Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999. He is founder and Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace as well as the Honorary Chairman of the Académie de la Paix. He was a professor in biochemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co-founded the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre at the University. He is a member of the World Academy of Art and Science.