Instituto Politécnico Nacional

at the main entrance of the Adolfo López Mateos campus The institute was founded on January 1, 1936, during the administration of President Lázaro Cárdenas in what had been previously known as the Ex hacienda Santo Tomás — a large estate initially owned by Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés in the 16th century Prominent astronomer Luis Enrique Erro, former revolutionary Juan de Dios Bátiz Paredes and former minister of education Narciso Bassols were among its initial promoters. During the administration of former director Alejo Peralta sufficient lands were given to IPN. Expropriated lands of Santa Maria Ticomán (213 ha) and San Pedro Zacatenco (43 ha) were used. The construction of what is now the Professional Unit "Adolfo López Mateos" (Zacatenco) began in 1958. In 1959, former President Adolfo López Mateos, the former minister of education Jaime Torres Bodet, and former director of IPN Eugenio Mendez Docurro, inaugurated the first four buildings of Zacatenco, which were occupied by the Superior School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME) and the Superior School of Engineering and Architecture (ESIA). == Organization ==

The institute is organized around 98 academic units Since December 2020, its director-general has been Arturo Reyes Sandoval. In addition to its academic endeavors, and as part of its cultural promotion strategy, the institute operates 'Canal Once' ('Channel Eleven'), the oldest public broadcast service in Latin America featuring original cultural, scientific, information and entertainment programming, foreign shows and classic, rare, and non-commercial films from all over the world. ==Academics==

The institute offers 80 undergraduate programs leading to four- or five-year bachelor's degrees and 135 postgraduate programs leading to 29 postgraduate diplomas, 70 master's degrees and 36 doctorate degrees. Like most public universities in Mexico, in addition to its undergraduate and graduate schools the institute sponsors several vocational high schools called 'Centros de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos' (C.E.C. y T.), most of which are in Greater Mexico City. Upon completion, they lead to a technician degree. For this level of study, the institute offers 78 technical careers. ==Athletics==

IPN fields 27 varsity teams in sports or activities such as archery, American football, athletics, baseball, basketball, body building, bowling, boxing, chess, cycling, frontenis, gymnastics, handball, indoor soccer, judo, karate, kendo, mountaineering, rowing, soccer, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, touch football, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling. The university maintains a fierce rivalry with all the athletic teams from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); it has a particularly bitter competition with UNAM's football program, the "Pumas Dorados" (Golden Pumas). ==Notable people==

Notable alumni Scientists and technologists • Guillermo González Camarena: television pioneer; inventor of an early color television transmission system. • Jerzy Rzedowski: plant scientist; pioneer of neotropical floristics. • Esther Orozco: biology researcher, winner of the 1997 UNESCO/Institut Pasteur Medal and the 2006 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science for her work on amoebiasis. • Evangelina Villegas: biochemist laureated with the 2000 World Food Prize and whose work with maize led to the development of Quality Protein Maize (QPM). • Pablo Rudomín: neuroscientist laureated with the Prince of Asturias Award (1987). • Gilberto Calvillo Vives: president of the United Nations' Statistics Commission. • Alberto Pérez Gómez: architectural historian and winner of the 1984 Alice Davis Hitchcock Award. • Ruth Rivera Marin: architect, the first woman to study architecture at the College of Engineering and Architecture. • Constantino Reyes-Valerio: chemist and art historian, discovered the recipe to create Maya blue and coined the term Arte Indocristiano. • Raúl Rojas: professor of computer science and mathematics and a renowned specialist in artificial neural networks. Politicians • Ernesto Zedillo: former President of Mexico (1994-2000) • Josefina Vázquez Mota: former Secretary of Education (Mexico) • Reyes Tamez: Secretary of Education during the Fox administration • Victor Bravo Ahuja: Secretary of Education during the Echeverría administration • Eugenio Méndez Docurro: Secretariat of Communications and Transportation during the Echeverría administration • Héctor Mayagoitia Domínguez: former Governor of Durango (1974-1979) • Miguel Borge Martín: former Governor of Quintana Roo (1987-1993) • Roberto Kobeh González: ICAO Council President (2006-2014) • Luis Montes de Oca: former Secretary of Finance (Mexico) 1927–1932 Notable faculty • Alexander Balankin: scientist, winner of the 2005 UNESCO Science Prize for his works on fractal mechanics. • Heberto Castillo: inventor of tridilosa and founder of several political parties. • Juan O'Gorman: architect and painter. • Arturo Rosenblueth: physician, physiologist, and noted researcher. == See also ==