215
laid out the whole project to them in great detail, drawing attention to its
advantages and difficulties. The project took a decisive step forward when
they finally put their full weight behind the project. The Canarian Government
would create a limited company of public ownership to give it the required
legal and administrative weight and consistency. I am sure that the argument
that finally decided them was a quite straightforward one. The numbers I
showed them demonstrated how our large telescope would cost more or less
the same as adding a 10-m extension to a dock in a Canarian port. The coasts
in the islands are so abrupt that Isabel the Catholic once complained, ‘It
would seem that the ports in the Canaries were built with maravedis
1
rather
than stones’. I drove home my argument by asking whether it would be more
beneficial to the Canaries to lengthen a dock by 10 metres or engage in the
construction of a modern Big Science machine, complete with transferrable
technology, prestige, and visibility. They saw my point and told me to proceed
with the telescope.
After the meeting I perceived that the project had at last begun to take on
the appearance of reality and I began to have sleepless nights. The problem
that now confronted me was enormous. Only powerful countries with a tradition in Big Science had hitherto taken up the challenge of building an instrument of this complexity and size. This was no mere 80-cm telescope, and it
would be far from trivial to acquire the money needed.
I convened a meeting with close and senior members of the IAC and gave
them a detailed account of the state of play, voicing my concerns. We formed
a working group to face the challenge of this peril-laden opportunity. I was
relieved that I would now not be the only one losing sleep.
Once the decision to proceed with such a daring venture had been made,
we had to act decisively and smartly on all fronts. We immediately opened up
a debate among the IAC astrophysicists on the project to discuss its advisability, opportunities, and risks; for it had to be an enterprise shared by all and not
just the directorate. We laid our cards on the table, took due note of the huge
risks we were taking, and the great responsibility that the IAC would be
assuming. There were wide-ranging discussions lasting several sessions, and—
finally—we all agreed to proceed, but taking care to guarantee success and
avoid the falling into the trap of the IAC becoming the ‘Large Telescope
Institute’. We had to maintain the IAC’s R&D programme, so the management of the telescope would need to be externalized, but without severing
links with the Institute. And that, in effect, is what we did.
1 Maravedís were a variety of gold or silver coins used in Spain from the eleventh to the nineteenth
century.
21 The Biggest, Most Advanced Telescope in the World (1989–Present)
laid out the whole project to them in great detail, drawing attention to its
advantages and difficulties. The project took a decisive step forward when
they finally put their full weight behind the project. The Canarian Government
would create a limited company of public ownership to give it the required
legal and administrative weight and consistency. I am sure that the argument
that finally decided them was a quite straightforward one. The numbers I
showed them demonstrated how our large telescope would cost more or less
the same as adding a 10-m extension to a dock in a Canarian port. The coasts
in the islands are so abrupt that Isabel the Catholic once complained, ‘It
would seem that the ports in the Canaries were built with maravedis
1
rather
than stones’. I drove home my argument by asking whether it would be more
beneficial to the Canaries to lengthen a dock by 10 metres or engage in the
construction of a modern Big Science machine, complete with transferrable
technology, prestige, and visibility. They saw my point and told me to proceed
with the telescope.
After the meeting I perceived that the project had at last begun to take on
the appearance of reality and I began to have sleepless nights. The problem
that now confronted me was enormous. Only powerful countries with a tradition in Big Science had hitherto taken up the challenge of building an instrument of this complexity and size. This was no mere 80-cm telescope, and it
would be far from trivial to acquire the money needed.
I convened a meeting with close and senior members of the IAC and gave
them a detailed account of the state of play, voicing my concerns. We formed
a working group to face the challenge of this peril-laden opportunity. I was
relieved that I would now not be the only one losing sleep.
Once the decision to proceed with such a daring venture had been made,
we had to act decisively and smartly on all fronts. We immediately opened up
a debate among the IAC astrophysicists on the project to discuss its advisability, opportunities, and risks; for it had to be an enterprise shared by all and not
just the directorate. We laid our cards on the table, took due note of the huge
risks we were taking, and the great responsibility that the IAC would be
assuming. There were wide-ranging discussions lasting several sessions, and—
finally—we all agreed to proceed, but taking care to guarantee success and
avoid the falling into the trap of the IAC becoming the ‘Large Telescope
Institute’. We had to maintain the IAC’s R&D programme, so the management of the telescope would need to be externalized, but without severing
links with the Institute. And that, in effect, is what we did.
1 Maravedís were a variety of gold or silver coins used in Spain from the eleventh to the nineteenth
century.
21 The Biggest, Most Advanced Telescope in the World (1989–Present)