Prof. Catalá’s group first operated as a Local Division of the Instituto de Óptica Daza de Valdés belonging to CSIC and specialized in photo-nuclear studies. One of Catalá’s students, Fernando Senent, later becoming Professor and director of the Institute, produced what was the first Spanish thesis in Experimental Particle and Nuclear Physics. It was at the beginning of 1960 when the Institute got its present name, IFIC, Instituto de Física Corpuscular. IFIC, hence, is one of the oldest Spanish Institutes in Experimental Physics and the oldest studying particle and nuclear physics.