Poniatowska Headlines FIL-IPN 2025

“Since he was a child, Guillermo Haro told his mother, Leonor Barraza: ‘I’m going to discover how a star is born.’ A child who can speak with such clarity and conviction is not just any child,” recounted renowned writer Elena Poniatowska, during her participation at the 42nd International Book Fair of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (FIL-IPN 2025).

Poniatowska presented her book, El universo o nada. Biografía del estrellero Guillermo Haro (The Universe or Nothing: The Biography of Star-Gazer Guillermo Haro), a portrait of the man considered the father of modern astrophysics in Mexico. She highlighted that Haro had grand visions from the moment he was able to explore the observatory founded by Luis Enrique Erro in Puebla—one of the key figures in the early development of the Politécnico.

Erro, she noted, inspired many to pursue scientific careers, including Haro himself. On one of his first nights at the observatory in 1942, amid World War II, Haro took thousands of photographic plates and discovered the now-famous Herbig-Haro objects—blue nebulous formations that allow astronomers to study the age and formation of the universe.

“Although I am just a writer or journalist, and perhaps not qualified to speak on such topics, I can affirm that Haro’s greatest urgency was to serve his country—because he was a man of deep social consciousness,” she said.

Poniatowska recalled that Haro lived at the foot of the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes, landscapes that reminded her of her childhood, as they were her first encounter with the gods of ancient Mexico upon her arrival in the country.

She recounted that Haro, often alone or with fellow scientists, would spend his days trying to understand Mexico’s place in the cosmos. “He studied astronomy to make sense of our underdevelopment and to find solutions to the problems and inequalities we face,” she said.

Accompanied at the presentation by Dr. Silvia Torres de Peimbert, a leading astrophysicist, Poniatowska described Haro’s deep affection for the Great Valley of Cholula, its clouds and constellations—from Scorpio to Sagittarius—and for walking the streets of Tonantzintla, now a “Pueblo Mágico,” hand in hand with local children.

Haro believed that astronomy is not only about studying the stars to understand our origins, but also a field with concrete applications in optics, electronics, and computing—including microchips.

“Chips may seem very modern to me,” Poniatowska admitted, “but I know there’s astrophysics in a cellphone, in a microwave, and in many parts of our everyday lives.”

Guillermo Haro’s contributions to science were vast. Among his discoveries were numerous planetary nebulae, high-density cloud condensations known as Herbig-Haro objects, and flare stars in the Orion region. He was also the founder of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE).