The man in the biosphere: ecologist Ramon Margalefʼs legacy for a more sustanaible world
Titled Lʼhome en la Biosfera. El llegat de Margalef per un món més sostenible, the Faculty of Biology -center where the prestigious scientist Ramon Margalef taught for more than twenty years- will hold the homage session to Professor Margalef on May 23, at 12 noon. The activity will take place at the Aula Magna of the Ramon Margalef building at the Faculty, and will be presided by the Dean, Rosina Gironès, Professor Francesc Xavier Sans, director of the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB (IRBio) and Narcís Prat, professor from the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Sciences.
Titled Lʼhome en la Biosfera. El llegat de Margalef per un món més sostenible, the Faculty of Biology -center where the prestigious scientist Ramon Margalef taught for more than twenty years- will hold the homage session to Professor Margalef on May 23, at 12 noon. The activity will take place at the Aula Magna of the Ramon Margalef building at the Faculty, and will be presided by the Dean, Rosina Gironès, Professor Francesc Xavier Sans, director of the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB (IRBio) and Narcís Prat, professor from the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Sciences.
As part of the homage, researcher Cèlia Marrasé, from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), will give the conference Margalef, una visió personal. Professor Enric Tello, from the Faculty of Economics and Business of the UB, and Joan Marull, from the Barcelona Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies (IERMB-UAB), will take part in the lecture A voltes amb Ramon Margalef: energia, informació i paisatge, and Teresa Franquesa, from the Department of Ecology, Urbanism and Mobility at the Barcelona City Council, will talk about sustainability in Sostenibilitat i ciutat.
The event will continue with the exhibition of projects by the students of Sustainable Development, who take the bachelorʼs degree on Environmental Sciences at the University of Barcelona. The exhibition will give way to the closing of the homage, promoted by the Faculty of Biology, IRBio, the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Teaching Innovation Group on Sustainable Development DSambApS.
From May 13 to June 28, the hall of the Ramon Margalef building of the Faculty of Biology will also exhibit his scientific publications, an initiative by the Biology CRAI Library.
Ramon Margalef and the adventure of life
On June 1, 1967, the scientist Ramon Margalef took office of the first position of professor of Ecology at the University of Barcelona and in Spain. This prestigious scientist, born in Barcelona in 1919, and an international distinguished figure in ecology in the 20th century, launched the creation of the former Department of Ecology of the UB and left a university footage which has continued for many generations of ecologists in the country. On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Ramon Margalef (1919-2004), first scientist awarded with the Saint Georgeʼs Cross in 1997, the University of Barcelona is holding commemorative activities counting on the participation of several research institutions.
In this context, on Monday, May 13, at 5.30 p.m., the theatre Poliorama was the scenario of a homage to Professor Margalef, launched by the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona (RACAB) and the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC). The activity presented the book Margalefʼs speech on joining RACAB, -La Teoria de la INformación en Biologia, 1957 -by the expert Frederic Bartomeus, from the Centre of Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC).
The activity also offered a new representation of Ramon Margalef i lʼaventura de la vida, a theatre piece to share the figure of the prestigious scientist with the audience. This play is part of the activity Theatrum sapientiate, promoted by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) from the Communication Area of the UB and the Research Group Aula Música Poètica from the Faculty of Philology. The activity continued with a series of readings based on reflections on science by Ramon Margalef and a musical performance to close the institutional homage.
A man of sciences and an inspiring university professor
Ramon Margalef (1919-2004) is regarded one of the three most prestigious Spanish scientists of the 20th century internationally, together with Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Severo Ochoa, awarded with the Nobel Prize. He was one of the most productive and cited authors in the field of ecology, and is the author of works that are ʻa mustʼ to understand the functioning of nature, such as Ecología (1974), Limnología (1983) and Our Biosphere (1997). Margalef, considered one of the pioneers to develop a highly competitive and quality marine research, was awarded in 1980 by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (Canada) with the Huntsmann Award to excellence in marine sciences, regarded as the Nobel Prize in oceanography.
The scientific work and ecologic thinking of Margalef marked an intellectual mastership which is still active, with renewing ideas and a way to think nature which made an impact and guided the work for many generations of ecologists. Several biological species -for instance, the small algae Picarola margalefii- received their scientific name honoring Ramon Margalef. This algae, from the Coccolithophore group, inspired the sculpture that receive the awardees of Ramon Margalef Prize, created by Generalitat de Catalunya in 2004 to honor the scientist.
In 2014, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of his death, Professor Margalef was paid homage with a wide range of institutional acts organized by the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), and the Institute for Catalan Studies, among other institutions. Also, last January, the Faculty of Biology held the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Ecological Society (SIBECOL) -the first scientific society of experts on ecology in the Iberian Peninsula -which remembered Ramon Margalefʼs great teaching and research contribution.
The scientific legacy of this Catalan ecologist is also visible in the Ramon Margalef Archive in CRAI and Espai Margalef, an open space which shows a reconstruction of Professor Margalefʼs office at the Faculty of Biology, with his books, manuscripts, letters, photographs and other materials of scientific interest. This place results from an initiative coordinated by the professors Mercè Durfort and Narcís Prat, together with the Biology CRAI Library.
In this context, it is noteworthy to mention the book Ramon Margalef, ecólogo de la biosfera (Editions and Publications of the UB), by Narcís Prat, Joandomènec Ros and Francesc Peters, a scientific biography of the Catalan ecologist, edited with the sponsorship of Agbar Foundation on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death.
More information of the commemorative activities on the birth of Professor Ramon Margalef here.