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reductions in promised amounts, I hazarded a figure that was double the
amount we had calculated: we had prepared a budget of only 5,000,000 pesetas (30,000 euros). He said it would be no problem and ordered the Director
General and Manager to include an entry in the budget for the Astrophysics
Institute. And that is how, straight of the blue, we entered into the state budget! That is how things were done in those days, when a minister, in November
and right off the cuff, could modify the budget for approval by the Cortes in
December. At that time the universities were totally controlled by the Ministry
of National Education, and ministers were all-powerful.
Of course, all the tribulations I have recounted would finally be amply
rewarded by the great successes that were to come. But at the commencement
of the astronomical site testing all that lay well into the future. On a personal
level, those early years were for me full of discoveries and excitement, both
professionally and with regard to my family. All was infused with the adrenalin that pumps when one finds oneself fighting for existence.
6 Astronomical Site Testing (1961–1974)