School of Philosophy and Letters, UNAM School of Philosophy and Letters, UNAM The Facultad de Filosofía y Letras ("School of Philosophy and Literature") or FFyL of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) administers eleven divisions of the humanities offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Department is one of the largest, and most renowned, literature faculties in the Spanish-speaking world; the Alma Mater of Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz and a number of other important figures in Latin American literature. The direct ancestor of Department was the High Studies National School, founded in 1910 by Justo Sierra as an attempt to establish graduate level degrees and research.
Mexicans in 1936), were established during the first half of the 20th century. Most of the new research institutes were created within UNAM. Twelve institutes were integrated into UNAM from 1929 to 1973. In 1959, the Mexican Academy of Sciences was created to coordinate scientific efforts between academics. In 1995 the Mexican chemist Mario J. Molina shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. Molina, an alumnus of UNAM, became the first Mexican citizen to win the Nobel Prize in science.