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© 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_22
22
The European Extremely Large Telescope:
Dealings with ESO (1961–Present)
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the largest European intergovernmental organization in astronomy. Its telescopes are located in the Atacama
Desert, La Silla, and Paranal in Chile, and its central headquarters are in
Garching, just outside Munich. ESO was formally established towards the
end of the fifties, when astronomy was not in a very developed state in Spain.
In any case, the question of basic research did not arouse any particular interest, so Spain did not participate in ESO.
At present the participation of ESO in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), currently the largest ground-based astronomical
instrument in the world, is particularly important. Located in Llano de
Chajnantor, 5000 m above sea level, ALMA is a complex international astronomical facility and is the result of a collaboration between ESO, the US
National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural
Sciences of Japan (NINS) in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.
The present challenge to ESO is to build the European Extremely Large
Telescope (E-ELT), which will have a 39-m primary mirror.
In what follows, I shall describe what it cost for Spain to form part of ESO.
From the time that Spanish astrophysics began to develop a collective consciousness of its own existence, we pushed for Spain to enter this European
organization. We may date this collective awareness from 1975, when we who
were dedicated to astronomy in Spain in one form or another gathered in the
Canaries at a meeting entitled First National Assembly of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. By then, there were already a number of doctors in astrophysics
and the first chair in astrophysics had been established at a Spanish university;
there were two astrophysics institutes, one in Andalucía and the other in the
© 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_22
22
The European Extremely Large Telescope:
Dealings with ESO (1961–Present)
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the largest European intergovernmental organization in astronomy. Its telescopes are located in the Atacama
Desert, La Silla, and Paranal in Chile, and its central headquarters are in
Garching, just outside Munich. ESO was formally established towards the
end of the fifties, when astronomy was not in a very developed state in Spain.
In any case, the question of basic research did not arouse any particular interest, so Spain did not participate in ESO.
At present the participation of ESO in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), currently the largest ground-based astronomical
instrument in the world, is particularly important. Located in Llano de
Chajnantor, 5000 m above sea level, ALMA is a complex international astronomical facility and is the result of a collaboration between ESO, the US
National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural
Sciences of Japan (NINS) in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.
The present challenge to ESO is to build the European Extremely Large
Telescope (E-ELT), which will have a 39-m primary mirror.
In what follows, I shall describe what it cost for Spain to form part of ESO.
From the time that Spanish astrophysics began to develop a collective consciousness of its own existence, we pushed for Spain to enter this European
organization. We may date this collective awareness from 1975, when we who
were dedicated to astronomy in Spain in one form or another gathered in the
Canaries at a meeting entitled First National Assembly of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. By then, there were already a number of doctors in astrophysics
and the first chair in astrophysics had been established at a Spanish university;
there were two astrophysics institutes, one in Andalucía and the other in the