Centro de Estudios Científicos (English: Center for Scientific Studies) also known by its acronym CECS is a private, non-profit corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

 based in Valdivia

Valdivia, Chile

Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, devoted to the development, promotion and diffusion of scientific research. CECs research areas include biophysics

Biophysics

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...

, molecular physiology, theoretical physics

Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...

, glaciology

Glaciology

Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...

 and climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

. The centre was created in 1984 as Centro de Estudios Científicos de Santiago with 150,000 dollars a year for each year of three from the Tinker Foundation of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. In 2004-2005 glaciologists from CECS organized the Chilean South Pole Expedition

Chilean South Pole Expedition

The Chilean South Pole Expedition was a Chilean expedition to Antarctica organized by the Chilean Navy, Centro de Estudios Científicos and INACh. The expedition travelled to Antarctica from Chile in a Ilyushin Il-76 and a Hercules C-130 owned by the Chilean Air Force....

 in collaboration with the Chilean Navy

Chilean Navy

-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...

 and Instituto Antártico Chileno

Instituto Antártico Chileno

The Instituto Antártico Chileno or INACH is a public service institution in charge of manage and coordinate scientific activities in the Chilean Antarctic Territory. It is the national Antarctic operator and has an active role in Antarctic affairs....

. CECS was founded in Santiago but is since 2000 housed in the recently modernized, German-style Hotel Schuster located by Valdivia River

Valdivia River

The Valdivia River or Río Valdivia, as it is known locally, is a major river in southern Chile. It is the continuation of the Calle-Calle River, from the point where it meets the Cau-Cau River in the city of Valdivia. The Valdivia river ends in Corral Bay, on the Pacific coast. Other tributaries...

. Claudio Bunster

Claudio Bunster

Claudio Bunster Weitzman is a Chilean scientist.Bunster studied Sciences at the University of Chile , Santiago and received his Ph.D in Physics from Princeton University, U.S. in 1973. He remained at the university, at the Institute for Advanced Study and also at the University of Texas, until 1984...

, a physicist and winner of Chile's National Prize in Exact Sciences, is the Director of CECS.