107
assimilating and transferring the advanced technology associated with big scientific projects. We likewise wanted to train scientists and technologists, and
spread scientific knowledge through astronomical outreach. I saw at once that
he warmed to the idea, and he climbed on board immediately. He was hungry
with an appetite for the challenge.
We obtained an economic grant from the nascent Autonomous Community
of the Canary Islands to assign the project to the Department of Administrative
Law of the University of La Laguna. Professor Ariño soon prepared a draft
outlining the subject but he discovered that, under Spanish legal regulations
in force at the time, the project would be impossible. He advised us that a new
law, specifically dedicated to the IAC, would be necessary—not, in his view, a
viable proposition given the extreme weakness in which the UCD government found itself at that time (the early eighties). On 28 January 1981 Adolfo
Suárez resigned as President and as leader of the UCD; shortly after, on 23
February, there occurred a failed coup d’état, right in the middle of the vote
for the investiture of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo; the economic crisis and the disintegration of the UCD led to its resounding electoral defeat in October
1982, followed by the dissolution of the party in February 1983. Professor
Ariño had been perfectly correct in his frank assessment: ‘the oven wasn’t yet
ready to bake the buns’.
Nevertheless, the fact remained that we now had a juridically very well
structured and cogently argued, but novel, piece of planned legislation. It
rested on new administrative solutions for modern research centres, but it
strayed from the well-trodden path, an approach that always raises eyebrows
(‘better the devil you know’), so it behoved us to proceed warily. It all looked
fine on paper: it marshalled the activities and means of all the institutions
with an interest in astrophysics, unifying them all in a single entity with a
‘juridical personality with full capacity to act’ in managing and governing its
own affairs (a ‘public management consortium’).
What to do next, tuck it away in a drawer in the hope of better times? Once
again, we had to push for the impossible and urge a government fearful of
introducing new legislation to regard this as a special case. For the government even to consider doing this it needed guarantees of the necessary parliamentary support, so we set about explaining everything to and convincing the
main political parties by speaking to the highest-profile Canarian representatives in each party. We managed to convince them of the importance and
urgency of the matter and the pressing need to pass the ‘Astrophysics Law’.
The time was right at that particular political juncture because the UCD
needed a piece of legislation that would have the majority support of
Parliament time was running out. At last, leaders of all the parties went to the
12 Science Meets Politics…
assimilating and transferring the advanced technology associated with big scientific projects. We likewise wanted to train scientists and technologists, and
spread scientific knowledge through astronomical outreach. I saw at once that
he warmed to the idea, and he climbed on board immediately. He was hungry
with an appetite for the challenge.
We obtained an economic grant from the nascent Autonomous Community
of the Canary Islands to assign the project to the Department of Administrative
Law of the University of La Laguna. Professor Ariño soon prepared a draft
outlining the subject but he discovered that, under Spanish legal regulations
in force at the time, the project would be impossible. He advised us that a new
law, specifically dedicated to the IAC, would be necessary—not, in his view, a
viable proposition given the extreme weakness in which the UCD government found itself at that time (the early eighties). On 28 January 1981 Adolfo
Suárez resigned as President and as leader of the UCD; shortly after, on 23
February, there occurred a failed coup d’état, right in the middle of the vote
for the investiture of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo; the economic crisis and the disintegration of the UCD led to its resounding electoral defeat in October
1982, followed by the dissolution of the party in February 1983. Professor
Ariño had been perfectly correct in his frank assessment: ‘the oven wasn’t yet
ready to bake the buns’.
Nevertheless, the fact remained that we now had a juridically very well
structured and cogently argued, but novel, piece of planned legislation. It
rested on new administrative solutions for modern research centres, but it
strayed from the well-trodden path, an approach that always raises eyebrows
(‘better the devil you know’), so it behoved us to proceed warily. It all looked
fine on paper: it marshalled the activities and means of all the institutions
with an interest in astrophysics, unifying them all in a single entity with a
‘juridical personality with full capacity to act’ in managing and governing its
own affairs (a ‘public management consortium’).
What to do next, tuck it away in a drawer in the hope of better times? Once
again, we had to push for the impossible and urge a government fearful of
introducing new legislation to regard this as a special case. For the government even to consider doing this it needed guarantees of the necessary parliamentary support, so we set about explaining everything to and convincing the
main political parties by speaking to the highest-profile Canarian representatives in each party. We managed to convince them of the importance and
urgency of the matter and the pressing need to pass the ‘Astrophysics Law’.
The time was right at that particular political juncture because the UCD
needed a piece of legislation that would have the majority support of
Parliament time was running out. At last, leaders of all the parties went to the
12 Science Meets Politics…