Professor Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba passed away yesterday, May10th. We join his family and friends in their loss.

Rubalcaba studied Chemical Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) and obtained his doctorate in 1978 with a work on Grignard reagents. After several postdoctoral stays in European universities, he joined the UCM as Professor of Organic Chemistry. His research work focused on reaction mechanisms.

He devoted much of his life to politics. Deputy for the Socialist party during six terms, he served as Minister of Education and Science (1992-1993), as Minister of the Presidency (1993-1996) and as Minister of Home Affairs (2006-2011) among other responsabilities. In 2014 he left politics and rejoined the UCM as professor of Organic Chemistry.