Barcelona receives the Einstein City distinction from the FCRI
The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, today received the Einstein City commemorative award, presented by the Director General of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), Jordi Mas. The municipality is the third to receive this distinction after Espluga de Francolí and Terrassa on 25 February. The aim of this initiative is to bring the figure of Einstein and his scientific contributions closer to the public, as well as to explain the context of the German scientist’s visit to Catalonia.
On 22 February 1923, Einstein arrived in Barcelona to give several lectures on the theory of relativity. He was invited by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya (Commonwealth of Catalonia) to promote a modern scientific community in the country. His stay consisted of eight days during which he visited five municipalities: Barcelona, Poblet, Espluga de Francolí, Terrassa and Sant Cugat del Vallès. During this year 2023, in commemoration of the centenary of the visit of the German physicist Albert Einstein in Catalonia, the FCRI has made a specific recognition to those localities that welcomed him during his visit in 1923, giving their municipal representatives the Einstein City distinctions, a series of commemorative plaques of the event.
To commemorate the event, the FCRI has also created the Einstein a Catalunya website, which allows visitors to relive his day-to-day life, what he said, what he did and the public echo he generated a century ago. The website details his itinerary through an interactive map that gives access to images and news from newspapers of the time, as well as other contemporary documents from historical research. In an informative tone, users can find, for example, the menu signed by Einstein at the dinner offered to him by the political leader Rafael Campalans, letters written by the Nobel Prize winner, references that himself made to Catalonia and the city of Barcelona, or details of the flower bills that his wife Elsa received during his visit.
The portal also has an agenda of activities in Catalonia related to the centenary of the visit that will take place throughout the year. In fact, several actions have already been carried out in 2021, such as the Einstein Trail to Barcelona and the Einstein a Catalunya.