POMPEU FABRA

His vocation, however, was another: the study of Catalan and its normalization. He said he discovered it one day when he was getting ready to write a letter to his nephews and realized he barely had a command of the language he was speaking. Since then, the meticulous engineer dedicated himself passionately to the study of Catalan to rescue it from disuse and bring it up to date. This was happening at a time when in Catalonia - since the second half of the 19th century - a process of recovery of the Catalan language and literature had begun.

Fabra contributed many works, all of them key, such as Normes ortográficas (1913) and Catalan Grammar (1918). His most relevant work, however, is the General Dictionary of the Catalan Language, which was published in 1932.

Excursionist, Liceu lover, sportsman - he presided over the Tennis Association of Catalonia - Pompeu Fabra was a man of great scientific prestige and very popular in the country, and between 1931 and 1936 he was the subject of many tributes. He died on December 25, 1948 in the northern Catalan town of Prada, in Conflent, where he had gone into exile when the dictatorship was installed.