The tireless geologist who searched for oil in the Baix Empordà

Throughout this series we have frequently talked about figures linked to the oil industry, one of the most influential of the 20th and 21st centuries. Figures such as Eduard Recasens, Marc Rich, Calouste Gulbekian, Henri Deterding, Evarist Fàbregas and Josep Maluquer have all appeared in it, all of them linked in some way to black gold. And today's character, Domènec Palet, also set foot in the oil world, but in this case in a rather bizarre way and completely different from those mentioned above. We will find out why later.

Palet, a native of Terrassa, first had a calling in law, and in 1896 he graduated in law. But his interests went much further and he tried to gain a solid education in geology, the passion that would accompany him throughout his life. Politics and public service in general also motivated him, and before the end of the century he became a councillor in the Terrassa City Council, where he would become acting mayor. Before that, in 1891, he had begun to publish writings in the press about local geology. His activity in civil society was frenetic, as evidenced by the multitude of positions he held. At the end of 1894 he joined the board of directors of the historic Centro Excursionista de Catalunya and four years later he became general secretary of the Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Terrassa.

His political work was always presided over by his clearly republican convictions, which were in direct opposition to a certain caciquismo that still reigned in his city at that time, generally represented by Alfonso Sala Argemí, Count of Égara and protector of a young immigrant called Demetrio Carceller, who in the future would also be a man. He joined the Unió Catalanista and was president of the Fraternitat Republicana in Vallesana, linked precisely to the Unió Catalanista. Also in the republican sphere he helped to found the Casa del Pueblo (1903), where he was treasurer.

In 1904 he opened his own knitwear company, called Bosch Martí i Palet, in partnership with Miquel Bosch and Joan Martí, his father-in-law. After twelve years, the partners were only his father-in-law and himself, and in 1919 he became the sole owner of the business. The textile machinery was located in the Vapor de la Compañía, which was a factory created by the Galí family in 1833 and which, at its peak, had been one of the main factories in the country (the second in both Catalonia and the entire State, only surpassed by the Vapor Bonaplata).

Other entities with which he had a direct link were the Catalan Institution of Natural History, where he was president (a society founded, by the way, by Josep Maluquer, of whom we spoke at the beginning), the local Red Cross, the School of Domestic Economy or Seguro Tarrasense. When in February 1923, the physicist Albert Einstein visited Catalonia, one of his hosts was Palet, who received him as president of the Board of the Museum of Terrassa. Returning to politics, it should be said that he was a provincial deputy (1917-1921), a deputy in the Cortes of Madrid (1923) and also a deputy in the three legislatures of the parliament of the Republic (1931, 1933 and 1936). It is clear that to carry out such an extensive activity it was necessary for Palet to be a tireless worker, and that is how he was remembered by those who had known him, who highlighted his ability to study and learn, supported by a prodigious memory.

Denounced by scientists

In the field of geology he was a pioneer, contributing innovative concepts. He took part in the International Geological Congress held in Madrid in 1926. But he soon turned to dowsing as a technique for finding underground water, and proof of this is that a year later he took part in a dowsing competition in the city of Barcelona. In this competition, he presented a device of his invention that was capable of detecting underground water currents using mysterious waves called rabies and which did not seem to have much scientific basis. And from water he moved on to oil because he tried to apply this methodology to find oil deposits. At the end of the 1940s he founded an oil company called Petróleos Españoles, SA (PESA) to put his theories on prospecting into practice. The company made a first attempt on some land very close to the centre of La Bisbal (Baix Empordà), but they did not find oil and Palet ended up being the object of ridicule by scientists, who did not give any kind of credit to his methods. Two months after the failure of La Bisbal he died of a heart attack.