Professor of Analytical Chemistry
laserna@uma.es

Javier Laserna graduated in chemistry from the University of Granada, and received adoctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Malaga. He then joined the faculty of the University of Malaga as an assistant professor and became a full professor in 1999. Professor Laserna’s current research interests include the investigation of new measurement principles based on atomic emission, molecular absorption and dispersion and mass spectrometry and the understanding of the fundamental phenomena that govern analytical measurements; he is also interested in the development of analytical instrumentation for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, remote laser chemical analysis, and on-line and fieldable analytical measurements. Application areas include the analysis of energetic materials; development of sensors for CBNRE threats; lasers for cultural heritage; and LIBS and Raman spectroscopy for space exploration. He is currently a co-investigator for the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s MARS 2020 mission to Mars.

Prof. Laserna has participated in several research projects funded by the European Commission’s Framework Program both as a member of the consortium and as a coordinator. Likewise, he has been the principal investigator of more than 25 research projects financed by the Spanish central administration and the regional administration of Andalusia. He has published more than 300 scientific articles, 6 books and book chapters. He is co-inventor of 7 patents from the University of Malaga. He was editor of the Raman Spectroscopy section of the Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 2000. He has supervised 35 doctoral students.

He has given numerous invited plenary and keynote conferences at international meetings and is member of the advisory board of several journals. He has been titular member of the IUPAC Commission V.4 on Spectrochemical and other Optical Procedures for Analysis, from 1996 to 2001 and head of the Office for Technology Transfer of the University of Málaga, 1994 -1997. He has been founder president of the Spanish Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SEA), 2001-2004 and of the Working Group in Spectrochemical Analysis of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), 1998-2001. Prof. Laserna was awarded the National Prize for Research in Analytical Chemistry of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry in 2009, the National Prize of the Spanish Society of Applied Spectroscopy for his research career in Applied Spectroscopy in 2010, the Lester W. Strock 2018 from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (USA) and the Ioannes Marcus Marci Medal of the Czech Spectroscopic Society in 2019 (Czech Republic).

A passionate of contemporary art, Javier plays latin percussion, guitar and sings in the band Los Buchipluma; also he sails his 35-feet boat ‘Playa Libertad’.  He plays tennis and paddle tennis and enjoys gardening, jazz and world music.