Prof. Manuel Cardona was born in Barcelona where he obtained his Physics Degree. Then he moved to Harvard University where he did his PhD thesis in Solid State Physics. His professional career continued in the RCA laboratories in Zurich, Princeton and in 1971 Stuttgart as a founding director of the then-recently created Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research

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In 1993, when the ALBA Synchrotron project began, Prof. Manuel Cardona was the president of the Advisory Committee of the Synchrotron Light Laboratory, to assess the development of the project.

In 1985 he was invested doctor honoris causa by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He was also awarded with the 1988 Prince of Asturias price for research among many other awards. He had been member of the Scientific Committee of the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN) and president of the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) board.

Rest in peace, Prof. Cardona.