Tribute to Professor Horacio Capel

Horacio Capel.
Horacio Capel.
Institutional
(02/11/2015)

On Tuesday 3 November, at 6 p.m., the Aula Magna of the Historic Building host a tribute to Horacio Capel, professor of Human Geography from the University of Barcelona, on the occasion of his retirement. The event, chaired by the Rector Dídac Ramírez, includes the speeches pronounced by Carles Carreras, professor of Human Geography; Xavier Roigé, dean of the Faculty of Geography and History; Vicenç Casals, lecturer of Human Geography, and Professor José Luis Arteaga. The event also includes the presentation of the book Horacio Capel, geógrafo (Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona). Besides describing Capel's career, the work reviews the history and theory of Geography in Spain for the last fifty years.

Horacio Capel.
Horacio Capel.
Institutional
02/11/2015

On Tuesday 3 November, at 6 p.m., the Aula Magna of the Historic Building host a tribute to Horacio Capel, professor of Human Geography from the University of Barcelona, on the occasion of his retirement. The event, chaired by the Rector Dídac Ramírez, includes the speeches pronounced by Carles Carreras, professor of Human Geography; Xavier Roigé, dean of the Faculty of Geography and History; Vicenç Casals, lecturer of Human Geography, and Professor José Luis Arteaga. The event also includes the presentation of the book Horacio Capel, geógrafo (Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona). Besides describing Capel's career, the work reviews the history and theory of Geography in Spain for the last fifty years.

Horacio Capel received the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize —an award also known as the Nobel Prize in Geography— in 2008. He has developed many studies on different questions related to urban geography (urban morphology and systems) and the perception of space, and he has published the books Estudios sobre el sistema urbano (1974) and Capitalismo y morfología urbana en España (1975). In the mid-1970s, his research activity was focused on the theory and history of geography and science and he published the books Filosofía y ciencia en la geografía contemporánea (1981), La Física Sagrada. Creencias religiosas y teorías científicas en los orígenes de la geomorfología española (1985), De Palas a Minerva. La formación científica y la estructura institucional de los ingenieros militares en el siglo XVIII (1988), and O nascimento da ciência moderna e a América (1999).

He has worked on aspects related to technical innovation and local environments since the late 1980s. Among his most popular books on urban matters we highlight Dibujar el mundo. Borges y la geografía del siglo XXI (2001), La morfología de las ciudades. Sociedad, cultura y espacio urbano (2002),  La cosmópolis y la ciudad (2003)Los ferrocarriles en la ciudad. Redes técnicas y configuración del espacio urbano (2011), and El patrimonio: la construcción de pasado y del future (2014).

Moreover, he directed the journal Geo Crítica. Cuadernos Críticos de Geografía Humana and the site Geocrítica. Nowadays, he directs the journals Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales (a high impact journal included in the Social Science Citation Index), Biblio 3W. Revista Bibliográfica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales and Ar@cne. Recursos en Internet para la Geografía y las Ciencias Sociales.

He was granted an honorary doctorate by the National University of San Juan (Argentina) in 1999, the National University of Cuyo (Mendoza, Argentina) in 2002, and the University of Buenos Aires in 2010. He has received the Preston James Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award, the Colombian Geography Prize Francisco José de Caldas, and the Medal of Honour conferred by the Association of Colombian Geographers.