Josep Comas i Sola

Josep Comas i Solà was a Spanish astronomer, of Catalan origin, who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and the popularization of science. He was born in Barcelona on December 17, 1868, to a family of merchants. He showed a great interest in science from an early age, and wrote his first astronomy notes at 10. He published his first article in a French specialist magazine when he was only 15, after studying a meteorite that fell near Tarragona. He also conducted some observations of a lunar eclipse and a meteor shower in his youth. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Barcelona, where he obtained his degree in 1886. He then started his astronomical research, using a Bardou telescope of 108 mm to observe Mars, Jupiter and the Sun. He made a map of Mars and presented it to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. He opposed the idea of canals on Mars proposed by the American astronomer Percival Lowell. In 1897, he was offered a job as an astronomer at the Catalan Observatory of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, which had been built by the industrialist and amateur astronomer Rafael Patxot. There he found quality facilities and made interesting observations. He worked there from 1895 to 1897, and then made a study trip to Italy and Sicily, where he visited the main observatories and volcanoes. On November 27, 1897, he married Teresa Patxot Jubert ¹, sister of Rafael Patxot. The Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona entrusted him with the organization of a mission to Elche to study the solar eclipse of May 28, 1900. He was a pioneer in the use of photography and cinema applied to astronomy. He also participated in other expeditions to observe solar eclipses in Algeria (1905), Russia (1914) and Sobral (Brazil) (1919). In 1904, he became the head of Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, where he worked until his death. He used a Grubb equatorial telescope with a Petzval photographic camera to discover 11 asteroids and 2 comets. He also discovered a double star named SOL 1. He studied the rotation period of Saturn and observed limb darkening on its moon Titan, suggesting that it had an atmosphere. He wrote several books and articles to popularize astronomy, such as Photography of the Sky (1898), Astronomy and General Science (1907), Photographic Album of the Ecliptic Zone (1915) and various manuals titled Astronomy (1910, 1920, 1927) and The Sky (1927). He was the first president of the Astronomical Society of Spain and America (S.A.D.E.Y.A.), founded in 1911. He received several awards and honors for his scientific work, such as the Jules Janssen Prize from the French Astronomical Society in 1905, the Medal of Honor from the City Council of Barcelona in 1929, and the Echegaray Medal from the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences in 1932. Two asteroids (1102 Pepita and 1655 Comas Solà) are named after him, as well as a crater on Mars (Comas Sola). He died of a heart attack in Barcelona on December 2, 1937 , at the age of 68. He left his house, land and valuable astronomical instruments to the city of Barcelona. He was buried in the Montjuïc Cemetery, where a monument was erected in his memory .