Maria Assumpció Català i Poch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Professor
Maria Assumpció Català i Poch
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| Born | July 14, 1925 |
| Died | July 3, 2009 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
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María Assumpció Català i Poch (born in Barcelona, Spain, on July 14, 1925 – died July 3, 2009) was an amazing Spanish professor, mathematician, and astronomer. She taught for many years, from 1952 to 1991. She started her career helping out in the Astronomy Section at a math seminar in Barcelona. This was connected to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Later, she also worked at the Henri Poincaré Institute and helped with projects at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
In 1970, she made history! She was the first woman to earn a science PhD in Mathematics from the University of Barcelona (UB). Her important research was about how star systems move. For over 30 years, she regularly watched sunspots and figured out the paths of orbits and eclipses.
She guided many students, helping eleven with their degrees and seven with their doctorates. For 15 years, she represented Spain in a special group about astronomy education for the International Astronomical Union. She also gave scientific advice for the astronomy part of the Spanish version of National Geographic magazine.
She retired in 1984. But she still stayed connected with the world of astronomy and universities. She often went to meetings of the Spanish Society of Astronomy.
Contents
About María Assumpció Català
Her Early Life and Family
María Assumpció Català i Poch was the oldest of five children. She had four sisters and one brother. Her father, Albert Català, worked in banking. Her mother, Assumpció Poch, was a teacher. However, like many women at that time, her mother stopped working after she got married.
Because of her father's job, María's family moved to Montblanc when she was little. She started school there. But they soon moved back to Barcelona. So, she continued her primary studies in Catholic schools in Barcelona.
Her University Education
After the Spanish Civil War ended, María studied at Instituto Maragall high school. In 1947, she started studying at the UB. Back then, it was unusual for a woman to go to university. But her father wanted all his children to have a chance to get an education if they wished.
Even with her father's support, it was her uncle, Jaume Poch i Garí, who truly sparked her interest in the universe. Her uncle was a Geography professor. But he loved Astronomy so much that he added it to the teaching diploma program after the war. He would take his nieces and nephew to a mountain. There, he taught them how to find the cardinal points and tell the time by looking at tree shadows. When it got dark, he showed them the amazing secrets of the universe. This is how María fell in love with Astronomy. When she was in high school, her uncle even gave her astronomy and philosophy problems to solve for practice.
At the UB during that time, you could only study Astronomy if you were getting a degree in Mathematics. When María started, only four other women were studying math. But that number got smaller. By her third year, she was the only woman in the entire math faculty! In 1953, she earned her degree. She then continued her studies to get her PhD. To follow her family's tradition, and because money was tight after the war, she took a public exam to become a high school math teacher. She taught from 1963 to 1975 at Instituto Infanta Isabel in Barcelona.
In 1971, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis. This made her the first woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics from the UB. After that, she started working as a professor in the Astronomy Department at the UB.
Her Professional Life
Teaching and Research
María started working while she was still taking classes for her doctorate. From 1952 to 1970, she was an assistant. She helped teach subjects like General Astronomy, Topography, Spherical Astronomy, Geodesy, and different types of Mathematics. She also taught Rational Mechanics and Celestial Mechanics at the UB.
She even led the Department of Sciences at the UB for a year (1957–1958) and again from 1968 to 1971. Between 1960 and 1974, she was an associate professor there. From 1965 to 1967, she taught Mathematics in the Pharmacy Department.
From 1971 into the early 1980s, she worked with the Special Chair of Space Technologies at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. She taught classes on Astrodynamics and Celestial Mechanics.
In 1975, she became an assistant professor in the Physics Department at the UB. She achieved this after passing public exams to become an Astronomy teacher. This made her the first woman astronomer to work as a professor at a Spanish university! From 1982 to 1984, she was an associate professor. She taught Astronomy, Astrophysics, Geophysics, and Geodesy. She also worked with the Cartographic Institute of Catalonia.
María also gave special talks and courses about astronomy. She worked hard to make sure women in astronomy were seen and recognized. She was part of a group called Ella es astrónoma (She is an astronomer). This group helps support women in this field. She also took part in Mujeres en las estrellas (Women in the stars), a TV show from the National University of Distance Education.
Besides teaching, she held important roles in national and international groups. Since 1976, she was a member of the International Astronomical Union. For 15 years, she represented Spain in their group about Astronomy Education. She was also a member of the European Astronomical Society, the Spanish Society of Astronomy, and other science and math societies. From 1997, she was a scientific advisor for the Astronomy Section of the Spanish National Geographic magazine.
She also wrote several books and notes that are still used as study materials in the astronomy community. She retired in 1990.
Her Research Discoveries
In 1954, María received a scholarship to research Spherical Astronomy. She did this by calculating and correcting the paths of comets. During the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958), she worked on observational astronomy. She calculated comet orbits and observed sunspots and prominences daily at the UB Observatory. This was done with the Spanish National Observatory. This teamwork led to big discoveries, like the Van Allen radiation belt and the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik 1.
From 1974 to 1990, she also studied how stellar systems move. In 1978, a grant helped her research spherical astronomy, eclipses, occultations, and transit calculations. She also studied the movement of stellar systems and galaxies.
Between 1976 and 1979, she worked at the Henri Poincaré Institute in Paris. She also researched the structure of the Oort cloud at the Observatorie de Meudon.
María also helped with projects for the European Space Agency. One project used the Hipparcos satellite to find and measure the positions of stars and planets.
Besides her astronomy research, she studied Arab science. She wrote works like Las obras matemáticas de Maslama de Madrid (1965) and Arquímedes árabe: el tratado de los círculos tangentes (1968).
Awards and Honors
- She was made an honorary Professor Emeritus by the UB in 2004.
- She received the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2009. This is a very important award in Catalonia, Spain.
Named After Her
- A reflecting telescope at the Centre d'Observació de L'Univer in Lleida is named after her. It's called the Dall-Kirham telescope.
Images for kids
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Maria Assumpció Català i Poch
See also
In Spanish: María Asunción Català para niños
