WOMEN WHO BREAK MOLDS: MARIA ASSUMPCIÓN CATALÀ

Maria Assumpció Català i Poch was the first woman to teach as a professor of numerical astronomy at a university in Spain. Assumption Català was born on July 14, 1925 in Barcelona. His life as a student went through unstable times such as the Civil War and the economic recession.

But this was no reason to prevent Assumpció Català from graduating in 1953 in Sciences, from the mathematics section, at the University of Barcelona. She then began working as a teacher and researcher at this same institution. Her work as a teacher at the University of Barcelona lasted thirty-seven years and she combined it for twelve years as a secondary school teacher.

Astronomy, physics and mathematics were the focus of his career and allowed him to collaborate with different recognized departments in these fields, such as the Department of History of Science, the Space Chair of Space Technology of the UPC and the Cartographic Institute of Catalonia.

Her passion and love for astronomy led her to be the forty-sixth Spanish representative of the astronomy teaching commission of the International Astronomical Union.

She also cooperated with the Spanish-French scientific program, where she carried out different studies such as the Oort Theory on the origin of comets, which led her to work in the Laboratory of Stellar Dynamics and Statistics of the ‘Henri Poincaré Institute (University of Paris VI) and also at the Meudon Observatory.

Next, we mention the chronology of the recognitions and the tasks carried out by Assumpció Català and for which it was awarded:

– From 1953 to 1990 he became a teacher at the University of Barcelona and taught secondary school for twelve years.

– In 1971 she became the first woman to obtain a doctorate in Mathematics at the University of Barcelona.

– In 1974 she became the first astronomer to teach numeracy at a Spanish university.

– In 1979 Dra. Català participates in the first meeting to discuss the Spanish contribution to the Hipparcos mission.

– In 2004 she was named honorary professor emeritus of the University of Barcelona.

– Dr. Català was co-author of: The mathematical works of Maslama de MAdird (1965),
Arab Archimedes: the treatise on tangent circles (1968), An astronomical instrument of raigambre zarqali: the shakkazi quadrant of Ibn Tibuga (1971).

– In 2009, Dr. Català receives the Sant Jordi Cross from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

OUR TRIBUTE TO MARIA ASSUMPCIÓ CATALÀ:

The Montsec Astronomical Park (PAM) wanted to pay tribute to his research career focused on astronomy and the study of the solar system, for more than thirty years analyzing the evolution of solar tasks, the dynamics of star systems, all in relation to our galaxy.

Through all these studies and recognitions, the telescope of the Observatory of the Center for Observing the Universe, in the Montsec Astronomical Park, was renamed Assumpció Català. This telescope is a 50-centimeter diameter Dall-Kirkham reflecting telescope, the largest of those currently enabled at the center.

It is a fully automated telescope, it has a CCD camera and several filters that allow high quality astronomical images to be obtained. And it should be noted that this telescope allows seventy people to simultaneously observe astronomy, the Solar System, even galaxies in the Universe.