Dr. David Jou Mirabent

 David Jou (Sitges, 1953) is a physicist and a poet, author of a wide literary, essay and scientific work. Graduate (1975) and PhD (1978) in Physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, from 1989 he is full professor of Physics of Condensed Matter at this University, and doctor honoris causa of the Universitat de Girona. His scientific work has been devoted to the research on thermodynamics of irreversible processes ando n the physics of Systems far from equilibrium. Incidentally, he has been one of the most active promoters of the so-called extended irreversible thermodynamics, a theory which brings thermodynamics beyond the frontiers of local-equilibrium, linking generalized transport equations with new non-classical forms of non-equilibrium entropy, with such diverse applications as heat transfer, thermal waves, nanoscience, rheology, cosmology, and quantum turbulence.

He has published more than 270 research papers on these topics in international journals. He has also published several research books and monographs, namely Extended irreversible thermodynamics (with Georgy Lebon and José Casas-Vázquez, 1993, 2010), cited more than 1500 times and translated to Russian, Understanding non-equilibrium thermodynamics: foundations, applications, frontiers (with the same coauthors as the previous book, 2008), Thermodynamics of fluids under flow (with José Casas-Vázquez and Manuel Criado-Sancho, 2011), Mesoscopic teories of heat transport in nanosystems (with Antonio Sellitto and Antonio Cimmelli) and Introduction to thermodynamics of biological processes (with Josep Enric Llebot, 1990). Amongst his textbooks we mention Física para las ciencias de la vida (with Josep Enric Llebot and Carlos Pérez-García), Mecànica estadística i biologia molecular (1992) and Termodinámica química (with Manuel Criado-Sancho and José Casas-Vázquez). He has studied the research on Physics in Catalonia, and has been the coordinator of the periodic Reports on research on Physics in Catalonia (1990-1996, 1996-2002, 2003-2009) and coauthor of the monograph Estudis bibliomètrics sobre la recerca en física a Catalunya (with Lluís Rovira i Pau Senra). He has been awarded the following prizes: Eduard Fontserè, of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (1983), Rey Juan Carlos I a jóvenes investigadores, of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (1986), the Narcís Monturiol Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya (1992), and Ciutat de Barcelona for sciences (1993), from the Barcelona city council. He is a member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (1990), of the Reial Acadèmia de Doctors (1996), and corresponding member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Madrid (2004), and of Accademia Peloritana of Messina (Sicily)(2005).

As a poet, he has published 23 books in Catalan language, some of them have been translated to several languages (Spanish, Russian, English, Polish, German, Hungarian, and Bulgarian), and he has poems in some 30 collective anthologies (in Catalan, Spanish, English, Italian, and Russian). His poetical work has explored with special intensity scientific, religious, political topics, as well as movies, paintings and arts, and it has searched new poetical forms, related to visual shapes. His books prior to 2004 have been collected in the volumes L’èxtasi i el càlcul (2002) i L’huracà sobre els mapes (2004), and the anthology Entre el mirall i les ombres (1995). From 2004 on, his books are: Les escriptures de l’univers (poemes sobre ciència) (The scriptures of the universe (poems on science) (2007), Llum de Sitges (2004), Sitges en blau (2006), L’avinguda i el laberint (poemes sobre Catalunya i Espanya) (2013), Poemes sobre ciència i fe (2013) (Poems on science and faith, 2013), Poemes de Nadal i de Setmana Santa (2014)(Poems on Christmas and Easter (2014), La mística dels dies (2015) and Cartografies de Déu (2016). He is also author of the text of La Passió de la Selva del Camp (2009). From 1969 on, he is a collaborator of the weekly magazine L’Eco de Sitges, where he has published more than 1400 poems, many of them have been included in his books. He has been awarded a number of literary prizes, amongst which the Cadaqués to Quima Jaume 2015 for the ensemble of his literary work. His book Tapís (Tapestry) has been illustrated with etchings of Manuel Capdevila, and has been given a musical accompaniment by the composer Mercè Torrents, and some of his poems have been turned into songs by Fina R Palau, Antonio Arias, Xavier Pagès, Sergi Roca, Sergi Casanelles, Guillem Ramiro.

His essays are one of the most active examples of the third culture, namely, a bridge between science and humanities. He has published a study of the sculptures of his grandfather Pere Jou, L’escultor Pere Jou (1991), and the essays Matèria i materialisme (Matter and materrialism)(1994, 2015), El laberinto del temps (The labyrinth of time: time and memory in life and the universe) (1996, 2014)(translated to Spanish), Reescribiendo el Génesis (de la gloria de Dios al sabotaje del Universo (2008) (translated to Italian), Cerebro y Universo (dos cosmologías) (Brain and universe: two cosmologies) (2011), i Introducción al mundo cuántico (de las danza de las partículas a las semillas de las galaxias) (Introduction to the quantum world (from the dance of particles to the seeds of galaxies) (2012), and the following essays on science and religion: Déu, cosmos, caos (horitzons del diàleg entre ciència i religió) (God, cosmos, chaos: horizons of the dialog between science and religion)(2008), La expresividad de la Creación (The expressivity of Creation)(with Mònica Rozman, 2010) and La poesia de l’infinit (ciència i mística) (The poetry of infinite: science and mysticism)(2012). He has translated to Catalan language the Brief history of time, by Stephen Hawking, and to Catalan and to Spanish other books by Hawking: The universe in a nutshell, Very brief history of time, The grand design. As a popular-science writer, he was a collaborator of the section of science and technology of La Vanguardia (the main newspaper in Barcelona) from 1984 to 1994, and has given more than 350 public lectures. From this popular-science experience, have appeared the book Converses a Barcelona: Vladimir de Semir i David Jou, and the book of poems El color de la ciencia, with drawings by Fernando Krahn (1994).