Mario Pizarro
C. Mario Pizarro's serious interest in music developed in his university years. He graduated in 1957 as an electrical engineer from the National Engineering University in Lima, Peru. He then studied Nuclear Reactor Control and Instrumentation at Philips International Institute in Eindhoven, Holland. In 1961, he became Chief of the Electronic Laboratory of the Peru Atomic Energy Control Board and in 1963 became Electronic Maintenance Engineer at NASA Satellite Tracking and Telemetry Station in Lima in cooperation with the Geophysical Institute of Peru. He later became Chief Engineer and Director for installing and bringing into operation the Air Traffic Control and telecommunication equipment at Peru's two leading international airports. He was also Professor for 15 years at the National Engineering University.
In 2004, Pizarro published The Piagui Musical Scale: Perfecting Harmony, a book where he presents his theory of musical cells as well as a 12-tone scale he named Piagui (after the words "piano" and "guitar") based on this theory.