María Inmaculada Paz-Andrade


María Inmaculada Paz-Andrade was a Spanish physicist and researcher. She was the first person to be named a professor of the Compostela Faculty of Physics, and became an international authority in microcalorimetry, which is a technique for the measurement of very small quantities of heat.

Life and work

Paz-Andrade earned a doctorate in physics and became a Professor of Applied Physics and a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela. She also earned a certificate of higher studies at the University of Marseille. She furthered her studies at the University of Manchester and at the Institute of Microcalorimetry and Thermogenesis of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Marseille.
Having learned about microcalorimetry abroad, in 1964 she was the first to teach the subject to researchers in Spain. Specifically, she carried out work on applied thermodynamics, calorimetric studies and determinations of specific heat of solids and liquids. At the University of Santiago de Compostela, she served as department director of Fundamental Physics at the Faculty of Sciences and then director of the Department of Applied Physics.
In 1999 she created the multidisciplinary THOR group, to develop computer tools to fight against forest fires in all their stages in Galicia and Santiago de Compostela. In 1999, more than 40 specialists from different universities were collaborating in the group.
In 2018, Paz-Andrade was awarded an Honorary doctorate from the University of Vigo.
Paz-Andrade authored more than 200 scientific publications and supervised 39 doctoral theses.
She was the niece of Valentín Paz-Andrade.

Honors