Ecolint - Newsletter.indd

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER 12
What’s New With You
Just what have you been doing since
you left the different campuses
Have any novel and exciting things
happened in your personal and
professional life If so, please let us
know and we will try to include your
contribution in future editions of the
Alumni ‘Newsletter’. We keep the
ball rolling with news from Pablo O.
Canziani, graduated 1977
Profile: Pablo O. Canziani
Graduation from La Grande Boissière
in 1977.
Some perspectives from the South of
South America
Good Lord! 28 years have gone by
since the Graduation Ceremony at
the Thônex Townhall (it was raining)
and the Senior Prom on one of
the wheelboats of the Compagnie
Genevoise de Navigation. That means
I am 45 and some of the more recent
members of the Alumni community
are thinking ‘Help, more dithering
from another oldtimer’. And yet…
and yet I feel great and I feel young,
as if only a few years had gone by since
my 9 years at Ecolint: Doris Rushton,
M. Thedy, Mr. Quin, Mr Dorsay,
Mme Bonhomme, Mme Rivoire, the
Unitts, the Anthonys, Mr Sharpe,
Mr Montgomery, Mr Bonnan, Mr
Phillips, Mr Thomas and so many
others. I feel young and active not just
because I am doing what I like. It is
so because I learnt about keeping an
open mind and heart, starting with
the efforts requested and expected
from us at Ecolint, and continuing
with many difficulties over the years -
a war between the UK and Argentina,
because people at the helm in both
countries, one a dictator, the other
an elected Prime Minister, each had
their own petty reasons which needed
an expensive and deadly circus to
remain in power rather than discuss
and negotiate the issue as requested
by the UN since the sixties, the
sacrifices of my fellow citizens and the
glorious return to democracy in 1983,
hyperinflation and unemployment
(yes, I too was unemployed for a
while), the dismantling of my country
through the blunders and corruption
of its very own politicians, together with
the connivance of some others from
abroad and institutions that ´helped´,
supporting behind the scenes corrupt
practices to their benefit while
supposedly preaching ´transparency´
and ‘globalization’(one way only
please, mind you) with a tinge of
superiority, the untimely death of my
mother… I learnt how important it is
to remain young in mind and heart
to lead my young doctoral students
and junior scientist, to transfer them
the patience and enthusiasm for the
job and the good things in their life
choice, despite our local problems
and difficulties. I know, above all, how
important it is to remain young and
enthusiastic for my wife and children.
A brief chronology… In 1985 I
finally earned my MSc. in Physics at
the University of Buenos Aires and
married beautiful Mercedes, an art
teacher, friend and spouse. Our first
son, Tomás was born in 1986, as I
started my PhD in Physics, specializing
in Geophysics, while working at the
Naval Research Service. My mother
died in 1987 after suffering multiple
schlerosis for over 10 years, and some
time later we lost a child during
pregnancy. In 1989 our first girl,
Julieta, was born and in early 1991 I
earned my PhD. By September 1992 I
was a PostDoc Fellow at the University
of Washington, Seattle, under Prof.
Jim Holton, a great scientist and an
even greater person. We stayed there
for almost 2 years, while I worked as a
member of the NASA UARS Science
Team (Upper Atmosphere Research
Satellite). There, due to the partial
failure of the satellite instrument
whose data I was going to work with,
a momentous change in my career
occurred. I began research on the
issues of ozone depletion and climate
dynamics and change. While in Seattle
my wife introduced me to camping,
which has become a family activity
ever since. Furthermore the Cascades
scenery and a trip to Yellowstone
and Grand Teton, triggered the
shutterbug in me, and photography
has been a part of me ever since. Our
last camping adventure this year was
a trip to Bariloche at the northern
end of the Patagonian Andes, almost
1800km away from Buenos Aires.
At the time we faced a difficult
choice. We could stay in the US, where
probably I would lead a good scientific
career, not necessarily brilliant but
reasonably good and well paid. Or we
could return home, avoid the pain of
being foreigners for the rest of our
lives, in particular for our children and
for the family, but have a more difficult
evolution in my career and economy.
Yet at the same time back home we
would contribute to development of
our country and recovery of its selfrespect.
We opted for the second,
more difficult path: nor my wife nor
me, despite many difficulties including
a significant bout with ill-health for my
wife, regret our choice. Prof. Holton
kindly provided his support for this
enterprise and kept me as a member of
the UARS Science Team for a number
of years. Shortly after our return our
youngest daughter, Maria Paula was
born. I joined CONICET, the National
Research Council of Argentina and
slowly opened a professional path for
my work and my scientific ideas. My
research includes data analysis from
NASA, ESA and Argentine satellites,
as well as modeling in cooperation
with universities in UK, Italy, Canada,
Germany and the US. Foreign
recognition for our results came along
and I have been involved in Vienna
Convention (Ozone layer) activities,
in the last two U.N. State of the Ozone
Depletion Assessments and special
assessments for the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, as co-author
and one of the representatives of the
South American scientific community
in the field. I am a member of the
Steering Committee for one of the
World Climate Research Programme
projects (SPARC) and have actively
worked to bring scientific meetings
and expertise to the South of South
America, to help develop the scientific
capabilities in the region and to share
our own activities with the rest of the