221
contracts for the principal subsystems of the telescope. On 2 June 2000 we
ceremoniously placed the first stone in the foundations of the pillars of the
telescope. The ceremony was presided over by Felipe de Borbón, Prince of
Asturias, who had always given his support to the project. In 2001 the principal astrophysical institutions of Mexico and the University of Florida, both
with a 5 per cent participation, were formally incorporated into the project,
thus finally giving the project an international character.
In 2002 we began an initiative that aimed to stimulate scientific teams
from the GTC partner countries immediately to weigh and plan the science
they wanted to do with this telescope as soon as it entered into operation. The
first Science with the GTC conference was held in Granada that same year. In
2004 we would celebrate the second one in Mexico City, and the third two
years later in Florida. We are now planning the sixth in the series. These meetings are a useful tool that encourages the sharing of core principles, contacts,
and synergies.
To ensure that the construction would be carried out rigorously we formed
a small committee with the best experts in the world in this specific field. The
committee was chaired by Jerry Nelson, who had built the only two then
existing segmented-mirror telescopes, the 10-m Kecks in Hawaii. We contracted the team to make regular detailed inspection visits of the project and
prepare, after each visit, a written report with criticisms and mandates. Their
exigent demands kept the project on a sure footing.
Needless to say, the years of construction work were plagued with problems
and difficulties, as was only to be expected in a project of such dimensions, to
which were added further problems arising from undertaking such a project
in Spain. But solutions were found, one by one, to all these hiccups. Some of
these obstacles were extremely serious, such as having to terminate a contract
with a joint venture involving a group of prestigious Spanish companies for
the building of the telescope dome; the work had finally to be carried out by
GRANTECAN’s own technical team. Another non-trivial challenge was
resisting blackmail by a powerful French firm that had been contracted to
supply the secondary mirror. We pressured them to meet their commitments
in terms of both the cost and the form of the secondary.
We all learned a great deal, especially the Spanish firms involved, which
increased their capacity and competitiveness. Looking back on it all, it is clear
that it is only with faith, courage, and decision, in addition to having good
people and luck, that great things can be achieved. The staff forming the
design and construction teams, most of them young, were accommodated in
a prefabricated wooden hut on IAC premises in La Laguna; they did an excellent job, as is borne out by the excellent performance of the GTC. This good
21 The Biggest, Most Advanced Telescope in the World (1989–Present)
contracts for the principal subsystems of the telescope. On 2 June 2000 we
ceremoniously placed the first stone in the foundations of the pillars of the
telescope. The ceremony was presided over by Felipe de Borbón, Prince of
Asturias, who had always given his support to the project. In 2001 the principal astrophysical institutions of Mexico and the University of Florida, both
with a 5 per cent participation, were formally incorporated into the project,
thus finally giving the project an international character.
In 2002 we began an initiative that aimed to stimulate scientific teams
from the GTC partner countries immediately to weigh and plan the science
they wanted to do with this telescope as soon as it entered into operation. The
first Science with the GTC conference was held in Granada that same year. In
2004 we would celebrate the second one in Mexico City, and the third two
years later in Florida. We are now planning the sixth in the series. These meetings are a useful tool that encourages the sharing of core principles, contacts,
and synergies.
To ensure that the construction would be carried out rigorously we formed
a small committee with the best experts in the world in this specific field. The
committee was chaired by Jerry Nelson, who had built the only two then
existing segmented-mirror telescopes, the 10-m Kecks in Hawaii. We contracted the team to make regular detailed inspection visits of the project and
prepare, after each visit, a written report with criticisms and mandates. Their
exigent demands kept the project on a sure footing.
Needless to say, the years of construction work were plagued with problems
and difficulties, as was only to be expected in a project of such dimensions, to
which were added further problems arising from undertaking such a project
in Spain. But solutions were found, one by one, to all these hiccups. Some of
these obstacles were extremely serious, such as having to terminate a contract
with a joint venture involving a group of prestigious Spanish companies for
the building of the telescope dome; the work had finally to be carried out by
GRANTECAN’s own technical team. Another non-trivial challenge was
resisting blackmail by a powerful French firm that had been contracted to
supply the secondary mirror. We pressured them to meet their commitments
in terms of both the cost and the form of the secondary.
We all learned a great deal, especially the Spanish firms involved, which
increased their capacity and competitiveness. Looking back on it all, it is clear
that it is only with faith, courage, and decision, in addition to having good
people and luck, that great things can be achieved. The staff forming the
design and construction teams, most of them young, were accommodated in
a prefabricated wooden hut on IAC premises in La Laguna; they did an excellent job, as is borne out by the excellent performance of the GTC. This good
21 The Biggest, Most Advanced Telescope in the World (1989–Present)