spain's first school of physics- blas cabrera's laboratorio de investigaciones físicas

7/29/2019 Spain's First School of Physics- Blas Cabrera's Laboratorio de Investigaciones Fsicas

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Spain's First School of Physics: Blas Cabrera's Laboratorio de Investigaciones FsicasAuthor(s): Jos M. Snchez-Ron and Antoni Roca-Rosell

Reviewed work(s):Source: Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 8, Research Schools: Historical Reappraisals (1993), pp. 127-155Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/301698 .

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Spain'sFirst choolofPhysics:BiasCabrera's aboratorioeInvestigacionesisicasByJose'M. Sdnchez-Ron*nd Antoni oca-Rosell**

ITHAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED that sciencedoesnotflourishvery-where,"' otat east othe amedegree.National cientificroductivityanbe stronglynfluencedypopulation,conomic ower,ocial,political,ndcul-turalhistory,eographicalocation,ndperhaps venclimate mong ther ac-tors, ow s inthepast.We know great ealabout he pecificffectsf everalof thesefactors,utmainlynthe case of thebignations hat ontributedig-nificantlyo thedevelopmentfscience. uch standardources s Joseph en-David'sclassicTheScientist's ole nSocietyeldom obeyondGermany, reatBritain, rance, rthe UnitedStates.2 ew case studies re devoted o smallercountrieshatmadesignificantontributionso sciencee.g.,HollandorItaly),and thebodyofsecondaryiteratureeclines, eometricallyr evenexponen-tially, or mallnationswith less-celebratedcientificistory.In this ssaywe nvestigatehefirstesearch hysicsaboratoryfany ignifi-cancefoundedn Spain,the Laboratorio e Investigacionesisicas, reatednMadrid n 1910 bythe Junta araAmpliaci6n e Estudios InvestigacionesCientificasBoard for hePromotion fStudies ndScientificesearch).3 hisstate-supportednstitution as not ttached oanyuniversity,lthoughmost fits enior esearchers ere niversityrofessors. othingesembling"researchgroup" r "researchchool"ofphysics xisted n Spainbefore hat aboratorywent ntooperation.ndeed, hegreatmerit f theLaboratorio asthat t suc-ceeded nestablishing hatGeraldGeisonhasdenominated"researchchool";that s, "a smallgroupofmature cientists ursuing reasonably oherent

*Departamento e Fisica Te6rica,UniversidadAut6noma e Madrid,Cantoblanco, 8049Madrid, pain.**Grup e Treballd'Hist6ria e la Ciencia, nstitut 'EstudisCatalans, /.Carme47, 08001Barcelona,pain.We regratefuloGeraldGeison ndLewis yenson, ho ead he irstraft f hepaper ndgavevaluablecommentsnd advice, nd to FrancesCoulbornKohlerforhercarefulditing f themanuscript.IThomas chott,Scientificroductivitynd nternationalntegrationf mallCountries: athe-matics nDenmark ndIsrael,"Minerva,987,25:3-20.2 Joseph en-David, heScientist'sole nSocietyEnglewood liffs, .J.:Prentice-Hall,971;2nded.,Chicago:Univ.ChicagoPress, 984).3 Chemistrymostlyhysicalhemistry)as lsocoveredntheLaboratorio,utwewillnot xam-inethisdisciplinendetailhere.

v 1993 byThe Historyof Science Society.All rights eserved.0021-1753/93/8401-0007$01.00OSIRIS 1993, 8: 127-155 127

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128 JOStM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLprogrammefresearchide-by-sideith dvanced tudentsnthe same nsti-tutional ontext nd engagingn direct, ontinuous ocial and intellectualinteraction.

To get proper erspectiven thefoundationndfate ftheLaboratorio eneedfirsto considerhemore eneralituationfSpanish cience t the urn fthe entury.he Laboratorioppearedn an institutionalnd cultural ontextodifferentrom he ontexts iscussedorassumed) lsewheren this olume,ndso unfamiliaro mosthistoriansf science, hatwehavedevoted lmosthalf fthis ssay o this ackground.nly henwillwebe abletounderstandhereasonsfor he reation f heLaboratorio,ome f hedifficultiestfaced uringts xis-tence,nd whytwas ffectivelyismantledn1939,ess han hirtyearsftertsfounding.As becomes lear nSectionII, theLaboratorio as a creationf heSpanishstate,stablishedn 1910 nd funded orwodecades hereaftery newgovern-mentalorganization,he Junta.The dependence f theLaboratorio n thestate-and thus n the hiftingational olitical ituation-workedometimesto tsbenefitnd sometimeso tsdetriment,isastrouslyowith he ise f fas-cistSpanish egime nderFranco nthe ate 1930s.Duringtsfirsthree ecades, s we shownSectionsV andV,theLaboratorioproducedome olid xperimentalorknphysicsnd physicalhemistrynderthe eadershipfBlasCabrera, specialistnthemeasurementfmagneticnits,and hiscollaboratorMiguelCatalan, spectroscopistest known orhis dis-coveryn1922ofmultipletsnthe pectrafmanganese.nSections andVI weaddress everalssues hat ind place nmost ftheother ontributionsothisvolume-funding,ersonnel,esearch rograms,nd laboratoryuildingsndequipment. he research arried utbythe stafff the Laboratorio ever t-tained high evelof theoreticalriginality,nd its eading esearch rogramswere mportedy Laboratoriocientists hospent ime broadon fellowshipsfrom he Junta.Yet theexperimentalontributionsf the Laboratoriowonrespectfulnternationalttention,nough o as to attract he nterest ftheRockefeller oundation's nternational ducationBoard,whichultimatelyprovided hefundsforthe constructionf a largeand splendidlyquippednew aboratoryuilding,he nstituto acionaldeFisicayQuimica, ompletedin 1931.Bythen, owever,heresearchrogramsf"the chool f Cabrera"hadstag-nated, ndwithin decade he nstitutooundtselfnder ffectivettack y ci-entistsoyal oFranco.Unlike nrico ermi's roupn Fascisttaly,he nstitutonolonger ada political atronwho ould ecure heprotectionnd resourcestI GeraldL. Geison, Scientifichange, mergingpecialties,ndResearchchools," istoryfScience, 981, 9:20-40;on p.23.Theterm esearchroup, hich oseph.Frutonavors,ould lsobe applied otheLaboratorion thattwas communityf cientistsgroup)ocatedta singlensti-tution,ndthat ll thephysicistsho efttfor thernstitutionsn Spain topped oing esearch(though ostlyecause hysics as opoorlynstitutionalizednSpain). eeFruton,ontrastsnSci-entifictyle:ResearchGroupsn theChemical nd BiochemicalciencesPhiladelphia: mericanPhilosophicalociety,990),Ch.1,note1.Yet necanalso speak f school ecause he nfluenceftheLaboratorio ersistedong fterts closingn theSpanishCivilWar 1936-1939):scatteredthroughoutniversitiesnd a few ther enters,omeoftheLaboratorio's oung hysicistsndchemistsontinuedesearchn topics ndwithpproachesimilarothose heyearnedttheJuntalaboratory.



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SPAIN'S IRSTSCHOOLOF PHYSICS 129needed opursue ts research rograms.n anycase,Cabrerahadnever eenaphysicistfthe tature fFermi,nd n the ndhisresearchchoolmust econ-sidered relative ailure,ertainlyycomparison ith ermi's roup fnuclearphysicistsnRome as wellas mostoftheschoolsdiscussed lsewheren thisvolume.

