233
these are important matters that will serve to understand better the evolution
of European astronomy in this century, so I shall try to be concise and not
offend anybody.
Things were different when Riccardo Giacconi was Director General of
ESO (from 1993 to 1999), so much so that the EO was indeed about to be
initiated, ESO thereby establishing itself in the northern hemisphere while at
the same time settling Spain’s entrance into the organization. The human and
scientific qualities of this future Nobel laureate transcended all meanness. He
knew ESO inside out and was the first to tell me, with some bitterness, things
about the organization that needed to be improved, although there was no
way of achieving this. One of these problems was that a new management
committee was set up when there was a change of general director, the new
incumbent surrounding himself with people of confidence but not having the
powers to make a clean sweep of older members of the committee put there
by his predecessors. Thus was created the burden of a cumulative committee
that that has been both costly and conflictive.
In the course of a working visit by Giacconi to the IAC, with which he was
well acquainted, he had time to appreciate important nuances during lengthy
talks and friendly working meals in picturesque spots in the Canaries.
Together, we made a detailed analysis of future solutions to provide a better
service for European astronomy, and we arrived at practical and workable
solutions. We could see that the best thing for everybody would be for ESO
to begin to establish itself also in the north, at the Canarian Observatories,
while Spain would at the same time gain entry into ESO at a cost that would
not be disproportionate. This would be right road towards endowing Europe
with optimal observatories in both hemispheres at a reasonable cost. We
understood this solution to be viable on the grounds that ESO would participate in the large telescope that the IAC wanted to build at Roque de los
Muchachos Observatory, the new telescope serving as Spain’s entry fee into
ESO, very similar to what Britain had done in La Palma. A high-level joint
Spanish–ESO negotiation committee was formed. Just as all was going well
and to the satisfaction of all, Giacconi left the general directorship of ESO,
while in Spain the Office of Science and Technology (OCYT), which was
directly answerable to the Presidency of the Government, was wound up.
Everything came tumbling down catastrophically.
We were unlucky. The Spanish–ESO joint negotiating committee met in
Madrid, and aftwards Catherine Cesarsky, the new Director General of ESO,
met with Fernando Aldana, then Director of OCYT (Chap. 21). Aldana, who
was sure he would in a few days be given the Ministry of Science and
Technology, was euphoric and gave vent to his peculiar brand of
22 The European Extremely Large Telescope…
these are important matters that will serve to understand better the evolution
of European astronomy in this century, so I shall try to be concise and not
offend anybody.
Things were different when Riccardo Giacconi was Director General of
ESO (from 1993 to 1999), so much so that the EO was indeed about to be
initiated, ESO thereby establishing itself in the northern hemisphere while at
the same time settling Spain’s entrance into the organization. The human and
scientific qualities of this future Nobel laureate transcended all meanness. He
knew ESO inside out and was the first to tell me, with some bitterness, things
about the organization that needed to be improved, although there was no
way of achieving this. One of these problems was that a new management
committee was set up when there was a change of general director, the new
incumbent surrounding himself with people of confidence but not having the
powers to make a clean sweep of older members of the committee put there
by his predecessors. Thus was created the burden of a cumulative committee
that that has been both costly and conflictive.
In the course of a working visit by Giacconi to the IAC, with which he was
well acquainted, he had time to appreciate important nuances during lengthy
talks and friendly working meals in picturesque spots in the Canaries.
Together, we made a detailed analysis of future solutions to provide a better
service for European astronomy, and we arrived at practical and workable
solutions. We could see that the best thing for everybody would be for ESO
to begin to establish itself also in the north, at the Canarian Observatories,
while Spain would at the same time gain entry into ESO at a cost that would
not be disproportionate. This would be right road towards endowing Europe
with optimal observatories in both hemispheres at a reasonable cost. We
understood this solution to be viable on the grounds that ESO would participate in the large telescope that the IAC wanted to build at Roque de los
Muchachos Observatory, the new telescope serving as Spain’s entry fee into
ESO, very similar to what Britain had done in La Palma. A high-level joint
Spanish–ESO negotiation committee was formed. Just as all was going well
and to the satisfaction of all, Giacconi left the general directorship of ESO,
while in Spain the Office of Science and Technology (OCYT), which was
directly answerable to the Presidency of the Government, was wound up.
Everything came tumbling down catastrophically.
We were unlucky. The Spanish–ESO joint negotiating committee met in
Madrid, and aftwards Catherine Cesarsky, the new Director General of ESO,
met with Fernando Aldana, then Director of OCYT (Chap. 21). Aldana, who
was sure he would in a few days be given the Ministry of Science and
Technology, was euphoric and gave vent to his peculiar brand of
22 The European Extremely Large Telescope…