The early reception of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity in Mexico: Sandoval Vallarta’s role and the Mexican Educative Context

Abstract

It is often assumed that quantum mechanics reached Mexico only after the Faculty of Sciences was established at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1938. Archival evidence shows, however, that as early as the 1920s, Mexican engineers were already teaching and disseminating this field -just like relativity, as reported in the literature- through limited institutional resources such as the Schools of Engineers and Higher Studies, along with the “Antonio Alzate” Scientific Society. Manuel Sandoval Vallarta, a renowned MIT physicist and disciple of the founders of both theories, was part of this early diffusion. From MIT, he maintained communication with those Mexican engineers in the 1920s and, in the 1930s, guided Alfredo Baños, the first director of UNAM’s Institute of Physics, and Carlos Graef Fernández, who introduced the first advanced courses in quantum mechanics and relativity in Mexico. At UNAM, Sandoval Vallarta also mentored Marcos Moshinsky, who later became a prominent quantum mechanical and theoretical physicist. This paper highlights the early introduction of these fields in Mexico, with Sandoval Vallarta’s participation both before and after the Faculty’s creation. His international stature enabled collaborations with eminent scientists, the advancement of theoretical physics, the founding of institutions, the training of distinguished disciples, and the inspiring future generations.