I. A NATIONSCIENTIFICALLY UNDERDEVELOPEDIn 1898Spain ost tswar gainstheUnited tates ndwasforced oabandontslastcolonies,Cuba and thePhilippineslands.At the timemanySpaniardsthoughthat he auseof hedefeatwasthe cientificndtechnologicalnferiorityof theircountry.At the Cortes Spanishparliament),he deputyEduardoVincenti xclaimed n 23 June1899:

I willnot top aying,uttingsidefalse atriotism,hatwemust ollow he xam-plethat heUnited tates asgiven o us.Thiscountry efeated snot nly ecauseit s stronger,utbecause thas a higherevel feducation hanwehave; nnowaybecausetheywerebraver. o Yankeehas comeup against urnavy rarmy, utrather machinenventedy ome lectricianrmachinist. herehasbeennofight.Wehavebeendefeatedn the aboratorynd in theoffices,otat sea or on themainland.5The 1898defeat elped dvance cience nSpain,butother actorslsocon-tributed. lthoughpaindidnotbecome nindustrializedation ntil hemid-dle ofthis entury,bourgeoisevolutioncalledLa Gloriosa)began s early s1868.Amonghe iberal ausesthat his evolutionromoted astheFreeEdu-cationAct, whichabolishedcensorship, ntroducedmodernsciencecourses ntouniversityrograms,ndestablished ewdepartmentse.g., hose fphysiologyandhistologyt theUniversityfMadrid).Inthe limate f ntellectualreedomntroducedyLa Gloriosa, he ndepen-denceof cience romeligionecame nopenly ebatedssue.For enturiesheCatholic redo ndcuriahadreignedupremenSpain.Suddenly,tappeared o

liberals nd freethinkershat he old chainshad finallyeenbroken. husin1869, nthewakeoftherevolution,hephysician rancisco unyer apdevilafelt onfidentnough oproclaim t theCortes: Man is Science,God is Igno-rance;Man is theTruth, od is an Error."6Darwinism, fcourse,fittedxtremely ell ntothisnewZeitgeist. efore1868 Darwin's ideas had made few nroads in Spain, butLa Gloriosa changedthe situation completely. Indeed, evolutionism became the leitmotifof thescientificiteratureftheday,thescientificheory ar excellence, lthoughmore ecauseof hephilosophicalossibilitiestofferedothe efthan ecause5EduardoVincenti Reguerra,olitica edag6gica: reintahzosevida arlamentariaMadrid:Imp.Hijos deHernandez, 916);quoted nYvonne urin, 'educationt 'eole enEspagne e1874a 1902:LiberalismettraditionParis:PressesUniversitaires,959),p. 375. Oneofthemore ut-spoken ommentatorsn the cientificimensionf hedefeatwasthebiologicalhemistryrofes-sorat theUniversityfMadrid,JoseRodriguez arracido.On Carracido eeAntonioMorenoGonzalez, d.,JoseRodriguez arracidoMadrid:Fundaci6n ancoExterior,991).6 See Guillermo anchezMartinez,Guerra Dios, a la tisisy a los reyes: rancisco uneryCapdevila,una propuestamaterialista ara la segundamitaddel sigloXIX espanol Madrid:Edicionesde la Universidad ut6noma e Madrid,1987),p. 215.



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130 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONI ROCA-ROSELLof therevolutionaries'nderstandingf theneedsandsituation fcontempo-rary cience rthedetails f Darwinian heory. ot surprisingly,heorthodoxright idnotaccept he newtheoryt all;when he Restorationeestablished"officialcience" n 1874,reintroducingeligionnto heuniversityurriculumandbringingack censorships well,Darwinismost ts officialtandingndbecamethe touchstonef a fierce olemicbetweenhe"twoSpains"-liberalandconservative, odern nd traditional. he deological haracterfthede-bateprecludedheexistence fany"civildiscourse"-touseThomasGlick'sexpression'-onboth ides, nd the evelofscientificiscoursewas abysmallylow. twas not cience, utpolitics, eligion,rphilosophyhatwas t stake,ndtheopportunityo makeDarwinism he occasionforpromotingnd institu-tionalizingciencewas lost. When sortofagreement,r,better, ormaliza-tion,wasattained,well nto hefirst ecade of thenewcentury,volutionismcouldnolonger econsidered he cienti/icheoryarexcellence,nd itceasedto bea symbol or hosewhodefendedhe mportancefscience or hefutureof thecountry.Thereturnftheoldpolitical tructuresith heRestorationf1874 did notmean, owever,hat cience ell ack o the evel f hefirst alf f he entury.ythe1870s and 1880sscientificnowledgenderpinnedo many ontemporaryneeds nd devices hat ven nunderdevelopedpainscience ouldnot tagnatecompletely.he biomedical isciplines nderwent notabledevelopment.nsome nstances,upportor cientificesearch as consequencef he rowthfindustrialities. hus n1886 heMunicipalityfBarcelona oundedhe irst i-crobiologicalaboratorynSpaindevotedo theproductionf hePasteuriana-biesvaccine;tsdirector asJaume erran, ho n 1884had developed choleravaccine, hefirst ne applied ohumans.9If weexclude hebiomedical ciences,where rudimentaryetworkf nsti-tutions xistednwhich rofessionalsould be shelteredhospitals, niversitychairs, aboratories),hetypical ituationn Spainall throughhenineteenthcentury as the solated cientist.ytheend oftheeighteenthentury,s partofthediffusionftheEnlightenmentnd thanks osomeextent othe ffortsfKingCarlos II, scientificrganizationsad been foundednSeville,Valencia,Vergara, arcelona, nd Madrid; physics, s wellas technologynotalwaysclearly istinguishedrom hysics),iguredmong he opics ultivatednthoseinstitutions.utwar gainst rance I1808-1814), hich ad nvaded nddomi-nated panish oil, ndthen hereign fthefar-from-liberalernando II oncetheNapoleonic orces adbeendefeated,meant heend-whether y physicaldestruction,ack ofsupport,r explicitnterdiction-ofmostof theexistinginstitutions.nly n thesecondhalfof thecenturyid the situation egin oimprove.

7Severalleading arwiniansost heirhairs, or xample. nDarwinismnSpain eeThomas .Glick,"Spain," in TheComparativeReception fDarwinism, d. Glick,2nd ed. (Chicago: Univ. Chi-cagoPress, 988),pp. 307-345.8 Thomas .Glick, insteinnSpain Princeton:rincetonniv.Press, 988).Thisdivisionwasgeneralrend,ot universalule: mong thers,osep oaquimUnderer,Catholic aleontologist,accepted ome enets ftheDarwinian ypothesis.9Antoni Roca Rosell, Histbria del Laboratori Municipal de Barcelona: De Ferran a Turrb(Barcelona: juntamenteBarcelona,988). erran'saccine,ikemanythers, as ontroversial.



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SPAIN'S FIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 131II. THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES IN SPAIN DURING THENINETEENTH CENTURY

As far s researchs concerned,heSpanish niversitieslayed orole nphysicsin Spain duringhenineteenthentury.ot until 857was a lawpassed reatingfacultiesf cience; ntil hen uch tudieswere ursuednthefacultyfphiloso-phy. his situation asnotunique oSpain.Physics,mathematics,ndsomeofthenatural ciences nd humanities ere odgednphilosophyacultiesn Ger-many lso; only t the nd ofthenineteenthenturyida fewGerman niversi-ties reate pecial ectionsr faculties or henatural ciences.0 nSpainphysics,mathematics,hemistry,nd naturalciencesnitiallyonstitutedhe ections fthefacultyf ciencenthe tate ystem,ut nfact he cience fNewton ad avery limpresence.1Until1913Madrid nd Barcelonawere he nly niversitieswhere cience tudents ould specialize nphysics; nd the doctorate ouldbeawarded,nthe ciences s inalldisciplines,nly y heUniversityfMadrid.12There, rainingnthephysical cienceswas more omplete; ne could earn d-vanced stronomynd mathematicalhysics, or nstance. ven t Madrid, ow-ever, octoral issertationserenotexpectedo beoriginalontributionso thediscipline,nd so research asneglectedhere swell.Other ountries ollowedsimilar aths, utnotfor s long s Spain. nthe arly ineteenthenturyrenchdoctorats-es-sciences,articularlynphysicsndchemistry,erenotexpected oconstituteriginal iecesofwork; andidates nlyhad to summarizehe itera-ture nd reflectn it.Originalityndquality teadily ecame he ouchstonefthedoctoral rogram,owever: etween 847 and 1881 aboutfifty-sevenheseswere ejected s unsuitable rtoo ow n quality or hedoctoraten theFaculty fSciencesn Paris.13 notherifferencesthatnFrance lltheuniversitiesouldgrant octoral egrees.That university aculties n Spain lacked research ncentives nd facilitiesbegan o disturb omeprofessorsythe urn f he entury. ne significantpi-sode followed hereception fWilhelm ontgen's iscovery fX rays n 1895.ProfessorsfphysicsntheFaculty fSciences t Barcelona eplicated hegene-ration fX rays nd presented heir romising esults t a public ecture n 10February 896-quite an early ate.Butwhen hey ried oon after o performsomeexperiments ith he new and mysteriousays they hought hat heycould detectdeflection fX rays), heyfound, o theirdismay, hat he few10Christa ungnickelnd RussellMcCormmach,he ntellectual astery fNature: heoreticalPhysicsromOhmtoEinstein, ol. : The TorchfMathematics,800-1870Chicago:Univ.Chi-cagoPress,1986),Ch. 1.I Thenumber fsections aried uringheperiod nder onsideration;ometimeshysics ndmathematicsormednesection,t otherimes hysicsndchemistry.or detailed tudy fphys-ics at Spanishuniversitiesuring henineteenthenturyee AntonioMorenoGonzalez,Unaciencia ncuarentena: a fisica cademica nEspaha 1750-1900)Madrid:ConsejoSuperior eInvestigacionesientificasCSIC], 1988).12Theregulationllowingnly heUniversityf Madrid ogrant octorates as notrescindeduntil he1950s.'3 Terryhinn, TheFrench cienceFaculty ystem, 808-1914: nstitutionalhange nd Re-search otentialnMathematicsndthePhysical ciences," istoricaltudies nthe hysical ci-ences HSPS), 1979,10:271-332;andHarryW.Paul,FromKnowledgeoPower: heRise oftheScienceEmpire nFrance, 860-1939Cambridge: ambridge niv.Press,1985),pp. 54-55.



