151
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
F. Sánchez, The Rise of Astrophysics in Modern Spain, Astronomers’ Universe,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66426-8_16
16
Towards
Excellence in Research (1971–Present)
I now describe how, in its brief existence, the IAC has steadily worked towards
high-quality, competitive research. I lay more emphasis on how this was
achieved rather than the numerous milestones reached. There is little point in
tiresomely itemizing a long list of scientific achievements. They are there for
all to see in the most cited journals, international ranking indexes, and the
IAC’s website. Summaries of the most important scientific results are also
published in the IAC’s annual reports, and the Director’s résumés in successive Governing Councils, and in IAC publications.
We began to research and publish right from the beginning, in spite of our
lack of suitable means. Our output improved when foreign telescopes began
to arrive, first with the Bordeaux Telescope, then the solar telescopes of the
Fraunhofer Institute, and later the infrared telescope of Imperial College.
As we began to grow and diversify, we needed to find our niche. The
Director had to know where the ‘business’ of astrophysics in the rest of the
world was headed, which were the most promising lines of research in studying the Universe. We therefore sought the counsel of wiser (some of them not
so wise) authorities in matters astrophysical. At the Institute we strove to keep
abreast of the many ‘perspectives’ on the future of astronomy that were being
published by the most advanced countries. The list is a long one, so I cite only
a few of them here. The first such report to fall into my hands was Prospettive
dell’Astronomia Ottica, published in 1968 by the Italian National Optics
Institute. I later acquired all the reports published every decade by American
and European institutions. I also tried to attend the meetings and symposia
on future perspectives. And in 2004 I contributed a paper with the title ‘The
IAC: Its role in leading the development of Spanish astrophysics’ to the series
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
F. Sánchez, The Rise of Astrophysics in Modern Spain, Astronomers’ Universe,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66426-8_16
16
Towards
Excellence in Research (1971–Present)
I now describe how, in its brief existence, the IAC has steadily worked towards
high-quality, competitive research. I lay more emphasis on how this was
achieved rather than the numerous milestones reached. There is little point in
tiresomely itemizing a long list of scientific achievements. They are there for
all to see in the most cited journals, international ranking indexes, and the
IAC’s website. Summaries of the most important scientific results are also
published in the IAC’s annual reports, and the Director’s résumés in successive Governing Councils, and in IAC publications.
We began to research and publish right from the beginning, in spite of our
lack of suitable means. Our output improved when foreign telescopes began
to arrive, first with the Bordeaux Telescope, then the solar telescopes of the
Fraunhofer Institute, and later the infrared telescope of Imperial College.
As we began to grow and diversify, we needed to find our niche. The
Director had to know where the ‘business’ of astrophysics in the rest of the
world was headed, which were the most promising lines of research in studying the Universe. We therefore sought the counsel of wiser (some of them not
so wise) authorities in matters astrophysical. At the Institute we strove to keep
abreast of the many ‘perspectives’ on the future of astronomy that were being
published by the most advanced countries. The list is a long one, so I cite only
a few of them here. The first such report to fall into my hands was Prospettive
dell’Astronomia Ottica, published in 1968 by the Italian National Optics
Institute. I later acquired all the reports published every decade by American
and European institutions. I also tried to attend the meetings and symposia
on future perspectives. And in 2004 I contributed a paper with the title ‘The
IAC: Its role in leading the development of Spanish astrophysics’ to the series