Under the auspices of the "Julio Palacios" Chair, created by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in 2015, the First "Julio Palacios" International Symposium celebrates the life of Julio Palacios (1891-1970), an eminent Spanish scientist and humanist with a prominent place in the history of Spanish physics, with an exciting program of multidisciplinary lectures covering original and innovative scientific and academic topics. The official opening of the symposium will take place on 20th July in the afternoon, in the presence of authorities and representatives from the Ramón Areces Foundation, the Spanish National Research Council and the University of A Coruña. Then, within the context "Julio Palacios and his time", Albino Arenas (UPM) and Francisco González de Posada (UPM), Julio Palacios' last disciple and biographer respectively, will give two public lectures in Spanish. The symposium will take place over the next two days, 21st and 22nd July 2016 and will include several lectures on mathematics, physics, chemistry and medicine (all in English). We have selected very high-level speakers for this event so that those attending the symposium, mainly advanced students, can discuss and exchange ideas with the speakers. In this symposium, original, innovative and current scientific problems with social, academic and scientific relevance will be discussed.

La conferencia inaugural del simposio tendrá lugar el día 21 de julio por la mañana, a cargo de  nieta de Julio Palacios, Helen Mayles (Clatterbridge Cancer Center, Liverpool, Reino Unido) y versará sobre recientes avances en el uso de los rayos X para diagnosticar y tratar el cáncer. A continuación, María Paula Diogo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal) disertará sobre la relación entre Julio Palacios y la comunidad científica portuguesa, durante el periodo en el que nuestro personaje estuvo trabajando en Portugal. La sesión matinal concluirá con las intervenciones de Fernando Martín (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) sobre investigaciones y aplicaciones de la luz en procesos físicos, químicos y biológicos en la escala del attosegundo, y Juan Hermoso (Instituto de Química-Física "Rocasolano", CSIC), físico y experto biólogo estructural, quién nos invitará a realizar un viaje al mundo molecular a través de los rayos X y de su interacción con los cristales, desde sus fundamentos químico-físicos hasta los aspectos más biológicos de esta interesante ciencia. La sesión de la tarde se iniciará con la intervención de Pilar Bayer (Universidad de Barcelona), experta de gran prestigio en el área de la teoría algebraica de números y pionera de esta disciplina en España. A continuación, William Seitz (Universidad de Texas A&M, EEUU) nos hablará de una nueva relación entre entropía y complejidad. La sesión de tarde concluirá con la conferencia de Ángel Carracedo (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela), reconocido especialista a nivel mundial en medicina genómica, quién discutirá sobre los fundamentos y aplicaciones de esta ciencia. Finalmente, se procederá a la sesión de pósteres.

On 21st July in the morning, the opening talk for the symposium will be given by Julio Palacios' granddaughter, Helen Mayles (Clatterbridge Cancer Center, Liverpool, UK), on recent advances in the use of X-rays to treat cancer. Then Maria Paula Diogo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal) will speak on the relationship between Julio Palacios and the Portuguese scientific community, covering the period when Julio Palacios was working and doing research in Portugal. The morning session will conclude with talks by Fernando Martin (Autonomous University of Madrid) on research and applications of light in physical, chemical and biological processes in the attosecond scale, and Juan Hermoso ("Rocasolano" Institute of Physical Chemistry - CSIC), physicist and expert structural biologist will invite us to take a trip to the molecular world through X-rays and their interaction with crystals, from its chemical-physical foundations to the more biological aspects of this interesting science. The afternoon session will begin with the talk of Pilar Bayer (University of Barcelona), a prestigious expert in the area of algebraic number theory, and pioneer of this discipline in Spain. Then William Seitz (Texas A&M University, USA) will speak about a new relationship between complexity and entropy. The session will conclude with the talk of Angel Carracedo (University of Santiago de Compostela), a renowned specialist in genomic medicine, who will discuss the fundamentals and applications of this science. Finally, a poster session will take place, where students will show the results of their research activities.

The second day of the workshop, July 22nd, will start off with a lecture by Ignacio Cirac (Max Planck Institute, Germany), a Spanish physicist of great prestige and an expert in the application of quantum mechanics to different current research fields; we continue with the lecture by Daniel Roca-Sanjuán (University of Valencia), who will speak on the fundamentals and applications of photophysics and photochemistry. Next follows a talk by José I. Burgos (Institute of Mathematical Science - CSIC) on how to recognize if a number is new. Then Douglas J. Klein (Texas A&M University, USA) will give a lecture on mathematical chemistry, relating partial orders and substitution reactions. The session will continue with the lecture by Javier Brey (University of Sevilla), a physicist expert in kinetic theory and hydrodynamics of granular flows. The afternoon session will begin with the invaluable presence of Eluvathingal Jemmis (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India), who will speak on the importance of the first questions that young people should ask, at school and high school, to form the basis of future researchers in an advanced society. The afternoon session will finish with the dissertation of the prestigious mathematician Harald A. Helfgott, (Göttingen Mathematical Institute, Germany), world expert in number theory and asymptotic group theory, who will speak on the solution of a problem dating from 1742. Upon completion of the sessions, we have organised a multidisciplinar round table on mathematics, physics, chemistry and medicine, where attendees will ask questions to the specialized speakers. Finally the closing of the symposium will take place.

As expressed in the program of the First "Julio Palacios" International Symposium, the multidisciplinarity defines the fundamental basis of this singular event. Julio Palacios would have probably agreed with this kind of scientific debate, such as "Mr Naive" ("Don Ingenuo" in Spanish), a fictional character proposed by Don Julio, who constantly asks himself questions about the "why" of everything, the basis of pure scientific thought.

Registration of the Symposium: http://jpalacios.iqfr.csic.es/