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On 11 May 1994, the Canarian Government formally set up the public
company GRANTECAN, S.A., and at the first meeting of its Administrative
Council on 23 May of that year Dr Pedro Álvarez, a veteran IAC astrophysicist and technologist, was named Director General of the company.
At around that time Spain’s leading astrophysicists were gathered in Madrid,
and I seized the opportunity to discuss the project and its problems with
them, assuring them that the concept of a large Spanish telescope was now
viable. At the general assembly of the Spanish Astronomical Society, held in
Alicante in September 1994, a session was dedicated to the presentation of the
8-m telescope project (as it was then). Pedro Álvarez (Project Director), José
Miguel Espinosa (responsible for scientific aspects and coordination with the
scientific community), Casiana Muñoz Tuñón (in charge of site prospection),
and myself (overseeing everything) attended the session. I made the following
note on the session:
An animated debate on the project started. The various speakers answered questions put to them by those assembled. There was clear uneasiness concerning the
magnitude of the project and the burden of responsibility that this would
assume, although many of those present either openly or privately expressed
their interest in participating and urged that channels be established for their
participation.
In sum, by the end of that year the immense majority of Spanish astrophysicists had publicly declared themselves in favour of the daunting project. This
acquiescence, in a country so given to turf wars, was of great importance, for
this Big Science project on which we were embarking had to carry, right from
the start, the stamp of a national endeavour.
Being aware of our lack of experience, we sent our conceptual project for
an 8-m monolithic mirror telescope to the few persons that had demonstrable
knowledge at that time of building large telescopes and we invited them to a
critical meeting at the IAC for their evaluation of our project and its viability.
At the beginning of October 1994, a conference was held in Tokyo on instrumentation for large telescopes, which was attended by those already involved
in our large telescope to gather information and establish contacts with those
in the know. I was unable to attend, but going over the matter in my mind, as
ever, I came to the conclusion that, regardless of the added difficulties, it was
time to take an even more daring leap forward and consider the possibility of
a segmented-mirror telescope. I had a word with the greatly experienced
Professor Guido Münch (who at the time resided in Tenerife) on the matter.
When he voiced his approval, I rang Pedro Álvarez and told him about my
F. Sánchez
On 11 May 1994, the Canarian Government formally set up the public
company GRANTECAN, S.A., and at the first meeting of its Administrative
Council on 23 May of that year Dr Pedro Álvarez, a veteran IAC astrophysicist and technologist, was named Director General of the company.
At around that time Spain’s leading astrophysicists were gathered in Madrid,
and I seized the opportunity to discuss the project and its problems with
them, assuring them that the concept of a large Spanish telescope was now
viable. At the general assembly of the Spanish Astronomical Society, held in
Alicante in September 1994, a session was dedicated to the presentation of the
8-m telescope project (as it was then). Pedro Álvarez (Project Director), José
Miguel Espinosa (responsible for scientific aspects and coordination with the
scientific community), Casiana Muñoz Tuñón (in charge of site prospection),
and myself (overseeing everything) attended the session. I made the following
note on the session:
An animated debate on the project started. The various speakers answered questions put to them by those assembled. There was clear uneasiness concerning the
magnitude of the project and the burden of responsibility that this would
assume, although many of those present either openly or privately expressed
their interest in participating and urged that channels be established for their
participation.
In sum, by the end of that year the immense majority of Spanish astrophysicists had publicly declared themselves in favour of the daunting project. This
acquiescence, in a country so given to turf wars, was of great importance, for
this Big Science project on which we were embarking had to carry, right from
the start, the stamp of a national endeavour.
Being aware of our lack of experience, we sent our conceptual project for
an 8-m monolithic mirror telescope to the few persons that had demonstrable
knowledge at that time of building large telescopes and we invited them to a
critical meeting at the IAC for their evaluation of our project and its viability.
At the beginning of October 1994, a conference was held in Tokyo on instrumentation for large telescopes, which was attended by those already involved
in our large telescope to gather information and establish contacts with those
in the know. I was unable to attend, but going over the matter in my mind, as
ever, I came to the conclusion that, regardless of the added difficulties, it was
time to take an even more daring leap forward and consider the possibility of
a segmented-mirror telescope. I had a word with the greatly experienced
Professor Guido Münch (who at the time resided in Tenerife) on the matter.
When he voiced his approval, I rang Pedro Álvarez and told him about my
F. Sánchez