Baix Ebre Research Awards

Eleven years ago, the president of the Consell Comarcal del Baix Ebre, put in his budget two awards for the best high school students research work in our region: one for the humanistic work and the other for the science and technology work.

In this time, I thought it was a silly decision but it has continued during these years.

The second year, he gave a name for the prizes: the humanistic work was Federico Pastor Award and the science and technology work was Pare Romanyà Award.

Four years ago, the president at this moment decided to change of the format prizes and introduced one presentation of the work as a part of the final score and this is very interesting to hear the research works and the ability of the students to defend them.

While the jury deliberates, we can enjoyed a small performance of music.

For a lot for years I was a member of High School Joaquin Bau AMPA and I went to the awards presentation and I enjoyed it a lot.

This year I returned because one of my friend’s daughters was one of the finalists and it was fantastic to see young people defending their work and I could to learn a lot of things about different finalist themes.

This is an open act and normally only parents and teachers go but I recommend it to everybody.

I recognise that eleven years ago I was wrong in judging the decision of the president!!!

And now, who were these people who were named awards?

Antonio Romanà Pujó was born in Barcelona on 21st March 1900. After his college studies, he entered the Society of Jesus in Gandia, in 1917. Simultaneously to his ecclesiastical studies with the Bachelor of Sciences in Barcelona, which ended with an extraordinary award and obtaining the same score with his doctoral thesis "Criteria existence of closed orbits?".

He was professor of mathematics and astronomy. After an internship at the observatory at the University of Vienna he joined the Observatorio del Ebro where he was appointed head of the sections of Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity and land. After the Spanish Civil War he was the director.

Despite the hardships of war, he undertook the task of repair, recovery and calibration of stolen and damaged instruments as well as the reconstruction of the pavilions.

Spain was expelled at the end of the Second World War from international agencies of astronomy and geophysics and in 1946 he undertook negotiations to stabilise the presence of Spain as a member of it.

In October 1970, having turned 70 years old, asked to be relieved of the post of director of the Observatory, but he continued to work in the same place as honorary director until an illness made him retired. He died on October 13th, 1981.


Federico Pastor Lluís, (Tortosa, 03.31.1846 - 04.19.1923) was a writer and historian.

He studied his primary and high schools in Tortosa. It would have studied medicine in Valencia, although it seems that did not finish the career. It was chronicler of the Secció Excursionista de l’Orfeó Tortosí, honorary member of the Ateneu de Tortosa, favourite son of the city (1911) and was director of the Museu Arxiu Municipal for several years.

He was a correspondent of Las Provincias and was a correspondent member of the Ateneo de la Juventud Valenciana and the cultural society Lo Rat Penat. He was also managing partner of Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, corresponding member of Real Academia de las Buenas Letras de Barcelona and the corresponding of Real Academia de la Historia de Madrid.

His most famous work is Narraciones tortosinas (Tortosa, 1901) a collection of articles and biographies of historical people of  Tortosa that during the first decades that appeared in the local press -specifically Tortosa Illustrated magazine, from 1899 with a letter-prologue by Felip Pedrell 

The historical or biographical articles are scattered in local publications: Libertad, Diario de Tortosa, Tortosa Ilustrada, El Eco de la Fusion, La Zuda, El Restaurador or other like Bulletin of the Society of Castellonense Culture.

http://www.baixebre.cat/actualitat/noticies/dos-alumnes-de-linstitut-joaquin-bau-de-tortosa-guanyen-els-xi-premis-de-recerca


Tere, 1st August 2016