232
Hoyle was given the task of studying the viability of such a project and gave
its approval. In the middle of 1971, the British began its planning and carried
out further astronomical site testing at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory.
They were consequently the first signatories of the Treaty of Cooperation in
Astrophysics in 1979; since then, they have set up their best telescopes in the
northern hemisphere at this Observatory.
In our innocence we believed that such a pro-European idea as ENO would
enjoy the solid support of all the organizations with telescopes in the Canaries;
we had forgotten that each organization has its own strong institutional interests, wih even personal motivations involved in the case of ESO. Our beautiful dream was finally to have ENO recognized as such by everybody with a
view to then negotiating the creation of an entity to be known as the European
Observatories (EO), effectively the joining of ESO and ENO. The EO would
be a multinational organization encompassing all European ground-based
observing facilities in the same way that ESA embraced all European space
activity. But we had not discussed and agreed this strategy beforehand with
ESO. Bad mistake.
As the Canarian Observatories continued to prosper, we began to aware of
ESO petulantly heaping opprobrium on us, perhaps a normal response by
those secure in their power when disturbed at the emergence of newcomers in
their domain.
The IAC and its Observatories (the basis of ENO), with their efficient, low
cost structure certainly stood in stark contrast to the high cost of ESO, an
uncomfortable feature that the latter might feel to be its Achilles’ heel. And so
it has continued, as recently happened with the selection of the site for CTA
North, an extensive international battery of Cherenkov telescopes. Our experienced site-testing team had yet again to fight hard to expose the manipulations contained in the comparative site-testing studies for this array. The
matter ended with ESO, rather than Argentina, being given CTA South, CTA
North going to Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (with the inauguration
of the four Japanese Large-Sized Telescopes the decision is now irreversible).
Matters reach boiling point with the arrival of the Franco–Argentinian
Catherine Cesarsky as Director General of ESO, and the ill feeling continued
during the tenure of Tim de Zeeuw—another cause that led to the manoeuvres preventing the E-ELT from being built at Roque de los Muchachos
Observatory. We hope that these attitudes, which are to nobody’s advantage,
will disappear now that the new Director General of ESO, Xavier Barcons, is
a Spaniard. Let us hope so.
I mention these confrontations at the risk of boring those readers with no
interest in them, but historians of science have insisted that I do so because
F. Sánchez
Hoyle was given the task of studying the viability of such a project and gave
its approval. In the middle of 1971, the British began its planning and carried
out further astronomical site testing at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory.
They were consequently the first signatories of the Treaty of Cooperation in
Astrophysics in 1979; since then, they have set up their best telescopes in the
northern hemisphere at this Observatory.
In our innocence we believed that such a pro-European idea as ENO would
enjoy the solid support of all the organizations with telescopes in the Canaries;
we had forgotten that each organization has its own strong institutional interests, wih even personal motivations involved in the case of ESO. Our beautiful dream was finally to have ENO recognized as such by everybody with a
view to then negotiating the creation of an entity to be known as the European
Observatories (EO), effectively the joining of ESO and ENO. The EO would
be a multinational organization encompassing all European ground-based
observing facilities in the same way that ESA embraced all European space
activity. But we had not discussed and agreed this strategy beforehand with
ESO. Bad mistake.
As the Canarian Observatories continued to prosper, we began to aware of
ESO petulantly heaping opprobrium on us, perhaps a normal response by
those secure in their power when disturbed at the emergence of newcomers in
their domain.
The IAC and its Observatories (the basis of ENO), with their efficient, low
cost structure certainly stood in stark contrast to the high cost of ESO, an
uncomfortable feature that the latter might feel to be its Achilles’ heel. And so
it has continued, as recently happened with the selection of the site for CTA
North, an extensive international battery of Cherenkov telescopes. Our experienced site-testing team had yet again to fight hard to expose the manipulations contained in the comparative site-testing studies for this array. The
matter ended with ESO, rather than Argentina, being given CTA South, CTA
North going to Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (with the inauguration
of the four Japanese Large-Sized Telescopes the decision is now irreversible).
Matters reach boiling point with the arrival of the Franco–Argentinian
Catherine Cesarsky as Director General of ESO, and the ill feeling continued
during the tenure of Tim de Zeeuw—another cause that led to the manoeuvres preventing the E-ELT from being built at Roque de los Muchachos
Observatory. We hope that these attitudes, which are to nobody’s advantage,
will disappear now that the new Director General of ESO, Xavier Barcons, is
a Spaniard. Let us hope so.
I mention these confrontations at the risk of boring those readers with no
interest in them, but historians of science have insisted that I do so because
F. Sánchez