David Jou awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Girona
David Jou, professor of the UAB Department of Physics, was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Aula Magna of the university on 10 December. The new honorary doctor was nominated by Elena Roget and Xavier Casamitjana, lecturers of the UdG Department of Physics.
Dr David Jou (Sitges, 1953), physicist, poet and scientific disseminator, is professor in Condensed Matter Physics at the UAB and specialises in irreversible thermodynamic processes and the mechanical statistics of systems far removed from equilibrium. In these fields and other similar ones, Dr Jou has published some two hundred papers in international scientific journals. His poems are compiled in some fifteen books.
As a writer and scientist, his articles and books have contributed enormously to spreading scientific knowledge and promoting reflection on its ethical and cultural implications. He has touched upon a variety of subjects, such as history and advances in physics, the relationship between science, art and spirituality, the similarity between the Universe's cosmology and the human brain, and others. Dr Jou addresses scientific and theological themes and reflects on social issues related to globalisation, environmental problems and the loss of diversity.
His connection with the University of Girona dates back to 1983, when he played a decisive role in the creation of the Environmental Physics Group. He was in charge of directing or assessing the PhD theses of the lecturers who were beginning their academic and research career at UdG. He also regularly visits UdG, as a member of academic tribunes or to give lectures, and has contributed to the consolidation of the Environmental Physics Group and the Complex Systems Group, both belonging the Department of Physics.
He has also collaborated with other institutions in Girona, such as the Casa de Cultura, Bisbat, Centre Cultural La Mercè, Centre Cristià dels Universitaris and the Institut de Teologia.