The scientific neighborhood of Yucatán mourns the lack of certainly one of its brightest stars. Dr. Eddie Salazar Gamboa handed away on Thursday following a quick sickness. He was 79. His dying marks the top of a rare life devoted to unlocking the astronomical secrets and techniques embedded in Maya civilization.
A Pioneer of Archaeoastronomy
Born on March 22, 1946, to Inocencio Salazar Barrera and María Exaltación Gamboa O’Horán, Eddie Salazar Gamboa would develop to change into certainly one of Yucatán’s most distinguished students. His mental prowess was evident early, as he concurrently pursued levels in Chemical Engineering and Arithmetic on the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán between 1968 and 1973, a feat that foreshadowed his multidisciplinary method to scientific inquiry.
However it was one specific discovery that might cement his place in historical past. In 1993, working alongside archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, Salazar Gamboa noticed the descent of the Lunar Serpent on the Pyramid of Kukulcán in Chichén Itzá. By way of exact mathematical calculations, he decided the precise dates when this celestial phenomenon would happen, a date that shifts yearly with the lunar cycle.
In 2007, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) acknowledged this discovery, acknowledging what custodian José Antonio Keb Cetina described in media interviews as witnessing triangles of sunshine forming on the pyramid’s northwest alfarda throughout full moons following the equinoxes. The phenomenon mirrors the well-known photo voltaic serpent descent however with an ethereal high quality that observers have known as magical and indescribable.
Salazar Gamboa additionally known as this the “Serpent of the Crucifixion,” because it typically coincides with Holy Week, demonstrating the Maya’s subtle understanding of celestial cycles that fashionable society is barely now starting to totally admire.
Extra Than 5 Many years of Educating
Salazar Gamboa devoted over 50 years to educating and astronomical analysis, shaping generations of scholars throughout a number of establishments. He joined the Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida in 1973, the place he taught topics starting from Differential and Integral Calculus to Thermodynamics, Differential Equations, and even Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
From 1970 to 2001, he taught at varied ranges at UADY, and in addition served on the Escuela Regular Superior de Yucatán from 1975 to 1982. He based the Astronomy Membership “Hypatia” at ITM in 1992, creating an area the place college students may discover the cosmos alongside their professor.
In 2021, he acquired the Distinguished Instructor award from the Secretaría de Educación del Gobierno del Estado, the state’s highest recognition for educators. On the ceremony, colleagues famous that he had been educating since 1964, spanning 57 years by that time.
His educating philosophy was easy but profound. At his recognition ceremony, he shared: “I’ve all the time been guided by what I like, what I’m obsessed with, what generates data for me, what motivates me, what’s a problem for me. I’ve by no means stopped to consider what fruit it’s going to bear, the diplomas I’ll get hold of. I’ve merely carried out what I’m obsessed with.”
A Prolific Scholar and Innovator
Salazar Gamboa authored practically 20 books on arithmetic and scientific outreach, together with works that pushed the boundaries of established data. His ebook “La Interpolación de Newton y su Derivación Numérica” offered a extra exact numerical software of Isaac Newton’s mathematical formulation, perfecting work that had stood for over three centuries.
In 2014, he patented a formulation for calculating the supermoon with Mexico’s Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, describing how the total moon’s angular diameter and brightness can enhance by as much as 12% and 10% respectively.
His analysis prolonged deep into Maya astronomical data. He studied the Dresden Codex, specializing in eclipse tables, lunar phases, and Venus cycles. His printed works included calculations for equinoxes spanning 300 years, lunar epacts masking 100 years, and blue moons throughout 50 years, plus a perpetual calendar for the twenty first century.
Between 1996 and 2015, he continued learning El Castillo at Chichén Itzá, together with discovering the bisection of the constructing throughout solstices in 1997, a discovering that additionally earned INAH recognition in 2007.
A Life Past Academia
Salazar Gamboa married Rubí Alpuche Cámara, with whom he had three kids: Rubí, Eddie Ariel, and Rigel. The selection to call his youngest son Rigel, after one of many brightest stars within the constellation Orion, speaks to how deeply astronomy permeated his life.
He was a founding professor of UADY’s School of Economics and School of Accounting and Administration, in addition to the Grasp’s program in Administration. He additionally participated in creating the Universe Room on the Museum of Pure Historical past and the Planetarium at Mérida’s Centro Cultural El Olimpo.
His connection to the neighborhood prolonged by way of his common contributions to Diario de Yucatán, the place for years he shared astronomical occasions with readers, making the wonders of the evening sky accessible to all Yucatecos.
The Legacy of a Stargazer
Till his remaining yr, Eddie Salazar Gamboa continued his analysis. He by no means stopped investigating and calculating mild and shadow phenomena at Chichén Itzá’s pyramid, learning not solely the photo voltaic and lunar serpents however different phenomena occurring throughout summer time and winter solstices.
Final yr, he introduced his retirement from educating whereas declaring his intention to proceed astronomical work. True to his phrase, he remained engaged with the cosmos he had studied for greater than half a century.
His work revealed what many had missed: that the traditional Maya weren’t merely observers of the heavens however subtle astronomers who encoded their data in stone. By way of his mathematical precision and affected person remark, Eddie Salazar Gamboa grew to become a bridge between historic knowledge and fashionable science.
Because the Lunar Serpent continues its everlasting descent on the pyramid at Chichén Itzá, it now serves as a monument not solely to Maya ingenuity however to the Yucatecan scientist who helped the world see it. The triangles of silver mild that type on these sacred stones are Eddie Salazar Gamboa’s reward to future generations—a reminder to lookup, calculate rigorously, and by no means cease in search of the patterns written within the stars.
Dr. Eddie Salazar Gamboa was laid to relaxation following companies at Funeraria López Macari in Itzimná. He leaves behind his spouse, three kids, numerous former college students, and a legacy written in moonlight and arithmetic.
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