89
salaries, the visitors being exceptionally well reimbursed for working overseas
and the islanders receiving local rates of pay. In the end our overseas colleagues had to toe the line and began to employ Spanish staff at all levels.
Indeed, for some time now the Director of the Isaac Newton Group has been
Spanish.
Another huge challenge was building the difficult access road to the summit of Roque de los Muchachos. In 1976 the National Institute for the
Conservation of Nature (ICONA) began work on the road with some of its
own funds and partial subsidies from the Association of Cabildos and the La
Palma Cabildo. The route was laid out by the mountain engineer José María
Galeán of ICONA. I accompanied him in order to ensure, among other
things, that car headlamps would not in the future dazzle the telescopes. I
have fond memories of Galeán’s camaraderie, professionalism, and sheer grit
as he climbed and descended the hills and passes, dragging his crippled leg.
Then there was the controversy over the British firm Freeman Fox, which
was finishing the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge in Istambul. The
British had consulted this firm regarding the best route for accessing the
Roque. Freeman Fox issued the Olympian pronouncement that it would be
impossible to access the summit from the eastern side; instead, it would be
Fig. 10.1 Scientists involved in the negotiations concerning the International Treaty
on Astrophysics ascending towards Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma. Professor De
Jager is seen clinging to a horse’s tail to help him during the steep climb. (Credit: IAC)
10 A Multinational Astrophysics Treaty (1960–2014)
salaries, the visitors being exceptionally well reimbursed for working overseas
and the islanders receiving local rates of pay. In the end our overseas colleagues had to toe the line and began to employ Spanish staff at all levels.
Indeed, for some time now the Director of the Isaac Newton Group has been
Spanish.
Another huge challenge was building the difficult access road to the summit of Roque de los Muchachos. In 1976 the National Institute for the
Conservation of Nature (ICONA) began work on the road with some of its
own funds and partial subsidies from the Association of Cabildos and the La
Palma Cabildo. The route was laid out by the mountain engineer José María
Galeán of ICONA. I accompanied him in order to ensure, among other
things, that car headlamps would not in the future dazzle the telescopes. I
have fond memories of Galeán’s camaraderie, professionalism, and sheer grit
as he climbed and descended the hills and passes, dragging his crippled leg.
Then there was the controversy over the British firm Freeman Fox, which
was finishing the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge in Istambul. The
British had consulted this firm regarding the best route for accessing the
Roque. Freeman Fox issued the Olympian pronouncement that it would be
impossible to access the summit from the eastern side; instead, it would be
Fig. 10.1 Scientists involved in the negotiations concerning the International Treaty
on Astrophysics ascending towards Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma. Professor De
Jager is seen clinging to a horse’s tail to help him during the steep climb. (Credit: IAC)
10 A Multinational Astrophysics Treaty (1960–2014)