Our Leonardo da Vinci

VicUnder the rotating metal dome that protects a precious telescope, located at the top of an old manor house in the heart of Vic, it is a devilishly hot day. Of course: it's the peak of midday. I notice a few dents on this dome, painted a color that mixes grey (from the fog, so typical of Vic – there's less of it now than before–) and blue (from the sky). These dents were caused by a strong hailstorm. There are also some caused by a bombing that took place at the end of the Civil War.

The telescope was acquired in Paris in 1909 by Josep Pratdesaba from Vic, one of the most universal Catalan scientists (at the end of the article, if you get there, you will know why). It is a two-tube telescope (one has the function of observing stars and constellations and the other of photographing them). "It is called a double equatorial telescope; there are four in the entire State, including the one located at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona", explains Toni Ylla-Català, my host, who contributed effectively to its restoration. No, Toni is not an astronomer. His credentials are simple: he is a neighbor. When he learned that hands were needed to recover this observatory, he did not hesitate to offer his, and those of his children, who skipped their extracurricular activities. The best extracurricular was this!When Pratdesaba died, in 1967, the observatory also died (but not completely). The dome began to degrade. Some pieces even fell off. "This became a dovecote. We removed 400 kilos of pigeon droppings," recalls Toni.We climbed 96 steps to get under the dome. 96 are the years Josep Pratdesaba lived. Luckily, when the steps and the work were becoming burdensome for him, a good collaborator appeared: the son of the cathedral bell-ringer. "Father Have-a-Good-Time", they called him: he greeted everyone. "The telescope was acquired by Josep Pratdesaba with the help of his father to see Halley's Comet, which was passing close to Earth in 1910", Anna Alsina, the owner of the property, explains to me. I am also accompanied on the visit by a family from Formentera passionate about the night sky. They are a couple, two children, and a lively puppy who ascends with agility. "It's the first time a dog has climbed to the dome", says Anna Alsina, great-granddaughter of Josep Pratdesaba."Up here, Pratdesaba, driven by an insatiable curiosity, observed and documented the planets, spots, and prominences of the Sun (explosions, which create the Northern Lights) and conducted solar spectroscopy work. "This dome was initially rotated manually. But Pratdesaba wanted to use a broken washing machine," recalls Anna. "He adapted its motor to be the mechanism to make it rotate," she specifies. The device still works today."}

The world is unfairly distributed in so many aspects! Also in this one: there are people who excel at a lot of things and others who don't excel at anything. Hey, all my respect for this second group. Walking through life on tiptoe is also an option. But, of course, inventive and multifaceted characters fascinate us. Like Leonardo da Vinci.O Josep Pratdesaba: besides being an astronomer, he was an expert in physics, optics, photography, geology, livestock farming, meteorology – he created, with Josep Fontserè and a group of friends, the first network of meteorological shelters in Catalonia–. He was the one who first described thermal inversion in the Plana de Vic. He also revolutionized agriculture (he directed the magazine Cambra Agrícola Ausetana); he often had to write articles under a pseudonym because collaborators forgot to deliver the texts) and radio (he was a co-founder of Ràdio Associació de Catalunya). And he was one of the first people from Vic to ride a bicycle. It has nothing to do with it, but someone might come to think that having a strong surname strong already implied a strong personality. From the same Pratdesaba lineage, there is also the excellent jazz singer Big Mama (Montserrat Pratdesaba). Josep Pratdesaba's passion for knowledge was infinite. He went as far as studying Hebrew to understand the Bible well, and also Esperanto. In everything he was self-taught: he started an engineering degree, but he was soon called home to attend to the shop: his mother had fallen ill (paralysis made her unable to move). In the evenings, by the light of an oil lamp, Josep studied everything he could in the back room.We go down to the main floor, which is very furnished. Everything is preserved as if people still lived there. Theatrical guided tours are held there. So many things catch my eye! In the living room, a series of painted characters look at me intently, questioning me: one of them, with a serious appearance, is Salvador Calvet, son of Francesc Calvet (who participated in the drafting of the Constitution of 1812, the one of "Long live La Pepa!").

I play the piano. It sounds quite good. It is used in some of the theatrical visits. Toni opens a wooden globe, inside which are hidden some glasses and a bottle – it contained ratafia, he explains to me (a shame, we cannot taste it)–. We enter a room with a high ceiling, from which hangs a simple lamp, crammed with drawings of the moon and the sun, and astrology documents: Pratdesaba was also passionate about it, which displeased the purist astronomers. "Read...", Toni suggests to me when we are in front of a rudimentary phonograph. "Don't let it leave the USA," he says. Pratdesaba's father-in-law, who traveled to the USA to meet Edison, must have taken it clandestinely, or he made a copy. The corner workshop is full of tools, including a vibrator for all sorts of massages. This workshop opens onto a beautiful garden, which is open to the public every Friday. They have "packed lunches" there. Anyone who wishes shares the meal in this peaceful corner with views of the cathedral.What a luxury to have visited the house of one of our most universal scientists: a crater on the moon bears his name.The telephone used to talk to MartiansPratdesaba was born and grew up in an era steeped in innovations: the industrialization of the country and the arrival of the railway and electricity in Vic. Later came decisive novelties such as photography, the telegraph, radio, aviation, and the telephone. Josep Pratdesaba was passionate about the telephone. At the observatory, a video of him is projected and he has a telephone in his hand: it was used to talk to his wife. "Josep, lunch is ready!", she would say, located a few floors below, by telephone (he, looking up, lost sight of the world). But during school visits, Josep Pratdesaba would say that the telephone was for talking to Martians. He was joking!