CAPat is a voluntary organisation promoting national and international cooperation in the sciences and the arts, for the socio-economic benefit of Patagonia and the care of its natural and cultural heritage. CAPat was founded in 1998 and is associated with the University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco.

Perito Dr Francisco Pascasio Moreno

With its base in Patagonia, its teaching and research contacts worldwide, and its long experience in working with the internet, CAPat has good access to local, as well as national and international, knowledge and information, across a wide range of disciplines.

The formation of CAPat was stimulated by research into the lives of the scientific explorers of Patagonia, and the enthusiastic reception Perito Moreno received when he gave an invited lecture to the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1899. In his lecture, now over 100 years ago, Moreno expressed the need, and his hope, for greater international scientific and technical cooperation related to Patagonia, and was strongly applauded.

Research, Encouragement, Assistance, Communication

Since 1998 CAPat has worked closely with the Centro Cultural Borges, the national newspaper La Nación, the University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco and the Museo Egidio Feruglio in Trelew. It has received valuable support from several sources including Sony, the HSBC bank, Aluar Aluminio Argentino and Techint , as well as from the Department of Tourism of Argentina and the Magic Penny Trust in London.

Children taking notes on Moreno Museo de la Patagonia, Bariloche

In 1999 a highly successful photographic exhibition on the life of Moreno, with contemporary photographs by Germán Sopeña, was held in Buenos Aires. Part of the exhibition was later transferred to towns in Patagonia, to Edinburgh, Scotland, and in 2001, it reached the Royal Geographical Society in London.
CAPat has also helped in obtaining assistance for the exhibition of material connected with the HMS Swift underwater archaelogical investigations in Puerto Deseado.

In 2002 an associated organization for children, Magic Penny Patagonia, was founded to encourage interest, artistic expression and practical ideas related to the physical sciences, astronomy, navigation, art, design and engineering, relevant to Patagonia. Its didactic activities, using magnets, coins, cans, buildings and shadows, have received much publicity, locally, and are beginning to attract interest internationally. For further information see links on this page.