
Professor Joaquim Ortega Cerdà, from the University of Barcelona, has been elected as a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, Norway’s oldest scientific and scholarly institution and one of Europe’s oldest and most respected academic institutions.
Founded in 1760 in Trondheim, the Society brings together researchers from a broad range of disciplines, with the aim of promoting science, scholarship, and international collaboration. Membership is offered to individuals whose work has made a meaningful contribution to their field.
Ortega has spent much of his academic life working in complex analysis, particularly in the study of the inhomogeneous Cauchy–Riemann equation, Bergman kernels, and sampling and interpolation problems. His research also touches on Dirichlet series, viewed from the perspective of infinite-dimensional analysis, and more recently, on random point processes and optimal configurations.
After completing his PhD at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, he held research and teaching positions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, and eventually joined the University of Barcelona in 1997, where he continues to teach and work today.
Over the years, Ortega has maintained strong ties with the mathematical communities in Norway and Scandinavia, spending time at the Centre for Advanced Study in Oslo, the Universities of Gothenburg and Trondheim, and the Mittag-Leffler Institute, among others. In 2016, he was invited to give a lecture at the European Congress of Mathematics.
Rather than viewing the nomination as a personal distinction, Ortega sees it as an opportunity to continue building bridges:
“First of all, it’s a recognition of a long history of collaborations with Norwegian mathematicians. It’s also a chance to strengthen those ties and to exchange ideas with colleagues from other disciplines, especially at a time when parts of society are casting doubt on scientific knowledge — as we’ve seen in recent debates around vaccines or climate models. In this context, I think academies can play an important role as spaces for dialogue, especially within the European sphere.”
His words reflect a broader view of science—not just as a pursuit of understanding, but as a shared endeavor that depends on trust, openness, and international cooperation.
Joaquim Ortega Cerdà is a professor at the University of Barcelona. His primary research interests focus on complex analysis in one and several variables, especially in addressing the inhomogeneous Cauchy-Riemann equation. Through this approach, he investigates significant problems, such as estimating the size of the Bergman kernel, describing zero sets, and analyzing sampling and interpolating sequences. Ortega Cerdà also explores related topics, including Dirichlet series from the perspective of function theory within the infinite-dimensional polydisk, as well as random point processes and optimal configuration sets.
Personal website: https://mat.ub.edu/departament/professors/ortega-cerda-joaquim/
Subscribe for more CRM News
|
CRM CommPau Varela
|
Mathematics Beneath the Tarmac: CRM’s Role in Enhance Europe
The Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) participates in Enhance Europe. This European research project explores how solar heat from asphalt can be harvested and reused as thermal energy in cities. Through its Knowledge Transfer Unit, CRM leads the...
Talent jove al CRM: tres estudiants del programa Joves i Ciència fan estada a la Unitat de Transferència
D'esquerra a dreta: Lucía Escudero, Clara Castelló, Marc Homs-Dones, Roger Carrillo, Manel Mas, Maria Borrell i David Romero. Per segon any, la Unitat de Transferència del CRM ha acollit tres estudiants del programa Joves i Ciència de la Fundació...
BAMB! 2025: A School for Models, Minds, and the Messy Art of Behavior
BAMB! 2025 brought together thirty early-career researchers in Barcelona for an intense nine-day training on model-based analysis of behaviour. Organised by the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica with top international researchers, the school combined...
Barcelona, Stochastic Analysis and Quantitative Finance: Highlights of the 2025 Summer School
The 5th edition of the Barcelona Summer School on Stochastic Analysis and Quantitative Finance took place from July 21 to 25, 2025, at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), marking the revival of an academic tradition interrupted by the pandemic. The program offered...
Scientific vision and dialogue: the SAB meets at CRM to advise on future directions
The Scientific Advisory Board of the CRM met in July 2025 to advise on the centre’s scientific direction and review key aspects of its activity. In addition to looking at strategic plans and recruitment priorities, Board members took part in a...
Mathematics Illuminates Metabolic Mysteries: Understanding SDH-b Dysfunction in Pheochromocytoma
A mathematical model developed by researchers from the University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University of London, and the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica reveals how chromaffin cells adapt to the loss of SDH-b—a key metabolic enzyme subunit whose dysfunction is linked to...
ESGI 2025: Mathematics Meets Industry at the CRM
Over the course of five days, ESGI 2025 turned the CRM into a collaborative lab where mathematics tackled questions raised by industry. From safer autonomous driving systems to smart water resource allocation and the financial uncertainties of wind...
Quatre noves figures s’incorporen a l’exposició del CRM sobre dones matemàtiques
Aquest estiu, el CRM ha ampliat fins a tretze els roll ups de la seva exposició sobre dones matemàtiques, incorporant quatre noves figures del context espanyol i català. La mostra aprofita l’afluència de visitants al centre per visibilitzar...
From Real Problems to Mathematical Applications: A Chronicle of the XI Iberian Modeling Week
From July 7 to 11, the CRM became a hub for collaborative problem-solving during the XI Iberian Modeling Week, an international training initiative that brought together nearly 30 students from diverse academic backgrounds to tackle real-world...
The Way DNA Folds Might Help Explain How Cells Decide What to Become
A new study by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Oxford, and CRM reveals how the 3D structure of DNA and a microscopic molecular tug-of-war shape the identity of every cell in our...
The CRM hosts a new edition of the Barcelona Introduction to Mathematical Research summer school
From June 30 to July 25, 2025, the CRM is organising a new edition of the Barcelona Introduction to Mathematical Research (BIMR), a summer school hosted at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The programme brings together 30 undergraduate...
Niclas Rieger defends his PhD thesis on data-driven climate analysis and marine pollution
Niclas Rieger defended his PhD thesis at the Institut de Ciències del Mar, culminating a research journey focused on extracting insights from both massive climate datasets and scarce environmental observations. Developed within the European CAFE...