Born in 1936, Prof. Balta Calleja was educated in Spain where he obtained his first degree in Physics at the University of Madrid. In 1958 he started his research work at the University of the Sorbonne in Paris on pioneering NMR studies of organic liquids relating to intermolecular effects. In 1959 he moved to the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory in Bristol to work on crystallization and morphology of synthetic polymers. In 1962 he obtained a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Bristol. In 1963 he was appointed Adjoint Professor of Electricity and Magnetism at the University of Madrid. Since 1970 hehas led a group on Macromolecular Physics at the Spanish Research Council. Presently, he is Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute for Structure of Matter, CSIC, in Madrid. He is Chairman of the Macromolecular Board of the European Physical Society and has also b een chairman of the Solid State Physics group of the Spanish Royal Society of Physics. He was awarded the Humboldt Research Award and the DuPont Research Award, both in 1994. He is, or has been a member of the Editorial Boards of Acta Polymerica, J. Macromolecular Science-Physics and Journal of Polymer Engineering. He is author of more than 280 papers and has contributions in several books. He is author of the book X-ray Scattering of Synthetic Polymers, Elsevier, 1989. Born in 1936, Prof. Fakirov was educated in Bulgaria where he obtained his first degree in Chemistry at the University of Sofia in 1959. In 1960 he was appointed Assistant Professor at the same University. In 1962 he moved to the Lomonosov State University, Moscow, obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 1966. In 1972 he was appointed Associate Professor at Sofia University. In1987 he was appointed full Professor of Polymer Chemistry at the same University. He has spent many years as Visiting Professor in various international institutions. Since l984 he has led a group on Structure and Properties of Polymers at the University of Sofia. He has been Vice President of Sofia University. He was gievn the Award of the Union of Bulgarian Scientists and the Honour Award 100 Years University of Sofia. He is member of the Editorial Board of Applied Composite Materials and Advances in Polymer Technology, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Polymeric Materials. He is presently fellow of the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal, and has also been fellow of many other international institutions. He is author of more than 250 papers, has contributions in several books as editor and co-author, and holds 9 US patents. He is author of the book Structure and Properties of Polymers, Martinus Hijhoff, Int., 1985.
