Miguel A. Catalán

Examining the spectrum of the arc of manganese, he determined that the optical spectra of complex atoms consisted of groups of lines –which he called "multipletes"- between which existed certain characteristic regularities.

On the invitation of Arnold Sommerfeld, he worked at the University of Munich, and on the creation by the Rockefeller Foundation of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry (Madrid), in 1930 he was named head of the Spectroscopy Section.

He was invited numerous times to work in the laboratories of the National Bureau of Standards (Washington, D.C.), Princeton University, and MIT.

He married Jimena Menéndez-Pidal, the daughter of Royal Spanish Academy director Ramón Menéndez Pidal and María Goyri.

Because of the military coup by General Francisco Franco in July 1936, he and his father in law were the subject of numerous misdemeanours.