Joan Bagaria

Catalan mathematician

A specialist in mathematical logic and set theory, Bagaria has focused his scholarly output on large cardinals, infinite combinatorics, and forcing, maintaining an active research presence at the University of Barcelona throughout his professional career.

Academic Foundations

Born in Manlleu, Spain, in 1958, Bagaria pursued initial studies in philosophy, completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1981 followed by a Master of Arts in 1984 at the University of Barcelona. His doctoral supervisors were Haim Judah and W. Hugh Woodin. During his tenure at Berkeley, which spanned from January 1986 to May 1992, he held multiple academic roles including reader, graduate student instructor, junior specialist, and summer session instructor.

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Career Trajectory

Bagaria returned to Catalonia in 1992, holding an appointment as an invited researcher at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica between June and September of that year. He subsequently served as an interim research professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona from October 1992 to September 1995. Following a year as an invited professor at Pompeu Fabra University, he accepted an interim associate professor position at the University of Barcelona. Since 2001, he has served as an ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona.

Research and Contributions

His published work addresses complex theoretical frameworks, including characterizations of Martin's axiom and bounded forcing axioms related to generic absoluteness. Collaborating with scholars such as J. López-Abad, M. Magidor, and C. Casacuberta, he has examined topics ranging from weakly Ramsey sets in Banach spaces to the properties of C(n)-cardinals and strongly compact cardinals. He has mentored nine PhD students and contributes to public understanding of mathematics through lectures. Outside of his technical research, Bagaria is an active proponent of Catalan independentism.

Fast facts

Questions readers ask

What is Joan Bagaria's primary area of research?

He is a mathematician and logician specializing in set theory, with a focus on forcing, large cardinals, and infinite combinatorics.

Where has he held academic appointments?

He has held positions at the University of California, Berkeley, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, and currently the University of Barcelona.

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