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132 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONI ROCA-ROSELLoldexperimentalevices vailable o themmade t mpossibleo carry uttheexperiments.4InSpain,onlyn astronomyndmeteorologyas researchf ny ignificancecarriedut owardshe ndof he entury.heobservationalharacterf xperi-ments arried ut n these ields llowed hem o be conducted y ndividuals,mostlymateurs. uchobserversould till ontribute,venwithmodest quip-ment,o knowledgeboutthe urfacef Marsor the atellitesfJupiter,orn-stance.Meteorological easurementse.g., elluricurrents)ndsomegeophysi-calresearchouldalso be doneby ndividuals, hetherttached o an academicinstitutionr outside.'5 arious ostswere lsoavailablen these ields. y1860the Spanishgovernmentad organized networkfmeteorologicaltations,most fthem ttachedo state chools nd science aculties.n 1888thegovern-ment ounded he nstitutoentralMeteorologico,irectedyAugusto .Arci-mis, to provideweather orecasting,service hatmanymodern, r would-be modern, tateshad already stablished y that time.Even before1800two officialstronomicalnd meteorologicalbservatoriesxistedn Spain;acivilone inMadrid, stablishedn 1790, nda navaloneinCaidiz, oundedn1753 ndmovedn1798 o thenearby illage fSanFernando.'6 lthoughhesecentersarried ut mportantoutinework,most ate-nineteenth-centurycien-tists elthat hey id notproducedvanced esearch,nd San Fernando,ocatedin the outh fSpain,wastoofar way rom hemainuniversityndculturalen-ters ohavemuch mpact n thedevelopmentf academic cience.Some late-nineteenth-centurypanish cientists everthelessawobservato-ries as a possibleroute o institutionalizinghysical ciences s a research-oriented iscipline. n Barcelonatheleading cientists fthe Academia deCienciasyArtes ttemptedo found n observatorynthecity rom 883 on-wards. hey chieved artial uccessn 1902,when textilendustrialistavelarge umofmoney o establisht.TheBarcelonaObservatoryeganfunction-ing n 1904,but its funding as so meager hat t couldnotconductmajorscientificrojects. he SpanishJesuitslso focused n observatoriess a wayof institutionalizingcientific esearch: ythe 1860stheyhad foundedme-teorologicalnd astronomicaltationsn Cuba and thePhilippineslands.17OnceSpain ostthese olonies, heJesuits roughtheir xperienceacktotheIberianPeninsula, oundingwogeophysicalbservatoriesn 1904, nGranadaandRoquetes.-8

14 See AntoniRoca Rosell, La fisica n la Catalufia inisecular:l jovenFontser6 su 6poca"(Ph.D. diss.,Universidad ut6noma e Madrid, 990),Ch. 5.15 The most epresentativecientistsorkingn these ields ere osep oaquimUnderer,duardFontsere,ndJosep omasSolA: ee Roca,Laftsica n aCataluhacit.n. 14),Chs.1,2.The ssue fworking ithinhese onstraintsas discussed yFontseren "Sobre es ciencies 'observati6Catalunya," ova bWrica,937, ,rpt. n Ciencia, 982,2:284-285.16 J.Tinoco,Apuntesarala historia el ObservatorioeMadridMadrid:Talleres el InstitutoGeogrAficoCatastral, 951); nd Antonio afuentendManuelSelles, l Observatorioe Ciidiz(1753-1831)Madrid:Ministerioe Defensa, 988).17Metereologicalndastronomicaltudieswere hemost ppropriateor colonial etting:eeLewisPyenson, ulturalmperialismnd ExactSciences:German xpansion verseas,900-1930(NewYork/Berne:eter ang,1985), ndPyenson,mpire fReason: xactSciencesn ndonesia,1840-1940Leiden:E. J. Brill, 989).18 eeP.de Bvregille,Les observatoirese a Compagniee Jesusu debut uXXesi&cle," evuedesQuestionscientifiques,906, rd ser., :10-72,493-579.



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 133Inthe atenineteenthentury special ircumstancencreasedhepopularityofastronomynSpain.From1860through912a series ftotal clipses fthesuncouldbeobserved rom he berian eninsula. s a consequence,everal or-

eign stronomicalxpeditions isited pain;thespectacular ature fthephe-nomenonhad a greatmpact n publicopinion, ndhitherto-isolatedpanishastronomersould interactwiththeirmoresophisticatedounterpartsromabroad.Highlymportantophysicsnnineteenth-centurypainwere he ngineeringschools.These schools,founded r reorganizedround1850,enjoyedmuchhigher restige hanuniversityaculties;heywereconceived n theFrenchmodel, o thatphysics ndespeciallymathematics eremportantomponentsof heir rograms.s nFrance, hysics as"sold"mostlyortsrole nthe rain-ing f ngineers.t snot urprising,herefore,hat ngineerslayed leading olein introducingewmathematicalnd physicaldeas and theoriesntoSpain.Gumersindo eVicufia ndJose chegaray,rofessorsttheprestigiousscueladeCaminosCivilEngineeringchool)ofMadrid,were rominentxponentsfthermodynamicsndMaxwellianlectrodynamicsnthe ast uarter f henine-teenthentury.9Ameasuref ngineers'ignificancenSpanish cience sfoundin thecompositionfthe RealAcademiade CienciasExactas,FisicasyNatu-rales, oundedn 1847 nMadrid ndconsideredhemostprestigiouscientificinstitutionnSpain.By1865,when chegaray aselected memberf heAca-demia,ofthethirty-sixcadcmicos,levenwere ngineers,evenhigh-rankingmilitaryfficers,ive hysicians,hree harmacists,wo stronomers,wophysi-cists, nd theremainder ere miscellaneousroup. hecontributionsmainlytextbooks,rseries fgeneralrticles)f hese ngineers ere lmost ever rigi-nal,but hey osteredhemodernizationf he eachingndknowledgefmathe-maticalphysics n particular. he weaknessof mathematicalnd physicaltrainingtthe cience aculties, here hysics asstudied or tsown ake, ndthe lackofopportunitiesor ciencegraduates nd scientistsmaintainedheinfluencefthese ngineersntil hefirstecadesofthe wentiethentury,ndeventhat atemanyphysicistsndmathematiciansadstudied t engineeringschools.20

III. A NEW INSTITUTION FOR A NEWCENTURY:THE JUNTAPARAAMPLIACION DE ESTUDIOS E INVESTIGACIONES CIENTiFICASIn theend the ocialcrisis hat esultedromosing hewar gainst heUnitedStates n 1898hadbeneficialonsequencesor panish ulture ndscience.Wehavealreadypointed ut that ackofeducationwas identifieds one ofthecausesofthedefeat.Although any eformsadbeen mplemented,r atleast

19 On EchegarayndmathematicalhysicsnSpainseeJoseM. SanchezRon, "Jose chegaray:Matemdtico ffsico-matemdtico,"nJose chegaray,d. SanchezRon Madrid: undaci6n ancoExterior,990), p.13-132; ndSanchezRon, La fisicamatemdticanEspaha:De EchegarayReyPastor,"rbor,990,No. 532,pp. 9-59.Echegaray,versatileharacter,on heNobelPrize oriter-ature n 1904. In France lso a goodmany ontributorso physicsweregraduatesf theEcolePolytechniquer theEcoleNaval: see Terry hinn, avoir cientifiquetpouvoirocial:L'EcolePolytechnique,794-1914Paris: resses e aFondation ationale esSciences olitiques,980).20 SanchezRon, La fisicamatemdtica"cit.n. 19).Themilitaryndnaval uthoritiesiredmanyhighlyrainedngineersnd llowedhemheeisure opublishheoreticalreatisesnmanyreas.



