Claudi Alsina: personal memories
An old and dear friend, Claudi Alsina, has passed away. We met in the mid-1970s in Berkeley. I was teaching, and he, a young mathematics professor at the School of Architecture, was visiting. We talked about everything, but especially about two subjects that marked his professional and civic life: mathematics and the university. So much so that, fifty years later, he has left us, on the one hand, some forty books on mathematics, both technical monographs—published in various journals and some highly awarded—and popular science works, a field in which he had a very special talent and where he displayed his characteristic humor.
I know that during the last week of his life, helped by his beloved Carmen and Victoria, he was proofreading galleys of his next—I don't want to say last—book. On the other hand, in these fifty years, he amassed an exceptional record of service in Catalan universities, holding leadership positions at the UPC and the Generalitat of Catalonia. In this role, he served as Director General of Universities and Secretary of the Inter-University Council of Catalonia during the last government of President Pujol and those of President Mas. Here we met again and were able to resume our old Berkeley conversations in a more practical and, above all, more responsible environment. The conversation continued until two months ago.
Claudi was a measured activist. He never lost his temper and employed irony with expert subtlety. It wasn't noticeable, but he was tireless. I was amazed that during periods of very intense public service, new books appeared with surprising regularity, including some of the most technical ones. It didn't seem so, but he must have slept very little.
Claudi loved teaching, and it led him to Gaudí. As a mathematician, he found work at the school of architecture. He felt that, although he wasn't an architect, it was his responsibility, for the good of his students, to study the mathematics of architecture. And from this predisposition to perceive, study, and disseminate the enormous mathematical wealth present in Gaudí's work, there was only one step, which he took enthusiastically, collaborating with the architects and technicians of the Sagrada Família, some of whom were his students. An anecdote: he was very pleased that, through an Australian architect who had worked on the project, a major Australian university—RMIT—established its European campus in Barcelona. Mathematics, university, Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Catalonia—all together, what more could one ask for?
