47
In 1962, after returning from my visits to Paris and Brussels with a deeper
knowledge of what was needed, I could see that we lacked suitable means for
the task of site evaluation. I presented my superiors with a ‘Report on the
selection of a site for an astronomical observatory on the island of Tenerife’. I
detailed the requirements for a site-testing campaign lasting a year and a half:
equipment, one full-time and two part-time graduate employees, and auxiliary staff, all within a budget of a mere 277,000 pesetas (1362 euros). It fell
on deaf ears.
Zalote, Izeta, and I did what we could. I churned out detailed monthly
memoires to the Chancellor and Director, summarizing what had been done,
the problems arising, and what was needed. The series of reports ran from
January 1961 to April 1966. I continued to send reports at irregular intervals
until the University Institute of Astrophysics was created in 1973. In their
totality, they form a complete and rather dismal narration of what had been
Fig. 6.1 The author pointing the actinometer, an instrument for measuring atmospheric transparency. (Caption: F. Sánchez)
6 Astronomical Site Testing (1961–1974)
In 1962, after returning from my visits to Paris and Brussels with a deeper
knowledge of what was needed, I could see that we lacked suitable means for
the task of site evaluation. I presented my superiors with a ‘Report on the
selection of a site for an astronomical observatory on the island of Tenerife’. I
detailed the requirements for a site-testing campaign lasting a year and a half:
equipment, one full-time and two part-time graduate employees, and auxiliary staff, all within a budget of a mere 277,000 pesetas (1362 euros). It fell
on deaf ears.
Zalote, Izeta, and I did what we could. I churned out detailed monthly
memoires to the Chancellor and Director, summarizing what had been done,
the problems arising, and what was needed. The series of reports ran from
January 1961 to April 1966. I continued to send reports at irregular intervals
until the University Institute of Astrophysics was created in 1973. In their
totality, they form a complete and rather dismal narration of what had been
Fig. 6.1 The author pointing the actinometer, an instrument for measuring atmospheric transparency. (Caption: F. Sánchez)
6 Astronomical Site Testing (1961–1974)