142
Minister for Education and Science. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
was born by drawing together all these entities through a ‘cooperation agreement’, signed in the presence of the Minister for Education and Science, by
the University of La Laguna, CSIC, and the Provincial Inter-island Association
of Cabildos of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With this agreement,
all astrophysical activity in the Canaries was integrated under the command
of a single entity. This consortium model would serve as a conceptual basis for
the Astrophysics Law of 1982 mentioned earlier (see Chap. 12).
With this agreement we advanced another step in our strategy of consolidating our nascent Institute and setting it on a formal basis. Our aim was to
become an entity capable of managing the Canarian Observatories and all the
activity on the islands in this branch of science. We were ever wary of the
Spanish weakness for territorialism, which would result in astrophysics being
split up piecemeal with constant squabbling among institutions—always an
endemic tendency in Spain.
In the summer of 1975, a select group of outstanding Spanish physicists
held a week-long meeting in Santander under the auspices of the Menéndez y
Pelayo University to analyse the state of physics in the country and to try to
coordinate plans for its future. I remember Javier Solana, who was later to rise
to dizzy heights in politics, being among them. As there were at the time a
great number of theoretical physicists, there was a noticeable tendency in the
discussions to slant the development of astrophysics towards theory. I had to
work hard to convince them that, with the arrival of powerful and advanced
telescopes, it was necessary to develop observational astrophysics and its attendant technologies. I argued that the theoretical side would develop without
hindrance, given the deep-rootedness of theoretical physics at our universities,
which would ensure its economic development. I can remember the support
I received from Nicolás Cabrera (the son of Don Blas), who had just returned
to Spain and was at the time setting in motion the teaching of physics at the
newly created Autonomous University of Madrid.
Another matter deserving mention is the formalization of the concept of
the Canarian skies as an exploitable natural resource at a gathering of economists. The First Economics Studies Workshop—organized by the Canarian
Council (the pre-autonomy government of the Canary Islands), Banco de
Bilbao, and the University of La Laguna—was celebrated during 9–11 April
1980. The title of my talk, ‘The skies of the Canary Islands as a natural resource
of recognized scientific interest’, expressed with clarity the concept that was to
serve as a permanent reference. I gave a summary of what had been achieved
to date and a future projection of the IAC. I began:
F. Sánchez
Minister for Education and Science. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
was born by drawing together all these entities through a ‘cooperation agreement’, signed in the presence of the Minister for Education and Science, by
the University of La Laguna, CSIC, and the Provincial Inter-island Association
of Cabildos of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With this agreement,
all astrophysical activity in the Canaries was integrated under the command
of a single entity. This consortium model would serve as a conceptual basis for
the Astrophysics Law of 1982 mentioned earlier (see Chap. 12).
With this agreement we advanced another step in our strategy of consolidating our nascent Institute and setting it on a formal basis. Our aim was to
become an entity capable of managing the Canarian Observatories and all the
activity on the islands in this branch of science. We were ever wary of the
Spanish weakness for territorialism, which would result in astrophysics being
split up piecemeal with constant squabbling among institutions—always an
endemic tendency in Spain.
In the summer of 1975, a select group of outstanding Spanish physicists
held a week-long meeting in Santander under the auspices of the Menéndez y
Pelayo University to analyse the state of physics in the country and to try to
coordinate plans for its future. I remember Javier Solana, who was later to rise
to dizzy heights in politics, being among them. As there were at the time a
great number of theoretical physicists, there was a noticeable tendency in the
discussions to slant the development of astrophysics towards theory. I had to
work hard to convince them that, with the arrival of powerful and advanced
telescopes, it was necessary to develop observational astrophysics and its attendant technologies. I argued that the theoretical side would develop without
hindrance, given the deep-rootedness of theoretical physics at our universities,
which would ensure its economic development. I can remember the support
I received from Nicolás Cabrera (the son of Don Blas), who had just returned
to Spain and was at the time setting in motion the teaching of physics at the
newly created Autonomous University of Madrid.
Another matter deserving mention is the formalization of the concept of
the Canarian skies as an exploitable natural resource at a gathering of economists. The First Economics Studies Workshop—organized by the Canarian
Council (the pre-autonomy government of the Canary Islands), Banco de
Bilbao, and the University of La Laguna—was celebrated during 9–11 April
1980. The title of my talk, ‘The skies of the Canary Islands as a natural resource
of recognized scientific interest’, expressed with clarity the concept that was to
serve as a permanent reference. I gave a summary of what had been achieved
to date and a future projection of the IAC. I began:
F. Sánchez