José María Albareda (April 15, 1902 - Madrid, March 27, 1966) was the founding secretary general of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), an initiative he developed in collaboration with José Ibáñez-Martín, founding president and with whom he maintained a close friendship. José María was born in Caspe (Zaragoza) on April 15, 1902. He studied Pharmacy at the University of Madrid and Chemical Sciences in Zaragoza, obtaining the corresponding doctorates in Pharmacy and Sciences in 1927 and 1931.
Like Ibáñez Martín, he became a high school professor, after which he received a scholarship from the Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas (JAE). During the period 1928-1932, he immersed himself in the new science of soil science, collaborating with leading foreign scientists in Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Upon his return to Spain, Enrique Moles officially proposed him to establish a PhD chair to teach soil science, edaphology, becoming the top expert in Spain at that time. He founded and directed the Soil Science Institute, giving rise to a research school that expanded throughout the country and materialized in the creation of soil science and agrobiology centers. This initiative had a very positive impact on agriculture through the Institutes of Guidance and Technical Assistance, promoted by José María Albareda himself in collaboration with local corporations.
He became a university professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Madrid and was a member of several academies, such as the Royal Academy of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Madrid, the Academy of Engineers of Stockholm and the Pontifical Academy of Rome, among others.
In addition, he participated in the National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, in the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACDP) and later in the secular Institute Opus Dei, being ordained priest in 1959. He also served as rector of the Estudio General de Navarra, the first modern private university in Spain, and received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Louvain and the University of Toulouse. He died in Madrid on February 26, 1966.
