Gastón Pons Muzzo

Who was Gastón Pons Muzzo?

Gastón Pons Muzzo was an eminent Peruvian chemist. He was born in Tacna, Peru and joined National University of San Marcos staff in the 1960s to lecture general chemistry laboratory at the Department of Chemistry. He also was renowned for the teaching of physical chemistry and for the accompanying textbook that he authored. His devotion and significant research on chemistry led him to be elected as dean from 1964 to 1967. After many years holding important charges and being considered a renowned science consultant on UNMSM during the early 1970s, he was elected as president of Chemical Society of Peru from 1974 to 1977 and rector magnificus of the university. In 1985, when his term ended, he was awarded by then Peru's official secretary of treasury, Miguel Ángel Cusiánovich, on recognizion for his honesty and transparency as rector. Before his retirement from National University of San Marcos, he was appointed to another term in Peru's chemical society from 1988 to 1989. During the late 1990s, he was elected president of the commission which eventually established "María Inmaculada de Magdalena University", but health problems led him retire. He died on January 6, 2004 in Lima, Peru at the age of 81.