The Rise of Astrophysics in Modern Spain. From Dictatorship to Democracy

302 Pages·2019·15.092 MB·English

by  Francisco Sánchez Martínez

Francisco Sánchez
Translated by T. J. Mahoney
The Rise of
Astrophysics in
Modern Spain
From Dictatorship
to Democracy
Astronomers' Universe
Series Editor
Martin Beech, Campion College, The University of Regina
Regina, SK, Canada
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Francisco Sánchez
The Rise of
Astrophysics in
Modern Spain
From Dictatorship to Democracy
Translated and with notes
by T. J. Mahoney
Foreword by
Brian May
Francisco Sánchez
Founding Director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
La Laguna, Spain
Translated and with notes by T. J. Mahoney
Research Division
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
La Laguna, Spain
English translation of the original Spanish edition published by the Instituto de Astrofísica de
Canarias, Spain, 2019, entitled "Soñando estrellas: así nació y se consolidó la astrofísica en España"
ISBN: 978-84-09-13229-4
Depósito legal: TF 652-2019
ISSN 1614-659X ISSN 2197-6651 (electronic)
Astronomers' Universe
ISBN 978-3-030-66425-1
ISBN 978-3-030-66426-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66426-8
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Cover Image: Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma Island, Canary Islands. Courtesy Leonardo
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The 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias in the final stages of construction. (Credit: IAC.)
v
To all who have made possible the miracle
of astrophysics in Spain
To my sister of hill and mountain
4m+2s+b
Foreword
The author of this book, Professor Francisco Sánchez, affectionately known as
‘Paco’ to those of us who are fortunate to know him well, is a pioneer, a tireless
warrior for science, and the acknowledged father of astrophysical research
in Spain.
I first met Professor Sánchez in 1971, as a young undergraduate student.
Pursuing my chosen subject of the study of the zodiacal light by spectroscopy,
I arrived in Tenerife with a vanload of homemade electronic gear, a custom-
built Fabry–Perot spectrometer, and the component parts of an ‘assemble-it-
yourself’ tin hut, which was to be my ‘observatory’. I was well out of my
depth and in need of assistance.
My PhD supervisor, Professor James Ring, head of Astrophysics at Imperial
College London, had set me on a course of investigating the motions of inter-
planetary dust, looking at Doppler shifts in the sunlight reflected from it, seen
in the night sky as the beautiful phenomenon of the zodiacal light. Although
at its best this diffuse band of light in the night sky can actually outshine the
Milky Way, it’s still seen by only a few humans—even astronomers—because,
to see it, you have to be there at the right time, with dark skies and clear hori-
zons, and you have to be close to the tropics. No chance in London, then,
where I was based, so Jim Ring packed me off to Tenerife, acting on a kind
offer from Professor Sánchez, who was to keep me under his watchful eye
while I set up my gear and attempted to make the observations I needed. So,
thanks to Paco, I had the back-up of the University of La Laguna, where
Professor Sánchez had recently founded his Astrophysics Department. In
those days, of course, I would never have dreamed of calling the professor
‘Paco’. His office was at the end of a long echoey corridor in the old University
building, and I seldom dared to go knocking on his door. He was already the
ix
x Foreword
revered head of a world-beating organization—and a humble student does
not feel he can often disturb such an eminent figure. In those days, my grasp
of the Spanish language was almost non-existent, and Paco was also not fluent
in English, so this also hampered our communication. Nevertheless, in our
meetings he was always kindly and very understanding of my problems, and
gave me everything I needed to do my work, including the assistance of one
of the brightest lights of his team, Carlos Sánchez Magro, now sadly deceased.
The actual location of the observation site was beyond my wildest dreams.
Far above the busy commercial life of Tenerife, in the breathtaking national
park area of Las Cañadas, was a volcanic ridge known as Izaña, with views of
the majestic central peak of Tenerife, El Teide, and, on a clear day, the whole
beautiful island. At that time the astronomical observatory consisted of just a
small building to provide support for the French zodiacal light telescope, a
Spanish solar telescope, and the foundations of the first dome for a large tele-
