Ana María Cetto

Ana María Cetto Kramis (born 1946) is a Mexican physicist and professor. Her work specializes in quantum mechanics, stochastic theory, electrodynamics, and biophysics of light. She is also known for her work as a pacifist and activist for women in science. From 2003 to 2010 she was deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She was also professor and director at the Faculty of Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), from 1979 to 1982.

Personal life Ana María Cetto Kramis currently resides in Mexico City and is married to her long time mentor from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), physicist Luis de la Peña. She had one daughter, Carolina de la Peña Cetto (1973–2018).

National and international work Ana María Cetto Kramis has published over 300 scientific articles on various subjects: stochastic theory, quantum mechanics, and Latin American science advocation. She has also been the director of the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM (1978–1982), as well as a professor, and researcher at the same institution. She was elected president of the executive committee of the Mexican Society of Physics in 2021.

Cetto Kramis has been involved in the management of several international organizations. In 1995, she was council member of the Pugwash Conferences, and in 2002 she was appointed as general secretary of the International Council for Science (ICSU), becoming the first Latin American appointed to the position. She has also been a member of the Governing Board of the United Nations University (UNU) and a counsel president for the International Foundation for Science (IFS).

Cetto Kramis's trajectory has been recognized on various occasions. She was awarded as "Woman of the Year" in Mexico in 2003 for being an "ambassador of physics in Mexico". She has also received several other distinctions as a member of the Third World Academy of Science, the Mexican Academy of Sciences, the Mexican Academy of Physics and the American Physical Society, and as a member of the World Future Council.

In 2015, the University of Guadalajara created the "Ana María Cetto Chair for the Diffusion of Scientific Culture" in recognition of her scientific work. Cetto Kramis has also participated in several international programs aimed at promoting women's participation in science. She is also responsible for the creation of scientific information programs in Latin America, and programs for the promotion and participation of women in science.

Throughout her career, Cetto Kramis has been involved in various initiatives promoting women in science. She is a jury member of the Ada Byron Award, Mexico Chapter, an award created by the University of Deusto to recognize women who work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It began as a database of academic journals in Latin America, including ones that were no longer active or focused on scientific communication. The database also established criteria to define what makes a quality journal, based on the historical, cultural, and scientific context of the region, supporting and promoting scientific publication in regional languages. She serves as the chair of UNESCO's Scientific Diplomacy & Scientific Heritage, and contributed to the creation of recommendations from UNESCO’s Open Science Committee, which were published in 2021.

Museum of Light Cetto Kramis participated in the project focused on the creation of the Museum of Light in Mexico City. The Museum of Light is a thematic museum of the General Directorate for the Dissemination of Science of UNAM, and was inaugurated in 1996. Cetto Kramis was in charge of its renovation in 2016. She was also a promoter of the International Year of Light 2015 and belongs to the International Steering Committee of the International Day of Light.

Quantum Research Cetto Kramis has made many contributions to the field of quantum mechanics in recent years. In 2022 she published a paper explaining the role of vacuum fields in quantum mechanics. She also contributed to the derivation of fundamental commutation relations. and became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics in Mexico. From 2003 to 2010 she was deputy director general and head of the technical cooperation department of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dedicated to the control of the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

List of awards and honors Ana María Cetto Kramis's work has been recognized with several other distinctions, including the following:

Golden Award from the International League of Humanists (1998) Prize for the Development of Physics from the Mexican Society of Physics (2000) Juchimán Silver Prize in Science and Technology 2010, Mexico, (2011) Physics Research Prize (2012) Selected as one of the thirteen women for the "Woman and Science: 13 Names to Change the World" Exhibition (2013) Included among the 50 most outstanding women in Mexico by Forbes México magazine (2015) International Festival of Mayan Culture (FICMAYA) Gold Medal (2017) UNESCO Kalinga Prize (2023) American Institute of Physics Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics (2025)

Selected work Selected articles

Ceccon E, Cetto AM. Capacity building for sustainable development: some Mexican perspectives. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND WORLD ECOLOGY 10 (4): 345-352 DEC 2003 De la Pena L, Cetto AM. Planck's law as a consequence of the zeropoint radiation field REVISTA MEXICANA DE FÍSICA 48: 1-8 Suppl. 1 SEP 2002 De la Pena L, Cetto AM. Quantum theory and linear stochastic electrodynamics. FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS 31 (12): 1703-1731 DEC 2001 Vessuri H, Cetto AM. "Pertinence" and "impact". INTERCIENCIA 24 (3): 146-150 MAY-JUN 1999 Cetto AM, Alonso-Gamboa O. Scientific periodicals in Latin America and the Caribbean: A global perspective. INTERCIENCIA 23 (2): 84-+ MAR-APR 1998 De la Pena L, Cetto AM. Estimate of Planck's constant from an electromagnetic Mach principle. FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS LETTERS 10 (6): 591-598 DEC 1997 Cetto, A.M., Valdés-Hernández, A. & De la Peña, L. On the Spin Projection Operator and the Probabilistic Meaning of the Bipartite Correlation Function. Found Phys 50, 27–39 (2020). Cetto, A. M., & De la Peña, L. (2022). The Electromagnetic Vacuum Field as an Essential Hidden Ingredient of the Quantum-Mechanical Ontology. Entropy (Basel, Switzerland), 24(12), 1717.

Key findings from selected works 7. This article from 2020 highlights some of the work Cetto Kramis has focused on with her mentor and husband Luis de la Peña. The publication looks at the fundamental property of spin in electrons and highlights its significance with wide-ranging implications. It acknowledges that the formal treatment of spin often obscures the physical content and meaning of the spin operator and associated observables. The study is looking for the meaning behind the formalism by revisiting basic facts about the one-particle spin operator and analyzing spin projection operator correlation functions.

Books

Cetto, Ana María. La luz en la naturaleza y en el laboratorio. México, D.F.: Sep-Fondo de Cultura Económica : Conacyt, 1987. Serie La ciencia desde México; 32.