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134 JOSE M. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLpromoted,n theSpanish ducational ystemuring he econdhalf fthenine-teenth enturye.g., he reation f nstitutosn themodel fFrenchycees), ospecificMinistryfEducation xisted s the enturyeachedtsend.21n 1900,however,heMinisterio e Instrucci6nu'blica BellasArtesMinistryfPublicInstructionnd Fine Arts)was established.It wouldbe difficult,fnot mpossible,o ink hatministryith ny lear-cutpolitical ine, fonlybecause t persistedhrough rapid uccessionf govern-ments f differentdeological rientations,ll of which ook ome measures oimprove ducation. hat mprovement,owever, ascenteredmainlyn the le-mentaryevel the rimariand secundariachools), swas n fact ppropriatena countryn which 1.5 percentfthepopulationwas lliterates lateas 1900.(By 1930 hepercentagead owered o a still igh 4.5percent.) t heuniversitylevelnewreforms ere ntroduced,uttheyppliedonly o theorganizationfstudies,hat s,toteaching, hichwasessentiallytheoretical"i.e., ittle tten-tionwas paid inthe urriculumo practicalpplications). s for hefaculties fsciences,ll contemporaryccounts gree hat y 1900thefew oomsn whichexperimentsere erformedouldhardly e called aboratories.n 1917,refer-ring o hisbudget or 887through 90 ,JoseRodriguez arracido, rofessorfbiological hemistrynMadrid a chairwith eaching uties t thefacultiesfmedicine, harmacy,nd sciences), omplained s follows: Duringfourteenyears, iologicalhemistryastaughts if t weremetaphysics,ll theministersopposing nanimouslyhere herewerenodifferencesmong hedifferentar-ties)therequest or he lementsndispensableo establishingmostnecessarylaboratory."inally,n 1901 heCortes pproved budget f6,000pesetas nnu-allyfor cientific aterial or hefive acultiesftheUniversityfMadrid;butthat tillmeant ridiculouslyow mount erchair: 8.25pesetas uarterly,orexample, oeachof thechemistryhairs.22Against hat background, new and, by Spanishstandards,evolutionaryinstitution as createdbythe Ministerio e Instrucci6nuiblican January1907,when he iberalswere npower: heJunta araAmpliaci6n e Estudiose Investigacionesientificas.t was a revolutionarynstitutionotonlyfromthe tandpointfSpain'spasthistory,ut nthe nternationalontext: o otherinstitution,ublic rprivate,fany ountryried t that ime o cover s muchground. espite ts officialrigin, hisJunta roved utonomousndindepen-dent hroughoutts xistence,houghttimes, speciallynder onservativeov-ernments,t encounterederious ifficulties.TheJunta ascreatedhanks o the ffortsnd nfluencef small roup f n-tellectualselated othe nstituci6nibrede Ensefianza, privatendprogres-siveeducationalnstitutionoundedn 1876bya few rofessorshohad beenexpelled romheir niversitiesn 1867-1868 beforeherevolutionfSeptem-

21Theestablishmentf hese nstitutesas mportantothe evelopmentf cience,s graduatesnphysicsouldfindobsat them. everaleadingwentieth-centurypanish hysicistsndmathemati-cians e.g.,JoseMariaPlans,MiguelA. Catalan, edro uigAdam) aughtt these enters,ome ortheir ntire areer.22 JoseRodriguezarracido,studios istbrico-criticose aciencia spafolaMadrid: mprentae"AlrededorelMundo,"1917;rpt.Barcelona: ltaFulla/Mundoientifico,988), uoting rom .389.The situationn Carracido'saboratorymprovedreatlyfterheJunta as reated. heJuntabore portionf he aboratory'sxpensesor pkeepnd nstructionnexchangeor esk pace nduse ofthe aboratoryor he pecial oursest offeredn chemistry.



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SPAIN'S FIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 135ber1868),owing o their iberaldeas.23 heJunta's irstresident asSantiagoRamonyCajal,thegreat istologisthowon he 1906NobelPrizeformedicineandphysiology.ajal,whohadto earn natomy ydiggingpcorpses romhegraveyardsith hehelp fhisfather,countryoctor,new ullwell hedifficul-tiesfaced y cientistsndyoungtudentsf ciencenSpain.Heheld hepost fpresidentf heJuntantil isdeath n1934.Themovingpiritf heJunta as,however,tssecretary,oseCastillejo, rofessorf Roman aw anda disciple fthe nstitucionistaranciscoGiner elosRios.24 astillejo'snitiativesnd deaswere pprovedmore ften hannotby hepermanentoard f wenty-oneem-berswhocomposed heJunta.TheaimoftheJuntawastohelprenewnd mproveheSpanish ducationalsystemt all levels, ypromotingnddevelopingotonly he xact ndnaturalsciences, utdisciplinesikehistory,hilology,aw, rt, ndphilosophy.eliev-ingthat ne of themainproblemsnSpainwasthe ackofknowledgefwhatwasgoing n inmoredeveloped ountries,heJuntamade ta basicpolicy osendgraduatetudents,swell s school nduniversityrofessors,broad.Thedecree reatingheJuntan 1907wasexplicit nthispoint: Thecountryhatlives n isolationholdsup progressnd becomes decadent ne. Becauseofthis, ll thecivilizednations akepart n thatmovement f nternationalci-entific elationship thatwe are witnessingt present],ncluding ot onlythesmallEuropean ountries,utalso nations hat eem far wayfrommod-ern life, uchas China and evenTurkey, hosecolonyof studentsn Ger-many s four imes heSpanishone; that s, [weare]lastbuttwoamong lltheEuropeans."25During tsexistence1907-1938) theJunta eceivedpproximately,000re-questsfor rants,fwhichmore han2,000were ranted22%). As tothe oun-tries hosen,29% oftheholders fthescholarships ent o France,22% toGermany,4%toSwitzerland,2% oBelgium,%to taly,%toGreatBritain,4% toAustria,nd3%to theUnited tates. fthe560universityrofessorshoappliedfor grant, 3 (13%)taught tfacultiesf ciences, 16 38.7%)atfacul-ties fmedicine,3 9.4%) atfacultiesfphilosophy,nd150 26.7%) tfacultiesof aw.Thepercentagesor achdisciplinenot llare isted ere) re ignificant:pedagogy,8.5%;medicine, 8.6%; rt,10.6%; aw, .7%;chemistry,%;history,5.7%;naturalciences,%;philologynd iterature,%;engineering,.6%;phys-ics,2.4%;mathematics,%;andphilosophy,%.26Thesepercentages ighteem

23 Vicente achoViu,La Instituci6nibre eEnsehanzaMadrid:Rialp,1962);Antonio imenez-Landi,La Instituci6nibredeEnseflanza suambiente:os origenesMadrid:Taurus, 973); ndJimenez-Landi,a Instituci6nibre eEnsehanza, ol. I: Periodoarauniversitario,vols.Madrid:Taurus, 987).24 OnCastillejo eeLuisPalaciosBafiuelos,oseCastillejo, ttimatapade a Instituci6nibredeEnsehanzaMadrid:Narcea, 979);CarmelaGameroMerino, nmovimientouropeo erenovaci6npedag6gica: oseCastillejoMadrid:CSIC, 1988);and reneClaremonte Castillejo,I MarriedStranger:ife withOne ofSpain'sEnigmaticMen,"MS (April1967).We aregratefulo Prof.LeonardoCastillejo, niversityollege, ondon, or roviding copy fthis astdocument.25"Predmbuloel RealDecretode 11de Enerode 1907, reandoa Junta araAmpliaci6neEstudios Investigacionesientificas,"nLegislacibnMadrid:Junta araAmpliaci6neEstudios,1910),pp.6-7.26Thesenumbersredrawn romheMemoriashat heJunta ublishediannually.ntheJuntasee alsoFrancisco aporta, lfonso uizMiguel, irgilioapatero, ndJavierolana, Losorigenesculturalese la Junta araAmpliaci6ne Estudios," rbor, an.1987,No. 493,pp. 17-87;July/



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136 JOStM. SANCHEZ-RONND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLto indicate hat hysics asnotparticularlyavoredy heJunta,utwhat heyreveal nstead s thatphysicswas not a majordiscipline n Spain.The Junta'scommitmento thedisciplines clear rom lettert ent heRockefellernterna-tionalEducational oard:Physics ndchemistryavebeen onsidered y heJunta undamentaltudies or ci-entific rogress.etween 907 and 1924, heJunta ranted cholarshipsn physicsand chemistryo 66professorsnd graduatesor aboratoryork,or ne ortwo ndinsome asesfor hree earsn differentountries,iz.: n Germany5 scholars;nSwitzerland7; n France15; ntheUnited tates 0; nEngland ; in Holland ; inBelgium ; inRussia1; inMonaco 127

