National Autonomous University of Mexico in diverse areas, such as robotics, computer science, mathematics, physics, human-computer interaction, history, philosophy, among others. All Mexican Nobel laureates are either alumni or faculty of UNAM. UNAM was founded, in its modern form, on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to its predecessor, the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. UNAM obtained its autonomy from the government in 1929. This has given the university the freedom to define its own curriculum and manage its own budget without interference from the government. This has had a profound effect on academic life at the university, which some
Xavier Cortés Rocha Xavier Cortés Rocha Xavier Cortés Rocha is a Mexican architect and urban planner. He was also rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) for a short time. He was born in Tampico. Cortés graduated in architecture and later in urban planning at the Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura of the UNAM. He continued his studies in Paris. After 1968 he taught at the UNAM. In 1999 he became Secretary General of the UNAM, and was interims UNAM president from 12 to 17 of November 1999. From 2001 to 2009 he was director of "Sitios y Monumentos del Patrimonio Cultural"