Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy

We have arrived at the third volume of this useful series on Organiza­ tions and Strategies in Astronomy (OSA). It contains seventeen articles on a wide range of topics, from virtual observatories, astronomy organizations in various communities (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, South Africa), and the role of ground stations in space observatories, to quality assurance in UK higher education. In this foreword, I shall give some views on ideas expressed in this volume, in particular from my personal experience when I was project officer for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Let me first remind readers that present and future astronomy is in­ creasingly dependent on high-level management. Not everybody knows that the scheduling of the Hubble Space Telescope is performed by a neural­ network software called SPIKE, described in the stimulating workshop New Observing Modes for the Next Centuryl, partly reported in OSA Volume II by 1. Robson. New observing facilities, in space or on the ground, are so complex that they need highly qualified engineers and rigorous management procedures. Each observing hour on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) fa­ cility is worth about EUR 7,000, including the amortization of the capital expenses over 30 years. This does not leave much room for amateurism, neither in the time allocation procedures, nor in the daily telescope control.

Inhalt

Foreword; R. Cayrel. Editorial. Close Encounters of the Third Kind with the Hubble Space Telescope; C. Nicollier. Public Relations for a National Observatory; D.G. Finley. Popularizing Astronomy: Four Decades as a Galley Slave; L.J. Robinson. The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astrophysics at Garching-Munich; J. Trümper. Quality Assurance in UK Higher Education; V. Shrimplin. NSF Evaluation Processes in the Astronomical Sciences; E.D. Friel. Scientific Impact of Large Telescopes; C.R. Benn. The Rôle of Ground Stations in Space Observatories; V. Claros, D. Ponz. Some Thoughts about the Virtual Observatory Concept; P. Benvenuti. Organizational Issues in Large Scientific Projects; D. Enard. The History of the Joint Organization for Solar Observations (JOSO) 1969-2000; P.N. Brandt, W. Mattig. Optical Astronomy and South Africa. Part I, To 1994; M. Feast. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Czech Republic; J. Palous, J. Vondrák. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Slovak Republic; V. Rusin, et al. Historians and Astronomers: Same Pursuits? J.B. Stein. The View from the Observatory: History is Too Important to be Left to the Historians; D.E. Osterbrock. Updated Bibliography of Socio-Astronomy.