The Juntawas also convincedhat mprovinghe ountry'scientifictandingrequiredmore han endingndividuals broad.For whatwouldhappenwhenthose ndividuals eturnedo Spain? n theopinionof thosewho created heJunta,heuniversitiesad noway fprofitingrom o many rainedcientists;nthe ontrary,heywould poil heir cientificotential. onsequently,ne oftheJunta'simsfromhevery eginningastocreate enters f ts wn nwhich d-vanced research ould be done. In 1910 it established wosuch centers, heCentrode EstudiosHistoricosnd the nstituto acional de Ciencias Fisico-Naturales, esignedo controlhe aboratoriesnd departmentsheJuntamightsupport rcreate. he Laboratorio e Investigacionesisicaswas foundedhatsameyear. utbeforeurningo t,wemust till onsider ther eneral spects ftheJunta.To carry uttheprogramheJuntawasplanningequired o small mount fmoney. ast xperiencead shownhat n researchmattershe panish reasurywas far rom enerous. evertheless,ndcontraryo all expectations,heJuntawasableto secure budget hat, lthoughmeager, asfar uperioro thatre-ceivedbyanyother panishnstitutionr centert the ime,ncludingheuni-versities.t s hard o specifyhe eason or his nprecedentedenerosity,hougha detailed tudyf heJunta's istory ould eveal hegreatbilityndpersever-anceofCastillejo specially,ut lso ofCajal, ndealingwithministersfdiffer-entpolitical tripes;nfact,heJunta urvivednder egimess differents themonarchy,hedictatorshipfGeneralPrimode Rivera 1923-1930),and theSpanishRepublic1931-1936/9). o some xtent astillejo layed he amerolein relation o the Juntan general nd to the Laboratorio e InvestigacionesFisicas nparticularhatOrsoMarioCorbino layed nbehalf fFermi's hysicslaboratorynFascistRome.Corbino, senator f heKingdomf taly swell sa professorfexperimentalhysicshewas alsoministerfpublic nstructionn1921)had enough oliticalnfluenceo beable tosecure unds or ermi ndhisgroup.28twas alsoas a resultfCorbino's ffortshat, espite hebasically igidAugust 987,No.499/500,p. 9-137;andthe ariousrticlesnJos6M. SanchezRon, d.,La Juntapara Ampliaci6n e Estudios Investigacionesientificas0 afos despues, 907-1987, vols.(Madrid:CSIC, 1988).27JoseCastillejo oWickliffeose,21 July 924, nternationalducational oard IEB), 1.2,41.577,Rockefellerrchive enter,ocanticoHills,Tarrytown,ewYork.28GeraldHolton,Fermi's roup nd theRecapturef taly's lace nPhysics,"n hisThe cien-tificmagination.ase StudiesCambridge: ambridge niv.Press, 978),pp. 155-198.



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 137structuref he talian niversity,chairntheoreticalhysics ascreatedttheUniversityfRome, nd n such way hattcouldbe fillednly yFermi.tthusseems hat ncountries ith he ocial,political,conomic,nd culturalharac-teristicsf taly ndSpainbetween 910 and 1940 anadequatepolitical helterwasnecessaryormaintaining stableresearch roup.NeithertalynorSpainhadyet eached he tage f ocial, conomic,nd educational evelopmenthatmade overtly oliticalpatronage nnecessary;otsurprisingly,nly fewre-searchgroups hen xistedn either ountry.The firstudget ftheJuntawas 328,000pesetas, hegreater artofwhich(150,000)went hatnitial ear oscholarshipsbroad; 4,000pesetaswasspentonscientific aterial fdifferentinds. hebudgetncreasedteadily, ith omevariance nallocationhat eflecthangingolitical ircumstances.hus n 1912theLaboratorioe nvestigacionesisicasreceived9,876pesetas rom heJuntafor pparatus, nd 16,013 esetasn1913,butwhenn1914the tate uthorized789,655pesetas or heJunta,nly ,495went otheLaboratorio.hefollowingyear,with he amebudget,heLaboratorioeceived 3,440pesetas.During he1920sthebudgetncreasedonsiderably;n 1923 treached ,609,693 esetas,with 8,953for hephysicsaboratory.n 1933,when new nstituto acionalde Fisicay Quimicareplaced heold Laboratorio,heJunta's udget oseto3,649,721 esetas, fwhich he nstitutoeceivedmore han300,000.29ythentheJunta's udgetwasmeetingne ofGeison's onditions or he ustained uc-cessof researchchool-namely,hatt"must ave rmust uicklycquire uf-ficientower n the ocal andnational nstitutionaletting o secure dequatefinancialupport nd an institutionalizedommitmento [the] nterprise."30Buteven s theJuntabtainedncreasingmounts fmoney rom he reasury,the aboratoriest theuniversities,ngineeringchools, nd othernstitutionshad limited uccess n securing ewfunds. omelaboratories erecreated-especiallynMadrid;Barcelona adfewerndSaragossa ewertill. n 1903, ociteonly xamplesnthe apital, LaboratorioeRadioactividad as nstalledunderthedirection f thechemistJoseMufiozdel Castillo, nd in 1907 aLaboratorioeMecanicaAplicadadirectedyLeonardo orres uevedo.How-ever, hephysicsaboratoriesgeneral hysics,hermodynamics,lectricityndmagnetism,ndacoustics ndoptics) ftheFaculty fSciences tMadridwerestill na poorcondition.31hen n 1925August rowbridge,ormerlyphysicsprofessortPrincetonndthen irectoror urope f hePhysicalndBiologicalSciencesSectionoftheInternationalducationalBoard,visitedMadrid forreasonsdiscussednSectionVI), he stated hat he"regularaboratoriesf the

29 Figuresobtainedfrom heMemoriaspublishedbytheJunta, .g.,Memoria correspondientelosanos 1912y 1913 (Madrid: Juntapara Ampliaci6nde Estudios,1914); and from heLibrosde Actas(notebooks) kept at the Junta Archives, Residencia de Estudiantes, Consejo Superior deInvestigacionesCientificasCSIC), Madrid.30 Geison, "ScientificChange,Emerging pecialties, and ResearchSchools" (cit. n. 4), p. 26.31ForMadrid irca1913 eeResenade osprincipalesstablecimientosientificosaboratorioseinvestigaci6n e Madrid (Madrid: Asociaci6n Espafnola ara el Progresode las Ciencias, 1913), pp.155-163, esp. "Laboratoriosycatedra de ffsica e la Facultad de Ciencias." ForsomeinformationnBarcelonaand Saragossa see Roca Rosell,Lafisica en la Cata/una cit.n. 14);AntoniRoca RosellandJoseM. SanchezRon,EstebanTerradas: ienciaytecnican a EspahacontemporaneaBarcelona:INTA/El Serbal, 1990); and Mariano Tomeo Lacrue, Biografia cientificade la UniversidaddeZaragoza (Zaragoza, 1962).



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138 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLUniversity"nwhich nstructionr researchn physicsr chemistryascarriedout were inmyopinionnot worthonsidering-physicss a little etterhanchemistrynequipmentchemistryas aboutnonewhatever)nd possiblyhelecture oursesnelementaryciencehavesomevalue,but taken s a whole,have never een anywhere orse onditionsnUniversityaboratories."32Not surprisingly,oiceswere aised n theuniversitygainstwhatwasconsid-ered most njust ituation. ttheCongressftheAsociaci6n spafolaparaelProgreso e las Ciencias SpanishAssociationor heAdvancementf Science)held nSeville n 1917,for xample, oseGonzalezMarti, rofessorfgeneralphysicstMadrid,declarednone of themain ecturest themeetinghathecouldneithernderstand or ccept hat heJuntawas offeredesourceseniedtotheuniversity.ince hedirectors,ndeven hemajorityf he cientists ork-ing t theJuntaaboratories,ere niversityersonnel,he ffectf he tate up-port f heJunta as, nsisted onza'lezMarti, todivide heprofessorsnto wocategories,"ith hose emainingxclusivelyt theuniversitynable ocarryutoriginalesearchecause f ackofresources.33e,aswell s others,rguedhattheJuntawasmakinghenecessaryecentralizationfresearchffortsmpossi-ble, ndthat ts aboratoriesould emainnthe ndtheonly eal cientificen-ters hroughoutpain.Infact, ive ears efore heSeville ongress onzalezMartihadalreadyriedtogive orceo hiscritiquef heJunta ith hehelp f wo ight-wingrofessorsof heMadridFacultyfSciences, oseMufioz elCastillo,lsoa memberf heCortes,nd Bartolomeeliu, member f he enado.On 13July 912thephysi-cistJeronimoecino,henworkingt theLaboratorioe nvestigacionesisicas,warnedBlas Cabrera,ts director,hatGonzalezMarti whohadbeenoneofCabrera's eacherst theuniversity)lanned to abolish heJunta nd theLabo-ratorio,ndto usethemoneyhat hese enterspend ogive alaries o the ssis-tantswhohelpwith xperimentst universitiesnd institutes.rgumentsorsuch bolition:hat heLaboratoriosuseless s a center ecause heroleoftheuniversitys to train rofessorsnd notresearchers."34n that ccasionCabrera,Castillejo,ndCajal reacted uicklyndenergetically,btaininghe upportflarge umberfSpanish niversityrofessors.et hewide upportmaynothavebeencompletelyincerenall nstances,or ess han hirty earsater omewho

