226
construction of the telescope. Its economic situation is becoming more and
more insecure.
To run a large scientific facility of such distinction it is necessary to invest
around 10 per cent of the cost of its construction in maintenance, but the
GTC is having to get by on barely 4 per cent. That is typical of how things are
in Spain: backbreaking effort goes into building something, and then there is
no money to keep it working.
Consider one example more of the parsimony of governments in scientific
matters, whatever their political hue. In its poorly handled negotiations concerning Spain’s entry into ESO, the government, mindful of keeping costs
down, agreed a payment in kind of 40 nights per year on the GTC over a
period of five years (valued at 15,000,000 euros). The GTC never received
compensation for this, in spite of the transaction being an outright sale of
telescope time that should therefore be considered an asset of the GTC. Had
the GTC been repaid this debt, it would not be in the distressing economic
situation in which it now finds itself in its struggle to guarantee normal
service.
Another irritant is the different treatment in scientific and industrial matters meted out to the Canaries in comparison with Catalonia and the Basque
Country. When Spain lost the International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor, a large international project attempting to show that producing
energy through nuclear fusion is viable, Catalonia received generous compensatory funds to build ALBA, the Catalan synchrotron. Similarly, when Bilbao
lost out on the European Source of Neutrons by Spallation project, the Basque
Country received generous funding for its research infrastructures. In the case
of the Canaries, however, when Spain lost the E-ELT, the Canaries did not
receive a whit of compensation, and the GTC was denied the necessary funds
for its operational costs. A truly incredible state of affairs!
In spite of all these setbacks, the strategic technological objectives laid
down with the GTC project have all been convincingly achieved, and its scientific objectives are being fulfilled. More than two hundred articles have
been published in international peer-reviewed journals, and the rate of growth
of publications is similar to that achieved by comparable telescopes. It is
amazing how hitherto unseen details are being detected with our telescope.
The birth and evolution of distant stars and galaxies are being witnessed, and
chemical elements produced shortly after the Big Bang are being found in
unexpected places. The GTC’s fine resolution of detail is resulting in highly
significant advances in our knowledge of the extragalactic and nearby
Universe—in the behaviour of black holes, for example. Also noteworthy is
the detection of potassium and sodium in exoplanetary atmospheres. To give
F. Sánchez
construction of the telescope. Its economic situation is becoming more and
more insecure.
To run a large scientific facility of such distinction it is necessary to invest
around 10 per cent of the cost of its construction in maintenance, but the
GTC is having to get by on barely 4 per cent. That is typical of how things are
in Spain: backbreaking effort goes into building something, and then there is
no money to keep it working.
Consider one example more of the parsimony of governments in scientific
matters, whatever their political hue. In its poorly handled negotiations concerning Spain’s entry into ESO, the government, mindful of keeping costs
down, agreed a payment in kind of 40 nights per year on the GTC over a
period of five years (valued at 15,000,000 euros). The GTC never received
compensation for this, in spite of the transaction being an outright sale of
telescope time that should therefore be considered an asset of the GTC. Had
the GTC been repaid this debt, it would not be in the distressing economic
situation in which it now finds itself in its struggle to guarantee normal
service.
Another irritant is the different treatment in scientific and industrial matters meted out to the Canaries in comparison with Catalonia and the Basque
Country. When Spain lost the International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor, a large international project attempting to show that producing
energy through nuclear fusion is viable, Catalonia received generous compensatory funds to build ALBA, the Catalan synchrotron. Similarly, when Bilbao
lost out on the European Source of Neutrons by Spallation project, the Basque
Country received generous funding for its research infrastructures. In the case
of the Canaries, however, when Spain lost the E-ELT, the Canaries did not
receive a whit of compensation, and the GTC was denied the necessary funds
for its operational costs. A truly incredible state of affairs!
In spite of all these setbacks, the strategic technological objectives laid
down with the GTC project have all been convincingly achieved, and its scientific objectives are being fulfilled. More than two hundred articles have
been published in international peer-reviewed journals, and the rate of growth
of publications is similar to that achieved by comparable telescopes. It is
amazing how hitherto unseen details are being detected with our telescope.
The birth and evolution of distant stars and galaxies are being witnessed, and
chemical elements produced shortly after the Big Bang are being found in
unexpected places. The GTC’s fine resolution of detail is resulting in highly
significant advances in our knowledge of the extragalactic and nearby
Universe—in the behaviour of black holes, for example. Also noteworthy is
the detection of potassium and sodium in exoplanetary atmospheres. To give
F. Sánchez