Eduardo Punset: Biography Of A Charismatic Science Popularizer

Controversial, charismatic and innovative. The figure of Eduardo Punset was, for many, the first approach to science.

Lawyer, writer, economist, politician and scientific popularizer. It was through its Redes program , on the air for nearly two decades, that millions of Spaniards first approached the confusing counters of science. So, Punset was many things, but there is no doubt that, mainly, he was and remains a great promoter.

In some way, it contributed to science reaching homes in Spain. This strange, incomprehensible and tedious object of study has become, if in a way, something fun and pleasant.

Punset plays with the curiosity of its audience, simplifying what seemed difficult and making it attractive. Something that, at the same time, earned him much criticism. Furthermore, the public has begun to confuse Punset’s figure with that of a scientist, when in fact that is not his specialty.

His life has always been far from the most typical clichés of his time  and his work could not be different. A character with strong political convictions and eager to provide the world with the newest and most radical visions.

Eduardo Punset has always bet on new technologies and the most provocative scientific theories. Naturally, he always bet on making it reach the whole world. In this he was a great teacher.

Your life

Eduardo Punset was born in Barcelona in 1936, the son of a rural doctor in Tarragona. From a very young age, he showed great interest in the world of knowledge, in studying, in getting to know. He has always shown a great concern for the world in general, and he wanted to discover it.

Eduardo Punset traveled to Los Angeles in the 1960s to study at the North Hollywood School, where he learned English. Back in Spain,  he graduated in Law at the Complutense University of Madrid and became involved with the Communist Party, still under the dictatorial regime.

At that time, he met Jorge Semprún. As a result of the problems triggered by the dictatorship, Punset decided to go into exile and continue his studies abroad. As he speaks English, he was able to travel to London and continue his postgraduate studies in Economic Sciences. He also traveled to France, where he graduated from the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.

Eduardo Punset and politics

Shortly after finishing his studies, Eduardo Punset worked as an economic writer for the BBC. He was economic director of the weekly edition of The Economist for Latin America. He also developed, for some time, his work as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in the United States and Haiti. With Franco’s death, Eduardo Punset returned to Spain and bet on politics.

He was elected Councilor for the Economy and Finance of Catalonia by the Centristes de Catalonia-UCD. He carried out a very important job in opening up Spain to the outside while he held the position of Minister of Relations for the European Communities in the 1950s.

Later, he was elected as an MEP by the UCD, and then as an independent. During the time he was in the European Parliament, he oversaw part of the economic transformation process of the countries of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After several other attempts at politics, he finally decided to abandon it in 1995.

Your work as a popularizer

During the second stage of his life, Punset devoted numerous efforts as an expert on impact issues and new technologies. He was an advisor professor of international marketing at ESADE. President of the Instituto Tecnológico Bull and professor of Science, Technology and Society at the Faculty of Economics of the Instituto Químico de Sarriá at the Universidad Ramón Llull.

In addition, Punset has done advising work in important sectors and companies, and has written several books on economic and social analysis.

In 1996, Redes was born, a scientific dissemination program that would make history in his brilliant professional career. During its 18 years of duration, Punset has interviewed great personalities from the world of science and technology throughout the 600 episodes that were aired.

The program dealt with numerous themes, and did so in such a way that the world of science was, for the first time, accessible to the non-specialized citizen. From this series of programs came chapters that can be considered incredible works in the dissemination of neuroscience, positive psychology, new technologies in education, the psychology of emotions and many other fascinating subjects. This stage also left many of the books written by him.

He is one of the most respected, and also criticized, voices in Spain. But there is no doubt that during his career in television, he aroused the curiosity and scientific vocation of many people.

A brave man who bet on innovation, both in technology and in his ideas. A person who knew how to translate the most complex scientific concepts into common language to make them accessible to a large part of the population, a merit that few can take with them.