32August rowbridgeoWickliffeose,4 May1925, EB 1.2, 1.577,Rockefellerrchiveenter.Trowbridgelsomentionedhe hemicalaboratoriesf he acultyfPharmacy"onthewhole hesearegood . . [although]ot arge nougho take areof llapplicantsnd thegreaterumberf heuniversitytudentsreforced o work nder ntolerableonditions");he aboratoriesf heDepart-ment fPublicHealth"no nstructionnthe arts evoted ophysicsndchemistry.hese aborato-ries retestingabs pure ndsimple"); nd the aboratoriesonnected ith heOrdnancendtheEngineerorps f he panish rmy"Here he quipmentnphysicsndchemistrysgood, omen-structions given o youngerfficershovolunteeror rainingn these ines.There s a semi-permanenttaffonnected ith hese aboratories,houghs the cientists ust e membersfthemilitarystablishment,heyre not ikelyobemen f ny cientificrainingnresearch").eealsothediscussion fTrowbridge'sisit o Madrid n ThomasF Glick, La Fundaci6RockefellerEspanya: a crisidels aboratoris,"n Histbria e lafisica, d. LuisNavarroVeguillasBarcelona:CIRIT, 1988), pp. 367-371.33JoseGonzalezMarti,Estado e a ensefianzae a ffsican as universidadeseEspafia," ctasSextoCongresoe la AsociacibnspaholaparaelProgresoe las Ciencias, 917,1:35-57.34Jer6nimoecino oBlasCabrera, 3July 912,Junta rchives,SIC. Thecomplete istoryfthis pisodewillbe documentedn JoseM. SanchezRon,"El mundode BlasCabrera"book npreparation).



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 139in 1912sidedwith heJunta ppeared s ferociousritics f t. On theotherhand,n1912 twouldnothavebeen asy oanswer personaletter romhe m-posing nd vehement ajal inthenegative.

As toGonza'lezMarti's rgumentsn 1917, t s difficultosaywhetheruni-form nd more quitable istributionfresources ouldhave llowed heuniver-sity rofessorsobecomemore reativecientists.he tactic hosen y heJunta,andindirectlynd mostprobably nwittinglyythepoliticians,nfactyieldedsplendid ruits,specially,hough otonly,nthe aseofphysics. hecentraliza-tion ofscientificesearchntheLaboratorio e Investigacionesisicasand itsisolation rom ther entersnSpainmeant hat twaseasy,nfact lmost n-avoidable, oestablish "schoolofphysics"here.solation, ontinuity,ack ofsatisfactoryrofessionalpportunitieslsewhere,cientificompetence,nd aminimumevelofsuccess reelementshat eldom ail oproducewhat an becalleda school, venwhen everal ranches fphysicswere eing ultivatedi-multaneously,s was thecasewith urLaboratorio.

IV. BLAS CABRERA'SRESEARCH PROGRAMBlas Cabrera 1878-1945), the directorf theLaboratorio e InvestigacionesFisicas,wasSpain's foremosthysicistnthefirstalf fthe wentiethentury;indeed,hewasthefirsthysicistfany nternationaltaturenthehistoryfSpanish cience.36orn nArrecife,anzarote,ntheCanaryslands, etraveledtoMadrid n1894with he imof tudyingaw, ut oonmoved o theFacultyfSciences, btainingisdegreelicenciado)n1900.Toqualify or hedoctoral x-aminationnthephysicomathematicalection,naddition osubmittingdis-sertation,t wasnecessaryofollowhree ourses: heoreticalndexperimentalastronomy, athematicalhysics,ndmeteorology.abrera's hesis,ubmittedinOctober 901,dealtwith topic nmeteorology,hediurnal ariationsfthewind, nddidnot nvolveny xperimentalork. sfar sweknow ehadnosu-pervisor,omethingrequentindeed, lmost herule) t thetime.37oonafterobtainingisdoctorate,abrera evealed imselfsaprolificesearcher,ublish-ingeight apersbetween 903and 1904ontopicsdealingwith lectrolytesndwith lementaryuestions felectromagnetism.InJanuary903,ust atthe ime hatCabrerawas aunching iscareer nre-search, professionalocietyfphysicistsndchemists,heSociedadEspanholadeFisicayQuimica,wascreated. erhapshe imewasripe orhe nstitutionali-zation fphysicsndchemistrynSpain.Onepurpose fthenew ocietywastopublish journal, heAnalesde la SociedadEspafoladeFisica y Quimica. tsfirstssue, modest ooklet ffortyages, ppeared nMarch1903;Cabrera

35E.g., hephysiciannrique ufier,ho ttackedheJunta itilesslynhisLos intelectuales atragediaspaholaBurgos: ditorial spafiola, 937).36Afew spects fCabrera'sife ndcareerreconsiderednEnelcentenarioeBlasCabreraLasPalmas:UniversidadnternacionalPerezGaldos," ca. 1978]). or full tudyeeSanchezRon, Elmundo e BlasCabrera"cit.n. 34).37BlasCabrera,Variacibniurna elvientoSantaCruzde Tenerife:mprentae A.J.Benitez,1902).The ack f supervisorgainparallelshe ase nFrance,whereechnicallyhere ere othe-sisdirectors,nly residentsf he xaminingury-althoughnpracticehe residentas professorwhoworked ith he tudentnorganizinghedissertation.



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140 JOSE M. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLcontributedwopapers o that ssue, omethinghatno oneelsedid.38nfact,l-though heLaboratorio ad tsownpublication,heTrabajos elLaboratorioeInvestigacionesisicas, heAnales onstitutedhemain nstrumentor hepubli-cation f he esultsf he esearcheserformedt theLaboratoriond ts ucces-sor, he nstituto. lthoughhe cientistsf theLaboratorio idnotcontrolheAnales ompletely,hey learly ever adanydifficultyublishingheir apersnit. n this espect,he aboratorioulfilledneofGeison's haracteristicsf suc-cessfulresearchchool."Initially,hemembersf henew ociedadEspaholadeFisicayQuimicanum-bered 49,amongwhom he argestroup39)waspharmacists,howould re-sumably avebeenmore nterestednchemistryhanphysics. he next argestgroupwasformed yprofessorsn the acultiesf ciences38);then ame he n-gineers36), always resentnthehistoryf Spanishphysicomathematicalci-ences.Therefollowed4 nonuniversityeachers,9 licenciadosnd Ph.Ds, 14assistant rofessorst thefacultiesf ciences, astronomers,clearlydentifiedas chemists, militarymen,2 priests,nd a miscellaneousroup f30 otherpersons.39In March1905Cabrerawasappointed rofessorfElectricityndMagnetismat theMadridFaculty f Sciences.Up to thenmost f his works ad dealtwithmagnetismnd electricity.hen n 1909 hewas elected memberf theRealAcademia eCienciasExactas, isicasyNaturales,e chose s the ubject or isinauguralddress deliveredn 1910), "The Ether nd Its Relationship ithMatter tRest."He did notmention instein,omeofwhoseworks ealreadyknew, lthoughpparentlye did not ompletelynderstandhemt the imeinparticular,e did notperceivehow differentinstein's tandpoint as fromLorentz's).40oon,however,abrera nderstoodhemeaningfEinstein'son-tributionndbecamethemain nterpreterf his deas inSpain.41By 1910Cabrerawas at thesummit f hisprofession;t theAcademy, orexample,he and Gonza'lezMarti-mucholderthan Cabrera-weretheonlytrue hysicists.onsequently,t snot urprisinghatwhen heJunta araAm-pliacionde Estudios tartedooking or directoror hephysicsaboratoryt

