88
While at Montreal, I dedicated my all efforts to persuading Admiral Orte,
Director of the Royal Naval Observatory in San Fernando, that his observatory should, on behalf of Spain, take charge of the meridian circle that the
Danes wanted to set up. I had a hard time convincing him because of his fear
of not being up to the job and letting Spain down. In fact, they have done an
excellent job and ended up overseeing this transit telescope. They later overhauled a similar telescope they had in San Fernando and set it up in Argentina
so that they could cover both hemispheres, thereby converting the Spanish
observatory as the world centre for ephemerides and catalogues until the
advent many years later of satellites tasked with this activity.
Another of our strategies was to recognize the need to ensure that the observatories we dreamed of building should be well received locally, that the peoples of the islands should understand that the white domes that would begin
to mushroom on their mountaintops would bring benefits for all. That is why
we spoke (preached, I should say) endlessly of the many benefits that intelligent exploitation of this exotic natural resource could bring to the locality.
And slowly, very slowly, the Canarian population—even the politicians—
began to understand our argument. It gradually dawned on them that, even if
a clear and pure sky is not quite petroleum, it is still a rare resource of great
value that could bring genuine benefits locally.
Returning to the negotiations, in order to ensure fulfilment of the agreements and the Spanish character of the observatories, we wanted to take
charge of the essential services: power, telecommunications, water, accommodation, restaurants, and access roads. Our politicians finally took this on
board, and it is stated in the agreement that Spain’s contribution was to assume
the costs of these infrastructures, which would be directly supervised by the
IAC. That is why both Observatories are run, not by a director, but by an
administrator.
But it was politic to give the telescope owners some kind of say in the
administration of the Observatories. Apart from anything else, they had
greater experience than we did in the management of large observatories, and
this would be acknowledged in the treaty through the creation of an
International Scientific Committee (CCI, after its Spanish initials).
We also had to persuade our foreign colleagues that it would be helpful for
them to hire Spanish astrophysicists with a sufficiently solid background in
science and technology to work alongside of them at the telescopes, and not
just as auxiliary personnel. That would save the time and cost involved in
operating their telescopes on the colonial principle, with their complete, selfsufficient teams from the home country. That approach, along with hiring
local staff in strictly auxiliary roles, would lead to a conflictive disparity in
F. Sánchez
While at Montreal, I dedicated my all efforts to persuading Admiral Orte,
Director of the Royal Naval Observatory in San Fernando, that his observatory should, on behalf of Spain, take charge of the meridian circle that the
Danes wanted to set up. I had a hard time convincing him because of his fear
of not being up to the job and letting Spain down. In fact, they have done an
excellent job and ended up overseeing this transit telescope. They later overhauled a similar telescope they had in San Fernando and set it up in Argentina
so that they could cover both hemispheres, thereby converting the Spanish
observatory as the world centre for ephemerides and catalogues until the
advent many years later of satellites tasked with this activity.
Another of our strategies was to recognize the need to ensure that the observatories we dreamed of building should be well received locally, that the peoples of the islands should understand that the white domes that would begin
to mushroom on their mountaintops would bring benefits for all. That is why
we spoke (preached, I should say) endlessly of the many benefits that intelligent exploitation of this exotic natural resource could bring to the locality.
And slowly, very slowly, the Canarian population—even the politicians—
began to understand our argument. It gradually dawned on them that, even if
a clear and pure sky is not quite petroleum, it is still a rare resource of great
value that could bring genuine benefits locally.
Returning to the negotiations, in order to ensure fulfilment of the agreements and the Spanish character of the observatories, we wanted to take
charge of the essential services: power, telecommunications, water, accommodation, restaurants, and access roads. Our politicians finally took this on
board, and it is stated in the agreement that Spain’s contribution was to assume
the costs of these infrastructures, which would be directly supervised by the
IAC. That is why both Observatories are run, not by a director, but by an
administrator.
But it was politic to give the telescope owners some kind of say in the
administration of the Observatories. Apart from anything else, they had
greater experience than we did in the management of large observatories, and
this would be acknowledged in the treaty through the creation of an
International Scientific Committee (CCI, after its Spanish initials).
We also had to persuade our foreign colleagues that it would be helpful for
them to hire Spanish astrophysicists with a sufficiently solid background in
science and technology to work alongside of them at the telescopes, and not
just as auxiliary personnel. That would save the time and cost involved in
operating their telescopes on the colonial principle, with their complete, selfsufficient teams from the home country. That approach, along with hiring
local staff in strictly auxiliary roles, would lead to a conflictive disparity in
F. Sánchez