (Madrid) from where he later moved to the Estación Volcanológica de Canarias (EVC-CSIC) in La Laguna on Tenerife. Prof. Carracedo has worked in the Canary Islands for over 40 years and published over 200 scientific articles on the geology, palaeomagnetism and volcanology of the Canary archipelago and authored or co-authored over 20 books and book chapters (in Spanish and English).
Although Prof. Carracedo believes that the main role of a scientist is to communicate findings to peers, he is also strongly convinced of the importance of scientific outreach as an essential way to transfer knowledge to the general public, as well as to the next generation of geoscientist working in the archipelago. He hopes to spark interest and wants to help make science relevant to peoples’ every-day lifes. This is of particular importance in the Canaries, an area with active volcanism, where a good general knowledge of volcanic processes and associated hazards may significantly help to facilitate the management and responses to future eruptive hazards.
Carracedo recently retired as a ‘distinguished research professor’ from CSIC and as director of the Estación Volcanológica de Canarias (EVC). Prof. Carracedo is currently an honorary emeritus professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (GEOVOL-GROUP) and was recently named as one of the most influential scientists in Spain by a national survey in early 2015. In recognition of the latter, he was appointed a member of the “Canarian Royal Academy of Sciences in summer 2015.
