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Many were the wiles we had to employ here in Spain to secure the birth,
setting up, formalization, and growth of the IAC and astrophysics in the
country. We had to know how to trim our sails with astuteness when the
winds were propitious, and slacken them to avoid adverse winds, all the while
keeping a firm, determined grip on the tiller, never deviating from our
set course.
For a start we had to commit ourselves to achieving four preliminary
objectives:
• Acquire a voice, independence, and control,
• Attract modern telescopes then being constructed to the Canaries,
• Raise the banner of astrophysics, and
• Begin without further delay to train young Spanish astrophysicists.
We achieved all that!
Those objectives were attained the seventies. During that time the basic
nucleus of personnel was formed that would carry the great project forward.
To fly high one must first take off. We had to have a voice and control. In
the Spanish academia of those days, that meant that obtaining a professorship
was an essential prerequisite. So, with that aim, the first thing to do was to
campaign for the creation a chair in astrophysics, quite an exotic demand at
the time. But before I finally got the chair, the Director of Teide Observatory
threatened to expel me from the Observatory if I dared present myself as a
candidate for the professorship on the grounds that my activities at the
Observatory would be incompatible with the holding of such a chair! And
this from no less than the person who at the time was Professor of Astronomy
and Geodesy and Dean of the Science Faculty of the Complutense University,
Astronomer at the National Observatory of Madrid, Director of the School of
Topography, and permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences—on
top of being Director of Teide Observatory.
At that time oposiciones for professorships were all held in Madrid. During
my examination in the auditorium there was a handful of young physics lecturers who had been rejected by the tribunal, but who stayed behind curious
to know who this unknown Doctor Sánchez from the Canaries was and how
he would comport himself. At the end of the many long examinations typical
of the period, I succeeded in demonstrating my knowledge and capabilities to
two of the members of the tribunal and, finally, to the professor of Astronomy
of Barcelona, Professor Orús, who tipped the balance in my favour. I got my
professorship.
F. Sánchez
Many were the wiles we had to employ here in Spain to secure the birth,
setting up, formalization, and growth of the IAC and astrophysics in the
country. We had to know how to trim our sails with astuteness when the
winds were propitious, and slacken them to avoid adverse winds, all the while
keeping a firm, determined grip on the tiller, never deviating from our
set course.
For a start we had to commit ourselves to achieving four preliminary
objectives:
• Acquire a voice, independence, and control,
• Attract modern telescopes then being constructed to the Canaries,
• Raise the banner of astrophysics, and
• Begin without further delay to train young Spanish astrophysicists.
We achieved all that!
Those objectives were attained the seventies. During that time the basic
nucleus of personnel was formed that would carry the great project forward.
To fly high one must first take off. We had to have a voice and control. In
the Spanish academia of those days, that meant that obtaining a professorship
was an essential prerequisite. So, with that aim, the first thing to do was to
campaign for the creation a chair in astrophysics, quite an exotic demand at
the time. But before I finally got the chair, the Director of Teide Observatory
threatened to expel me from the Observatory if I dared present myself as a
candidate for the professorship on the grounds that my activities at the
Observatory would be incompatible with the holding of such a chair! And
this from no less than the person who at the time was Professor of Astronomy
and Geodesy and Dean of the Science Faculty of the Complutense University,
Astronomer at the National Observatory of Madrid, Director of the School of
Topography, and permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences—on
top of being Director of Teide Observatory.
At that time oposiciones for professorships were all held in Madrid. During
my examination in the auditorium there was a handful of young physics lecturers who had been rejected by the tribunal, but who stayed behind curious
to know who this unknown Doctor Sánchez from the Canaries was and how
he would comport himself. At the end of the many long examinations typical
of the period, I succeeded in demonstrating my knowledge and capabilities to
two of the members of the tribunal and, finally, to the professor of Astronomy
of Barcelona, Professor Orús, who tipped the balance in my favour. I got my
professorship.
F. Sánchez