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Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), together with the Catalan Women's Institute (ICD), the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC), today named a train on the Barcelona-Vallès line after Assumpció Català i Poch, the first female astronomy professor in the country, in the year that commemorates the centenary of her birth. Català, who was a professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the UB, thus becomes the first Catalan scientist, and also a woman, to name one of the trains currently operated by FGC. This train, which will start operating from today, joins the group of vehicles that Ferrocarrils has named in recent years with the names of other prominent figures in culture, art and science.
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A train named after Assumpció Català, Spain’s first female astronomy professor
Credits
FGC

The event took place at the Plaça de Catalunya station of the Ferrocarrils and was attended by the president of FGC, Carles Ruiz Novella; the director of the ICD, Alba García Sánchez; the general secretary of the IEC, Àngel Messeguer i Peypoch; the vice-rector for Equality, Inclusion and Gender of the UB, Montserrat Puig Llobet; the vice-rector for Culture, Memory and Heritage of the UB, Agustí Alcoberro Pericay; the president of the Science and Technology Section of the IEC, Alícia Casals Gelpí; researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB and the Faculty of Physics of the UB, and relatives of Assumpció Català.
 

A l'acte han assistit els vicerectors de la UB Montserrat Puig i Agustí Alcoberro. Foto: FGC.
The event was attended by the vice-rectors of the UB Montserrat Puig and Agustí Alcoberro. Credits: FGC.

 

The christening of the train marks the final stretch of the commemorative events for the centenary of the birth of Assumpció Català i Poch, which began in February with an event in the University's Historical Building, where Català was a professor of Mathematics and Astronomy. On July 14, coinciding with the exact date of her birth, the central event was held at the Montsec Astronomical Park, where the largest telescope has been named after Català since 2016. The Astronomical Park, managed by FGC, has also dedicated this year's Astronomy Festival to the figure of the astronomer.

During today's christening ceremony, the travelling exhibition on the figure of Català i Poch, which has been prepared by the ICD, was also visited on the platform of via 5 in Plaça de Catalunya. The exhibition will be moved from tomorrow to the Espai Provença of FGC (Provença station: access via Carrer de Rosselló, 219, on the corner with Balmes), where it can be visited until December 19, from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 to 19:00.
 

ICCUB-IEEC resercher Francesca Figueras, curator of the exhibition
ICCUB-IEEC resercher Francesca Figueras, one of the curators of the exhibition, presenting it to the attendants. Credits: FGC.

 

In addition, on November 27, three exhibitions related to the figure of Assumpció Català will be inaugurated at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona: a virtual one, entitled "Assumpció Català and the University of Barcelona. A pioneering trajectory in the university and scientific world"; one from the M. Asunción Català Poch Collection of the CRAI Library of Physics and Chemistry, and another on historical astronomy instruments. On the other hand, the biographical comic book Assumpció Català, la dona que estimava les estrelles (Edicions UB) will be published shortly, with illustrations by Pilarín Bayés and texts by Ramon Dilla, professor of Art History at the UB.

The centenary of the Catalan Assumption is part of the Government's commemorations for 2025, which annually decides on the events and personalities to be commemorated by the Generalitat de Catalunya. The aim is to highlight, recover and disseminate the memory of these events and personalities that have left their mark on the collective heritage.

Assumpció Català i Poch (Barcelona, ​​14 July 1925 - 3 July 2009) was the first woman to obtain a doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Barcelona. She did so in 1970, and ended up becoming a professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the same University. She also carried out systematic observations of sunspots for over thirty years and represented Spain in the International Astronomical Union.