The evolution of the expansion of a supernova remnant, detailed monitor- ings of gamma ray bursts, studies of the storms in Saturn and Jupiter, the first brown dwarf, the confirmation of the presence of black holes in bina- ry stars, models for novae and supernovae, the role of magnetic fields in the rotation pattern of galaxies, sunspots phenomena, the methane cycle in Titan, the impacts of volatile material on the Moon, the discovery of a spherical bubble around a stellar embryo, the description of the inter- galactic medium... These are some of the results we present in ‘Astronomy made in Spain’, a project of the Spanish Astronomical Society (Sociedad Española de Astronomía, SEA) to commemorate the International Year of Astronomy 2009. This book is a collection of conversations with the Spanish astronomers who have published as first authors a paper —at least— in Nature or Science in the last 30 years. We would like this legacy paid homage to all Spanish astronomers, stimulated the new generations of students and composed a living history of discoveries told at first hand, without any intermediaries, by the people who made them possible. Benjamín Montesinos Emilio J. Alfaro First English Edition, 2011 © First and second Spanish editions, Sociedad Española de Astronomía (SEA) 2009, 2010 © First English edition, Sociedad Española de Astronomía (SEA), 2010 Facultad de Física Universidad de Barcelona Av. Martí Franquès, 1 08028 Barcelona Spain e-mail:
[email protected] http://www.sea-astronomia.es © Translation: Susana Cabañero Rodríguez © Copyeditting of the translated text: Aprajita Verma © Illustrations: Pages 16, 32, 40, 48, 64, 90, 94, 104, 114, 122, 126 and 130: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Pages 24 and 134: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Page 52: Royal Academy of Sciences, Sweden Pages 56 and 108: TRACE Project and NASA Page 78: SOHO/EIT (ESA, NASA) Page 86: NASA/CXC/SAO/S.