50
I had already become hooked. I had by then realized that what interested me
most was astrophysics; moreover, it was clear to me that the extraordinary
astronomical conditions on the island summits needed to be fully exploited.
The preliminary results from the atmospheric turbulence and transparency
measurements, together with the large meteorological database for Izaña,
showed that the site was as good as, or even better than, the sites tested for the
European Southern Observatory.
Almost without noticing it or putting it into words, as often happens with
deep-rooted concerns, what was to be the essence of my life began to take
hold of me: to promote the scientific, technical, and cultural exploitation of
the Canarian skies, and establish astrophysics and its related technologies in
Spain. These aims have been my lifelong dream, my greatest passion. So we
stayed on in the Canaries, and not because I lacked offers and temptations to
go elsewhere.
What times those were, when everything had to be reinvented, from astronomical site testing to astrophysical research, without the necessary means or
knowledge. In the meantime, my wife and I were building our family on the
peaks of Tenerife. As an additional burden, I had to ‘serve the motherland’ in
Madrid as a reserve officer of ‘the glorious Spanish infantry’ for two long summers. I was also busy with my doctoral thesis, which I succeeded in reading in
1969 at the Complutense University of Madrid. As if all that were not enough,
I had also begun to lecture in physics at the University of La Laguna. They
were crowded years.
In spite of everything, towards the end of the sixties, we managed to complete the astronomical site testing of Teide Observatory, and the results were
published in Spanish in a national astronomical journal. The results caused
barely a ripple internationally, but they served to encourage those who were
beginning to develop an interest in the Canarian summits. On the strength of
our results, we succeeded in attracting others to carry out their own sitetesting campaigns (Chap. 10). The results of all our site testing are summarized in my article ‘Astronomy in the Canary Islands’, published in the journal
Vistas of Astronomy.
Very important events occurred in our household during that decade: our
first son, Jorge, was born in 1962, and a year later Elena, Ana in ’65, and Jesús
in ’68. My father died suddenly in 1967, so I immediately brought my mother
and two sisters to the Canaries. I was the eldest sibling and the only man of
the family. We had the good fortune to find a flat for them opposite ours in
Santa Cruz, where we had just established our family residence. It was wonderful. We looked after one another and no longer felt alone in the Canaries!
F. Sánchez
I had already become hooked. I had by then realized that what interested me
most was astrophysics; moreover, it was clear to me that the extraordinary
astronomical conditions on the island summits needed to be fully exploited.
The preliminary results from the atmospheric turbulence and transparency
measurements, together with the large meteorological database for Izaña,
showed that the site was as good as, or even better than, the sites tested for the
European Southern Observatory.
Almost without noticing it or putting it into words, as often happens with
deep-rooted concerns, what was to be the essence of my life began to take
hold of me: to promote the scientific, technical, and cultural exploitation of
the Canarian skies, and establish astrophysics and its related technologies in
Spain. These aims have been my lifelong dream, my greatest passion. So we
stayed on in the Canaries, and not because I lacked offers and temptations to
go elsewhere.
What times those were, when everything had to be reinvented, from astronomical site testing to astrophysical research, without the necessary means or
knowledge. In the meantime, my wife and I were building our family on the
peaks of Tenerife. As an additional burden, I had to ‘serve the motherland’ in
Madrid as a reserve officer of ‘the glorious Spanish infantry’ for two long summers. I was also busy with my doctoral thesis, which I succeeded in reading in
1969 at the Complutense University of Madrid. As if all that were not enough,
I had also begun to lecture in physics at the University of La Laguna. They
were crowded years.
In spite of everything, towards the end of the sixties, we managed to complete the astronomical site testing of Teide Observatory, and the results were
published in Spanish in a national astronomical journal. The results caused
barely a ripple internationally, but they served to encourage those who were
beginning to develop an interest in the Canarian summits. On the strength of
our results, we succeeded in attracting others to carry out their own sitetesting campaigns (Chap. 10). The results of all our site testing are summarized in my article ‘Astronomy in the Canary Islands’, published in the journal
Vistas of Astronomy.
Very important events occurred in our household during that decade: our
first son, Jorge, was born in 1962, and a year later Elena, Ana in ’65, and Jesús
in ’68. My father died suddenly in 1967, so I immediately brought my mother
and two sisters to the Canaries. I was the eldest sibling and the only man of
the family. We had the good fortune to find a flat for them opposite ours in
Santa Cruz, where we had just established our family residence. It was wonderful. We looked after one another and no longer felt alone in the Canaries!
F. Sánchez