38 Cabrera ublished 8 papers ntheAnales hroughoutiscareer; nly wo hemists,nriqueMoles ndJoseMufioz el Castillo, ublishedmore111and76,respectively).or bibliometricalanalysis f thepaperspublishedn theAnales, ee ManuelValera nd PedroMarset, Aspectosbibliometricosinstitucionalese la Real SociedadEspafiola eFisicayQuimicaparaelperiodo1903-1937,"nEl cientificospahol nte uhistoria:a ciencia nEspahaentre 750y 1850, d.SantiagoGarma Madrid:Diputaci6n rovincial e Madrid,1980),pp. 391-432.39For he ist eeAnalesde aSociedad spaholade FisicayQuimica, une 904,No. 14,pp.255-264.ThomasGlickhad similar esults hen eanalyzedhe ociedad n1920,when herewere 46members:ee EinsteinnSpain cit.n. 8). Forthenumericalvolutionf themembershipotheSociedad eeValera ndMarset,Aspectos ibliometricos"cit.n. 38),p. 413.40 Blas Cabrera, l 'tery sus relaciones on a materia n reposo Madrid:Real AcademiadeCiencias,1910).At thefirstmeetingf theAsociaci6n spafiola arael Progresoe lasCiencias,held n Saragossa n 1908,Cabrerapresented paperon thetheoryf electronshat xplainedMaxwellianndHertzianlectromagneticonceptsf ight. ementionedinstein'sheorynly sa refinementfLorentz's lectronheory. n the ntroductionfrelativityo Spainsee Glick,EinsteinnSpain cit.n.8); andThomas Glick, Relativityn Spain," nTheComparativeecep-tion fRelativity,d. Glick Boston:Reidel,1987),pp. 231-263.4' See, e.g.,Blas Cabrera, rincipio e relatividadMadrid:Publicaciones e la Residencia eEstudiantes,923;2nd. d.,Barcelona: ltafulla/Mundoientifico,986),whereeealsothe ntro-duction, oseM. SanchezRon,"BlasCabrerayel principio e relatividad,"p.v-xxi.



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 141wanted ocreate,t fixed tseyesontheyoung rofessorfelectricityndmag-netism.AndsinceCabrerawasessentiallyn experimentalist,nterestedspe-cially nthemagneticropertiesfmatter,s well s insome spects fphysicalchemistry,ewas anappropriateandidate o ead anexperimentalenterov-ering hysicsnd some branches fchemistryespecially,hysical hemistry).Eventhe theoretical"apershepublishedwereneverntended s originalon-tributions,ut rathers reviews,fnotpopularizations,fthenewtheories fother hysicists.This ack oforiginal heoreticalalentwas one ofCabrera'smainweaknessesas a physicist.ndeed, ll the cientists,hetherhysicistsrchemists,hogath-ered t theLaboratorio nd nstitutohroughoutheir xistencehared he ameexclusivelyxperimentalpproachophysicsndchemistry.o significantheo-retical aperever ame outof eitherncarnationfthe nstitute. hereason sdifficultospecify.erhapst thebeginningf he entury,hen heoreticalhys-ics wasnotyetwell stablishednSpain, hefocus nexperimentasunavoidablefor group fphysicistsndchemiststartingodoresearchna country ithouta traditionforiginalcientificnvestigation.twasthen asier omanipulatep-paratus hanto elaborate heories,specially incethemathematiciansfthecountrywere also tryingo consolidate hemselvess modernprofessionals,payingttentionmostlyopuremathematicst theexpense fappliedmathe-matics.42ndeed, t is strikingowthesituationn Spainresembledhat n acountrys differents theUnited tates,where, s John ervos asshown,math-ematicswasmaking reat trides,utmainlynareasremote romheneedsofexperimentalcientists.43Soon afterssuminghedirectorshipf heLaboratorio,abrera sked or neofthescholarshipsranted ytheJunta.No doubtherealized hat t wasonethingobea successfulhysicistnSpain,publishinghere asily ndoften,ndquiteanothero be a competitiventernationalhysicist.n 12April1912theJunta ranted imthe cholarship,for ivemonths, ith 00pesetasmonthly,plus600 for ravel,nd500formaterial,ovisit hysicsaboratoriesnd toworkonmagnetismnFrance, witzerland,ndGermany."44Cabrera pent hegrealer art fhisgrant eriod ttheZurich olytechnikum,workingnthe aboratoryf heFrench hysicistierreWeiss,whowasby henscientist ith nestablishedeputationntheEuropeancientificommunity,s-peciallynthefield fmagnetism.abrera's rojectedtay lmost ametonoth-ing:The Spanish hysicsrofessorndacademico rrivednZurich arly nMay1912, ogether ith iswife ndson,withoutither nowingWeiss rhavingn-formed imofhisforthcomingisit. twasonlywith ifficulty,lthoughatherquickly,hatheandthe hemistnriqueMoles head of he hemistryection f

42Onthis oint eeSanchezRon, La fisicamatemiticanEspafia"cit.n. 19).Oneexception asthe ttentionaidtotensoralculus nthe1 20s nd1930s, wingothe opularityfEinstein'she-ory fgeneralelativitynSpain.However,panish hysicistsormathematicians)idnotmake rig-inalcontributionsothis heoryuringhisperiod.43JohnW.Servos,MathematicsndthePhysical ciences nAmerica, 880-1930,"sis,198677:611-629.MostSpanish hysicistsndchemists howent broaddidsotoperfectheirkills nthe aboratory.hemaindifferencesthat nSpain he rendasted ill heCivilWar1936),while ntheUnited tates tbegan ochange ignificantlyround1914.44Librosde Actas,Junta araAmpliaci6ne Estudios, unta rchives,SIC.



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142 JOSE M. SANCHEZ-RON AND ANTONI ROCA-ROSELLtheLaboratorio,who accompaniedhim to Zurich)attractedWeiss's nterestndconfidence.45The months pent n Zurichwerecrucial n Cabrera's scientificareer,not onlybecause most of his research hereafter ealtwith hestudyofweaklymagneticsubstances, utalso because he would oin forceswithWeiss n tryingo provetheexistenceof the"Weiss magneton,"whichwas, according othe Frenchprofessor,thenaturalunit of molecularmagnetism.46hroughouthis career,Cabreraaccu-mulated a wealth of carefully selected experimentalmeasurementsthat hethought proved the existence of this magnetic unit,which was neverthelesseventually isplaced as thefundamental nit ofmagneticmomentby the "Bohrmagneton," pproximately ive imes bigger hanthe Weissunit. ndeed, one ofthe conclusionsto be drawnfrom he history fSpanishphysics rom1907,whenthe Juntawas created,until1936,theyearwhen theSpanishCivil War began, sthat physicists eldom abandoned theirfirstnterests, speciallythose theyac-quired whilestudying r working broad. Cabrera's case certainly onfirms herule.47Because the Weiss magnetonwas meaningful nly n a non-quantum ontext,whereastheBohrmagneton,which was deduced from hequantification ftheelectron orbits,was a proper quantum construct,Cabrera's commitmenttoWeiss's viewoftenplaced him in a difficultosition,especially fter bout 1930.For example,at the 1930 SolvayConference,whichwas devoted to magnetism,Cabrera could onlyconcede thatifone considersll thephenomenao far nownnthephysicsf he tom, hen hesuccess f he uantumheorys remarkablendealingwith toms rwithmoleculeswhich anbe considereds polynucleartoms.... Allcasesofparamagnetismngasbelong o this roup ndmaybe interpretedith high egree fexactitudeythistheory.In particular, he Weiss magneton ppeared clearly only in the more complexchemical structures,

where hequantum heoryannot e accuratelyeveloped, ecause he tom's ur-face s heavily eformed.... T]hepersistence ithwhich heWeissmagnetonp-pears nthese asesas thenatural nit f atomicmomentsannot e attributedopure hance. n thecaseof rare arths,he heory asgiven uantitativeesultsonear o the mpiricalbservationshat t s certainlyifficultottoascribe o thatagreementhevalueof a proof f tsexactitude;ence heverificationftheWeiss45 Moles, prolificndcompetenthemist,ad muchmore nternationalxperiencehan abrera;from 908till1910heworkedn theOstwaldnstitutef Leipzig, nder arlDrucker.46 Weiss ntroducedhemagnetonn 191 : PierreWeiss, Sur a rationaliteesrapportsesmo-mentsmagnetiques oleculairest emagneton,"ournale Physique,911,1:900-912,965-988.For studyf heWeissmagnetoneePierre u6dec,Weiss'sMagneton:heSinofPride r VenialMistake?" SPS, 1988,18:349-375.ReferringoWeiss nd Cabrera, uedec tatesp. 360):"Theirjointcombat nbehalf fthemagneton ould astnearlyhirtyears."47 For nothernstancef heprofoundnfluencef he essons ndmodelsearned y youngrinexperiencedcientist hen tudyingbroad, ee thearticle n WilliamH. Perkin, r., yJackMorrelln this olume. erkin,sMorrelloints ut,never orgotdolf onBaeyer'sdeologyfre-search. hecaseoftheMadridLaboratoriospeculiar nlyn the ntensityfthephenomenon;stherewerenomodels vailablen the ountry,untacientistsadtoimporthem rombroad.



