- Esteban Terradas i Illa
Esteban Terradas i Illa (born
Barcelona ,15 September 1883 ; diedMadrid ,9 May 1950 ) was a Spanishmathematician ,scientist andengineer . He researched and taught widely in the fields ofmathematics and thephysical sciences , working not only in his nativeCatalonia , but also in the rest ofSpain and inSouth America . He was also active as a consultant in the Spanishtelephone andrailway industries .He held two
doctorate s (in mathematics andphysics ) on 1904, as well as two degrees inengineering . He wasprofessor ofmathematical analysis (teachingdifferential equations ) and later ofmathematical physics atBarcelona Central University . He also taughtacoustics ,optics ,electricity ,magnetism andclassical mechanics at theUniversity of Barcelona , teaching mechanics also at theUniversity of Zaragoza ,University of Buenos Aires and theuniversities ofLa Plata (Argentina ) andMontevideo (Uruguay ). He was a Member of theRoyal Academy of the Spanish Language and active in theRoyal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences and theRoyal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona . He was grantedhonorary doctorate s by the Universities of Buenos Aires, ofSantiago de Chile and ofToulouse (France ) and established as an honorary member of theRoyal Academy of Medicine of Barcelona , the Association of Argentine Engineers, and of the Society of Engineers ofPeru among many other honours.He studied at
Charlottenburg inBerlin , Barcelona and Madrid. Known as an exceptional student, entered the University on 1898, when was only 15 years old. He held professorships in the universities of Zaragoza, Barcelona and Madrid, specializing in physical and mathematical sciences and publishing numerous articles about those subjects. In 1909, while at the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, he produced an important work entitled "Emisión de radiaciones por cuerpos fijos o en movimiento".His
teaching and pedagogical activity was also important. He published articles in the "Revista de la Academia de Ciencias" in Madrid, and in the bulletin of theInstitute of Sciences of Barcelona . He set up a physics-mathematicsseminar , to which he brought some of the best regarded scientists of his time. He became a founder member of the Sciences Section of the Institute of Catalan Studies in 1911, within the framework of the "Monographic Courses of High Studies of Exchange" promoted by theMancomunitat de Catalunya . He also participated in theMinerva Collection , where he published "Theradium ". In 1919 set up theInstitute of Electricity and Applied Mechanics and was its director; he was also a teacher of the section ofelectrotechnics of theEscola del Treball .He was interested about
photography , starting at the time, on the beginning of the 20th century, using it to illustrate his technical and scientific works as well as his personal life.He was fascinated by the theories of quanta and relativity, inviting such figures as
Jacques Hadamard ) (1921),Hermann Weyl (1921),Arnold Sommerfeld (1922),Tullio Levi-Civita (1922) andAlbert Einstein (1923) to Barcelona. Einstein's Spanish visit, between 22 and28 February 1923 , was a notable success, organised by Terradas, the Catalan Government, the "Mancomunitat", andRafael Campalans . Terradas also was the driving force behind a series of scientificmonographies that were a compilation of these lectures, his own and the works of others (includingJulio Palacios ,Julio Rey Pastor andJacques Hadamard ), printed by the Institute of Catalan Studies under the title "Courses of Physics and Mathematics".On 1918, Terradas was chosen to drive the
Xarxa de Ferrocarrils Secundaris de Catalunya (Secondary Net of Catalan Railways), intended to decentralize Catalonia, but was never completed due to thedictatorship ofPrimo de Rivera being established on13 september 1923 .He was a technical director of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya railways, he directed (1923-25) and projected the construction of the
Transversal Metropolitan Railway of Barcelona and other Catalan railway lines.It is said that the President of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya,
Josep Puig i Cadafalch , entrusted him a study about the stability of the turn of plain brick, known as the "Catalan turn ", which is kept at the archive of the Institute of Catalan Studies.From 1940 onwards he worked for the Spanish
Instituto Nacional de Industria , becoming one of the top consultants of the Spanish industrial development along the 40s. He specially was involved in the planing and design of the power plants built byEndesa by that time.He lectured at several universities in South America, teaching in those of Buenos Aires and
Rio de la Plata (Uruguay ) from 1936 to 39. Later he worked at theCompañía Telefónica Nacional de España and served as a member of theHigher Board of Scientific Research . When a chair of differential equations was established at Madrid, Terradas won it.In (1910) he published "Discrete elements of matter and radiation", "Corrientes marinas" (1941) and, to gain entry to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, the volume "Neologismos, arcanismos in plàtica de ingenieros" (1946). As an
encyclopedist , he authored several articles in theEspasa Encyclopedia , including those onCelestial Mechanics , theMoon and relativity.See also
*
2399 Terradas Asteroid named in his memory.
* [http://www.locomotoravapor.com/castillaleon.htm Locomotive Esteban Terradas] , at the Railway Museum ofPonferrada (Spain), named in his memory.External links
* [http://www.aip.org/history/newsletter/spring2000/docpres.htm Esteban Terradas at the American Institute of Physics]
Books
* Roca Rosell, Antoni: Esteban Terradas (1883-1950) : ciencia y técnica en la España contemporánea; Antoni Roca Rosell, José Manuel Sánchez Ron; introduction from Enric Trillas.- Barcelona : Serbal : INTA, 1990.- 358 pages.
* Esteban Terradas Lecciones sobre Física de materiales sólidos.- printed by INTA 1943References
* This article draws on material in the corresponding article in the
Catalan language Wikipedia. It may also draw on the following websites, none of which are in English.
* [http://www.salleurl.edu/CeCAD/terradas/index.htm Esteban Terradas, A life given to science and technology]
* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/litesus/ Esteban Terradas science in the XX century Spain]
* [http://www.inta.es/ Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial Esteban Terradas]
* [http://www.ub.es/geocrit/sv-13.htm Electricity in Catalonia, a history to be written]
* [http://www.terra.es/personal/flromera/cientifit.htm#t5 Científicos y Técnicos]1212121212122222222222222222222222222
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