The Faculty of Chemistry has paid tribute to Ernesto Carmona Guzmán, researcher at the Institute of Chemical Research and one of its founders, by naming the Aula Magna after him in recognition of a career spanning almost five decades of research and teaching in Chemistry. The tribute particularly highlights his relationship with the generations of students he has taught throughout his career.

The initiative was launched by a group of former students of the Faculty, who began collecting signatures from different graduating classes to request that the Aula Magna be named after the professor. Within a few weeks, the proposal had gathered more than 500 signatures. The request was submitted to the Faculty Board on November 13, 2025, and approved on December 4 of the same year.

The recognition thus goes beyond the scientific dimension of Carmona’s career and focuses on the bond he established with his former students. The new name of the Aula Magna brings the legacy of a teacher whose university career has spanned decades to one of the Faculty’s central spaces.

Ernesto Carmona and his life in chemistry

Ernesto Carmona Guzmán was born in Seville on October 18, 1948, and studied Chemical Sciences at the University of Seville, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in 1972 and his PhD in 1974, both with Extraordinary Awards. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral stay at Imperial College London under the supervision of Geoffrey Wilkinson, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1973.

In 1977, he returned to Spain and joined the University of Seville. In 1984, he obtained the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry and from then on developed his teaching career at the Faculty of Chemistry, while carrying out his research at the Institute of Chemical Research, a joint center of the University of Seville and the CSIC.

His scientific activity has focused mainly on the chemistry of coordination and organometallic compounds and homogeneous catalysis, fields in which he has made highly significant contributions. Throughout his career, he has supervised around 40 doctoral theses and published more than 250 scientific articles in specialized journals. He has also participated as a speaker at numerous national and international scientific conferences and meetings, as well as delivering scientific and outreach seminars and lectures at universities and research centers in Spain and abroad.

Throughout his career, Carmona has received numerous awards, including the Maimónides Research Award from the Regional Government of Andalusia, the FAMA Award from the University of Seville for Research Career, awarded in 2009, and the Rey Jaime I Award for Basic Research, which he received in 2010 for his contributions to Organometallic Chemistry. In 2019, he also received the European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry, awarded by the Division of Organometallic Chemistry of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS).