The UB commemorates the 150 years of the periodic table
Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Mendeleevʼs periodic system and the 50th anniversary of Chemistry studies in the Diagonal Campus, the Faculty of Chemistry organizes an event to present several actions promoted by the center to commemorate these ephemerides. The activity will take place on Tuesday, May 14 at 12 noon in the room 105 in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UB (c. Martí i Franquès, 1).
Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Mendeleevʼs periodic system and the 50th anniversary of Chemistry studies in the Diagonal Campus, the Faculty of Chemistry organizes an event to present several actions promoted by the center to commemorate these ephemerides. The activity will take place on Tuesday, May 14 at 12 noon in the room 105 in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UB (c. Martí i Franquès, 1).
One of these is the museumisation of a part of the fifty periodic tables that are in the Faculty and which are documented in the book 150 anys de les taules periòdiques a la Universitat de Barcelona (Editions and Publications of the UB, 2019). Another initiative is the project "Aules Periòdiques", the incorporation of 25 periodic tables with different typos in the rooms of the Faculty, in order to have all the elements visible in the rooms during class.
50 years of Chemistry in the Barcelona Knowledge Campus
On November 1, 1969, the building that held the Section of Chemistry of the Faculty of Sciences of the UB was inaugurated, in the street Martí i Franquès, number 1, built by the architects M. and J. Romero Aguirre. This building enabled a notably expansion of the departments, but the Faculty of Chemistry as we know now was not born until 1974.
In 1845, the first chair of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona was created, within the branch of Sciences of the Faculty of Philosophy. The first professor to hold it -Joan Agell i Torrents (Sanaüja, 1809 - Barcelona, 1868) - was also the first chemist rector of the UB, between 1864 and 1866. Afterwards, the chair was held by Francesc Domènech i Maranges (Barcelona, 1820-1904), the first scientist to make demonstrations to lighten up Barcelona in 1852 with electricity.
The year after the arrival of José Ramón Fernández de Luanco Riego as professor of Chemistry in Barcelona, in 1868, Mendeleev published the first version of the chemical elements periodic table. Luanco did not explain it in his classes and his books, unlike Eugenio Mascareñas Hernández (1853-1934), professor of Inorganic Chemistry, who included it in his book in 1884.
Collection of periodic tables at the UB
The UB has fifty periodic tables, apart from several topic-related walls. Now, on the occasion of this double milestone, the museumisation of the collection of periodic tables has been launched in order to consolidate it as a part of the heritage of the University.
This suggests a 7-stage itinerary to see some of the most outstanding periodic tables in the Faculty of Chemistry, in the ground, 1st and 2nd floors of the building. In this itinerary visitors can see some ceramic walls with proto-chemical symbols, the work Homenatge als elements, by the artist Eugènia Balcells, and reproductions of relevant periodic tables, some of which are far from Mendeléievʼs approach. One of the most distinguished ones is the one in the Historical Building of the UB, in a room in the Faculty of Philology, painted as an initiative by Antonio García Banús in 1934 following the model by Andreas von Antropoff.
The book 150 anys de taules periòdiques a la Universitat de Barcelona, by the professors Claudi Mans and Santiago Álvarez, shows the evolution of the periodic table in Catalonia from the first representations in the 19th century until the present. During this journey, focused on the UB collection, the reader will find several periodic tables of different kinds in which the rigour of experimental sciences is combined with artistic sensitiveness: oil-painted tables, magnetic ones, wall paintings, ceramic tables, others regarded as building games, etc. There are a total 114 periodic tables, almost as many as the 118 chemical elements that are identified so far.
Periodic tables: chemistry and typography
The Faculty of Chemistry has installed 25 new wall periodic tables in the rooms. Each of these is designed with a different typography, apart from fulfilling their function -keeping the elements visible in the rooms- the series of tables builds up a varied exhibition of classic, interesting and historical typographies.
Among the most distinguished ones are the one in the room 105, with a typography designed by Ricard Giralt Miracle; the one in the room 305, with a typography by Laura Messeguer; the one in the room 307, with a typography by Salvador Saura, and the one in the room 104, designed by Joan Trochut and updated by Àlex Trochut and Andreu Balius. The graphic design and typographic selection have been carried out by Edicions de lʼEixample.