María del Pilar López de Coca

María del Pilar López de Coca Castañar (Malaga, 1948) is a Spanish astronomer. He obtained his doctorate by the University of Granada in 1986.

In 1973 he joined the Observatory of Cartuja (Granada) and since then he has collaborated intensively in the development and foundation of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA), now a for national astronomy in conjunction with the Institute of Astrophysics of Canary Islands (IAC).

Pilar López de Coca belongs to the pioneering group of researchers who put into operation the Astronomical Observatory of the Mojón del Trigo (Sierra Nevada, Granada), which today belongs to the University of Granada, and later the Observatory of Sierra Nevada Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia. Thanks to the efforts and sacrifice of these early pioneers, it is now possible to have a center of international relevance such as the Canary Islands Astrophysical Institute (IAA).

In addition to training as observational astronomers to the first generation of professional astronomers who have graduated from the IAA, Pilar López de Coca has done remarkable research as a coauthor of some 100 publications. His field of activity has always been stellar astrophysics, his most notable contribution being the determination of the period-luminosity-color relation for variable stars Delta Scuti.

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