Beatriz Villarroel

Swedish astrophysicist of Spanish-Chilean heritage, Assistant Professor at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita) at Stockholm University, with a secondary affiliation at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) in Tenerife. PhD in Astronomy from Uppsala University (2016). She leads the VASCO project (Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations), which searches for 'vanishing stars' in century-old photographic plates as possible technosignatures. Her 2025 peer-reviewed studies in Scientific Reports and PASP linking 107,000 pre-Sputnik optical transients to nuclear test dates and UAP report frequencies established her as the leading academic figure bridging archival astronomy and technosignature research. Sol Foundation Advisory Board member (Natural Sciences).