Sky & Telescope - December 2018 - 70

ATM IN SPAIN

Pedro Ruiz-Castell

Soft Drinks
IVL;\IZOIbQVO
Amateur Telescope
Making and Popular
Astronomy under
Franco's Dictatorship

n the morning of July 18, 1936, Spaniards awoke
to the news that a military coup had been staged
against the elected leftist government of the Second
Spanish Republic. It was the start of the Spanish Civil War
(1936-1939), a devastating conﬂict that marked the beginning of one of the longest European dictatorial regimes of the
20th century. General Francisco Franco's totalitarian government (1939-1975) signiﬁed a break with the past in many
political, ideological, and social aspects, including cultural
expressions and intellectual traditions. An ofﬁcial historical
narrative that justiﬁed and gloriﬁed the new regime brought
signiﬁcant changes from an institutional perspective, including the purge and forced exile of many Spanish scientists
and scholars. Moreover, the years of hunger and misery that
characterized postwar Spain were ones of intense social
propaganda and mandatory recatholization. This included
the practice of science, which was ofﬁcially purged of foreign
inﬂuence and submitted to the Catholic doctrine.

The case of astronomy was particularly indicative of the role
played by science in Spanish society in the 20th century.
Astronomical discoveries and theories of the 19th century
had captured the public imagination. In addition, the observation and study of the heavens was seen as a tool that could
offer evidence in favor of the existence of God and the Creation, and helped humans ﬁnd their place in the universe. As
a result, astronomy remained fairly popular in Spain during
the opening decades of the 20th century, with the number
of amateur participants increasing signiﬁcantly. The solar
eclipses of 1900 and 1905 had generated interest in observing
among a wider public, and ﬁgures such as the popular French
astronomer Camille Flammarion and organizations such as
the Société Astronomique de France (SAF) encouraged amateurs to pursue the hobby. In 1910, the Astronomical Society
of Barcelona (Sociedad Astronómica de Barcelona, SAB) was
founded to coordinate Spanish and Catalan amateur astronomers, and in 1911 the Astronomical Society of Spain developed as an offshoot of SAB. Soon to be renamed the Astronomical Society of Spain and America (Sociedad Astronómica
de España y América, or SADEYA), the society encouraged
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p CRISIS AND CHAOS The Spanish Civil War began with a coup
against the Second Spanish Republic. World news agencies scrambled
to document the turmoil taking over Spain and Spanish Morocco.

cooperation between amateur and professional astronomers
working in Spain and the Americas. Supported and promoted
by the astronomer Josep Comas i Solá, SADEYA thrived in its
early years. Comas i Solá established an important program
of popular astronomy in Barcelona and guided a series of
public lectures, exhibitions, courses, publications, and group
visits to Fabra Observatory. SADEYA played a large role in
popularizing astronomy and keeping the hobby going during
the dictatorship.
Severe regulations established by the dictatorial regime
during the postwar years had a strong impact on the daily life
of the society. SADEYA remained popular, but fresh young
amateurs felt uneasy with the way the main Spanish astronomical association was organized and run by academics and

NE WSPA PER HE ADLINES: DAILY INDEPENDENT (DECEMBER 25, 1936) / DAILY
INDEPENDENT (OCTOBER 2, 1936) / E VENING STAR (JULY 21, 1936); BACKG ROUND TE X T URE: PA BLOH A RT / G E T T Y IM AG ES

New Associations

Sky & Telescope - December 2018

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