Born in Barcelona in 1920, he graduated in Philology and Literature from the University of Barcelona, and holds a doctorate from the University of Madrid. In 1948 he became professor of historical grammar of the Spanish language at the University of Barcelona, and professor of Catalan Philology at the same university.

He has held many academic and institutional positions, such as chairman at the Societé de Linguistique Romane (1968-71), chairman at the Associació Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (International Association of Catalan Language and Literature, 1973-76), principal of the University of Barcelona (1978-86) and chairman at the Philological Area of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies, 1989-95). In addition to being a member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans since 1968, he is a member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (Royal Academy of Belles Lettres of Barcelona) and corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (Royal Spanish Academy, 1965).

His research work and his defence of Catalan language and culture have earned him numerous recognitions and awards, the Barcelona City Award (1986), the Jaume I Foundation Honour Award (1995), the Catalan Foundation for Research Award (1996) and the Saint George’s Cross by the Government of Catalonia (1986).

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit deserves to be called a classic man, due to his extensive education within the philological tradition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal and to the diversity and quality of the subjects he has covered (focusing on different areas such as historical grammar, dialectology, synchronic linguistics, text editing or sociolinguistic studies).