Pedro Colín Almazán, a talented astrophysicist and researcher at the Institute of Radioastronomy and Astrophysics (IRyA) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), sadly passed away on January 14th in Morelia, Michoacán. He was 57 years old.

His scientific vocation led him to study physics at UNAM (1981-1986). He obtained his physics bachelor’s degree with a grade point average 9.9/10. His BSc thesis, on stellar winds, was supervised by Prof. Jorge Cantó. Pedro also completed 80% of the credits for a BSc in mathematics. He continued to excel during his graduate studies in physics at UNAM. For his PhD dissertation, he spent two years at the University of Chicago, USA, working jointly with Prof. David Schramm and Prof. Manuel Peimbert as his advisors. His PhD thesis focused on aspects of galaxy evolution and population statistics in a cosmological context. Pedro also completed a postdoctoral stay at the University of Toronto, CA, working with Prof. Ray Carlberg.

From 1993 to 2002, Dr. Colín worked as researcher at the Institute of Astronomy, UNAM, in Mexico City, and from 2002 until his death, at the current IRyA (previously Center of Radioastronomy and Astrophysics). He participated in many international collaborations, but notably maintained a fruitful collaboration with Prof. Anatoly Klypin (NMSU, USA) and Prof. Andrey Kravtsov (U. Chicago, USA). Pedro was also an active faculty member at the Graduate School of Astrophysics of UNAM.

Dr. Colín was a pioneer in N-body and hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, and became one of the most skilled and qualified experts in Mexico. He was a prominent member of the Mexican group on galaxy and cosmic structure formation and evolution. He authored or co-authored many papers in this field. Some of them pioneered the exploration of cosmological models with different types of dark matter; these models have recently become increasingly relevant. His broad knowledge of astrophysics and his skill in the handling of codes allowed him to study through numerical simulations the relevant physical processes of the evolution of galaxies and of the star formation units, the molecular clouds. He published around 50 papers, which were cited more than 1600 times in the specialized literature.

Pedro Colín was a forthright and friendly person, though reserved, and strongly focused on substantial issues, far from self-aggrandizing claims. He was always true to himself, full of human and academic integrity, intellectually honest, pure and transparent in everything he did. Pedro had a great taste for literature and for the cinema. He was a responsible and committed father to his son Diego, as well as a faithful friend and a reliable collaborator.

We will keep alive the memory of our dear friend and colleague Pedro Colín Almazán. May he rest in peace.