scope—a collaboration between the University of La Laguna and Imperial
College. I also remember an old military meteorological observatory on a
nearby hill.
And it was here that my humble hut was taking shape. In those days, my
fellow student and I slept on site, and living and working up there was a life-
changing experience—no phones, no postman, and no food supplies except
what you drove up with! It was a peaceful and quite lonely life, broken up
only by making the journey down to Santa Cruz to visit the post office. But
the compensations were glorious. Suddenly, as a city-born-and-bred boy of
21 years, I was waking up every day above the sea of clouds, to deep blue skies,
and air that is always crisp even when the sunlight is hot, and the silence of
Nature, along with a view that seeped into my soul, has never left me. The sky
on a good night is dark, transparent, and matchless in its splendour. I devel-
oped a love for Tenerife, the tropical night sky, and all things Spanish, which
is still strong in me today.
But enough of me! The Spanish ZL building housed the instruments with
which Francisco Sánchez had made his observations of the zodiacal light,
beginning in 1964, and already published groundbreaking papers on the pho-
tometry of this phenomenon. In fact, the strong connection between the ZL
and Tenerife goes right back to the 1850s, when Scotland’s Astronomer Royal,
Charles Piazzi Smyth, made his famous journey to ‘site test’ on Mt Guajara,
and Teide itself. He set out to test Sir Isaac Newton’s theory that observing
from a high-altitude site, above most of the turbulence of the atmosphere,
would secure much better quality astronomical ‘seeing’. Piazzi was able to
confirm the theory and also made the first spectroscopic study of the zodia-
cal light.
Foreword xi
For the following hundred years, things were quiet in Tenerife as regards
astronomy, but in 1959 astronomers flocked to Tenerife to observe a total
eclipse of the sun. It was soon after then that Professor Francisco Sánchez
began the titanic and miraculous task of creating one of the world’s leading
international astronomical observatories and the Instituto de Astrofísica de
Canarias (IAC).
Francisco Sánchez, the great dreamer, was heart and soul devoted to pro-
moting the excellent quality of the skies above the Canarian summits in order
to persuade European astronomers to send their most advanced telescopes to
the Canaries and to recruit young Spaniards for training as astrophysicists
with the help of their foreign colleagues. His skills had to extend not only to
scientific research and theory, but also to make of them formidable people
with the organizational skills needed to pilot the funding and development of
a major scientific installation with successive Spanish governments.
As a result of Francisco’s passion and tireless powers of persuasion, Teide’s
telescopes were operational in the 1960s and, in an inspiring international
spirit of collaboration, under his baton, Teide grew in the ensuing 50 years
into one of the best-known astrophysics research centres in the world, in
terms of science, technology, training of astrophysicists and technologists, and
outreach. Today, the Canarian Observatories occupy many hectares, and
house solar and nocturnal telescopes owned by more than 60 institutions
from more than 20 countries. Thanks to Paco’s vision and genius, Spanish and
international astrophysics now operates not only in Tenerife but also at Roque
de los Muchachos Observatory on the neighbouring island of La Palma,
which now boasts, among its many fine instruments, one of the most power-
ful telescopes in the world, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), inaugurated
in 2009.
This book tells the history of this extraordinary expansion of Spanish
astronomy, in detail, from a personal and human perspective, and I am deeply
honoured to have been asked to write this foreword.
As final personal note, Paco and I became great friends in my many succes-
sive trips to Tenerife, during which I came to appreciate him as an outstand-
ingly human being, always dedicated to his work, yet never too busy to enjoy
wonderful food and drink in the perfumed air of Tenerife. And he did me the
honour of opening the doors of his University to me one more time in 2006
to help me complete the PhD studies that I had begun 30 years earlier. My
PhD thesis, A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, was finally
published in 2007.
This book tells, in personal and human, as well as technical, detail, the
story of the extraordinary expansion of Spanish astronomy under Professor