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SPAIN'S IRSTSCHOOLOF PHYSICS 143magnetons stillmore ertain.n ouropiniont s evidenthat hemechanicsf lec-tronicystemss notyet ompletelystablishedemphasisdded].

In otherwords,Cabrera was led to the conclusion thattheproblems n under-standing heWeissmagneton n termsofthe newquantumtheory, arfromdis-crediting hatunit,meant that a newtheoreticalformulationwas needed:Ifone takes nto ccount heway nwhich henewmechanics,noneside, nd theidea of heWeissmagneton,nthe ther,epresenthe xperimentalesults,hen neis edtoconsider hemssuccessivepproximationsnthenterpretationfreality.48

To someextent,his uggestion as an agreeableway feluding heproblem,because tallowedCabrera okeepbelievingntheWeissmagneton,hile t thesame time cceptinguantummechanics s a satisfactoryheory or he timebeing,hough learly ot final ne. ndeed, abrera imselfromotedhe ntro-duction fquantum heoryn Spainthroughooks, rticles, nd lectures,ndcontributed, lone or with some of his collaborators n the Laboratorio andInstituto, o itsdevelopment.49 hus, when JohnVan Vleck reviewed he litera-tureofmeasurements n themagnetic usceptibilities f rare arth alts for nclu-sion in The Theory fElectric ndMagneticSusceptibilities, e foundthatmanyof hosemeasurementsad beenmadebyCabrera,whosename hus ppearednthebookmore requentlyhan nyotherxperimenter's.50ther ignificanton-tributionsyCabrera ncludedhismodificationf theCurie-Weissaw for herare arths,nd thederivationf an equation or he tomicmagneticmomentthat ncluded hetemperatureffect.51

48 Blas Cabrera, L'etude xperimentaleu paramagnetisme:e magneton,"nLe magnitisme:Rapports tdiscussionsusixikme onseil ePhysique,enu Bruxelles u 20 au 25 Octobre930(Paris:Gauthier-Villars,932),pp.81-159,quoting romp. 149-150.John anVleck aid ater fthe ongresshat by nd arge it]wascomposed fpeople fvery reat istinction,utoftentimeswithoutmuchbackgroundnmagnetism,ome ofwhomdidnotunderstandrsympathize ithquantummechanics.Weisswas a hold-outorhisWeissmagneton,hich s nowrecognizedobecompletelypurious,utwhich ook great eal ofthetime tthatCongress." anVleck,nter-viewwith harlesWeiner,8Feb. 1966,p. 13,Center orHistory fPhysics, mericannstitutefPhysics, ewYork.Nineyears eforehe ongressanVleck imselfhoughttherwise.naHarvardpaperhewrote:TheWeissmagnetonsprobablyonnectednsomewaywith he uantumheory,for toccurs ooregularlyobeexplainedna satisfactoryay y he heoryfprobabilityndpurechance, utnoquantitativexplanationccordingo the uantumheoryasyet eengiven." uotedinFrederick . Fellows,J.H. VanVleck: heEarly ife f Mathematicalhysicist"Ph.D.diss.,Univ.Minnesota, 985).49See,e.g.,BlasCabrera, La estructurae losdtomos moleculas esde lpunto evista isico,"An. Soc.Espah.Fis. Quirm.,925,23:101-122,211-222,239-249;Cabrera, l dtomo suspropie-dades electromagneticasMadrid:EditorialPaez, 1927); and Cabrera, Ideas actuates obre amaterial"as Ciencias, 934,1:53-63.Onthe arlytages f he ntroductionf he uantumdeasin Spain seeAntoniRocaRosell, L'impacte e la hip6tesi uAntica Catalunya,"nEl cientificoespafol nte uhistoria,d.Garma cit.n.38),pp.383-387; nd JoseM. SanchezRon, La cienciaespafiola e internacionaliza:a introducci6nela teoria uintica nEspafia1908-1919)," nCin-quanta nys eciencia tecnica CatalunyaBarcelona:nstitut'Estudis atalans, 987), p.71-88.50 JohnVanVleck, Cabrera's xperimentsndtheEarlyTheory fParamagnetism,"nEn elcentenarioeBlasCabreracit.n.36),pp.21-30.VanVleck's ookwas pillar f he uantumheoryofmagnetism:heTheoryfElectricndMagnetic usceptibilitiesOxford: xfordUniv.Press,1932).5'1SomeofCabrera'sworksre ummarizednBlasCabrera, ia-et aramagnetismet tructureela matiereParis:Hermann, 937); and Cabrera, l magnetismoe la materiaBuenosAires:Instituci6nultural spafiola, 944).



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144 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLA perceptive, houghby no means complete,view of Cabrera's approach tore-search was expressed by the physicistCharles Mendenhall when he visitedMadrid in March 1926 on behalfof the Rockefeller nternationalEducationBoard. In his report o the IEB he stated:

Prof. abreras largely,fnot xclusively,nterestedn the tudyfmagnetism,ar-ticularlyn tsbearingpon he heoriesfLangevinndWeiss.He impressed easexperimentallyngenious,utperhapsomewhatoo muchnterestednworkingutnicearrangementsf apparatuswhich ouldbe usedwith hemaximumfconve-niencebytheexperimenteruring long eries f observations.e showedmeanumberfvery eautifullyonstructednstrumentshich adbeenmade nthe hopof he aboratoryut saw ittle r nothing hich ndicatedmuch nterestn mprov-ing pparatus r intryingutnew deas.52In 1928,thanks o thequalityof hiswork, nd probably lso tohisposition as arepresentativefa marginal cientificommunity, abrerawas electeda memberof theCommission Scientifique nternationale fthe InstitutenternationaldePhysiqueSolvay. n 1930he was also made a member f theComite nternationaldes Poids et Mesures in Paris,of whichhe became secretaryn 1933. In Spain,thoughhe was never o publicfigures Cajal, Cabrera got all the honorshe couldreasonably xpect,beingnamedrector fthe University fMadrid and presidentoftheAcademyof Sciences and oftheSociedad Espafiolade Fisica y Quimica.Whenthe SpanishCivilWar began n 1936,Cabrerasoonwentwithhis family o

Paris,receiving small salaryfrom he Bureaudes Poids et Mesures.Althoughheplannedto return nce thewarwas over, henewpoliticalregime et himknowclearly hathewould notbe welcome,no doubtbecause of hispastrelationwiththe Junta, n institutionhatFranco's regime aw as a dangerous nd leftist rga-nizationthatcontributedo thedegeneration fmanySpanish ntellectuals. on-frontedwith ucha situation,Cabrera, ike so manySpanish ntellectuals, ent n1941 to Mexico City, n whose Facultyof Sciences he taughtuntilhis death in1945.V. THE LABORATORIODE INVESTIGACIONES FISICAS

The Laboratoriode Investigaciones isicas was establishedbythe Junta n 1910.Itwas housed in theso-calledPalacio de la Industriayde las Artes, largebuild-ing thatalso accommodatedthe MuseumofNaturalSciences,TorresQuevedo'sLaboratoryofApplied Mechanics, the School of IndustrialEngineers, nd theRoyalSocietyof NaturalHistory.nitially,heLaboratoriohad four ections:me-trology,lectricity,pectroscopy,nd physical hemistry;t had ninerooms twofor ach group,plus one for ibrary nd seminars).3Thoughtherewereobviousshortcomings,uch as the impossibility fkeepingthetemperature onstant n

52CharlesMendenhall,ReportfVisit .. inMadrid," 4March 926, p.1-2, EB 1.2, 1.579,Rockefellerrchive enter.Mendenhall'statementgreeswith urearlier ommenthat panishphysicistsoundt very ifficultoabandon heir irstnterests.53Somedocumentsndicatehat heLaboratorioegan peratingna provisional annern1909;see LeonardoTorres uevedo, Proyectoe creaci6n e uncentro6cnico arael fomentoe lainvestigaci6nientifica,"Jan.1909,Junta rchives,SIC. For descriptionfthe aboratoryee"Laboratorioe nvestigacionesisicas,"nReseha e osprincipalesstablecimientoscit.n.31),pp.167-173.



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 145therooms, r themechanicalnstabilityfthefloors,t wasadequatefor he n-tendedwork, hich, y heway,wasnotrestrictednly oresearch;twas lsotheLaboratorio's uty o offerxperimentalourses or dvanced tudents. hesecoursesusually overedbasictechniques elated o the researchubjects ealtwith t theLaboratorio,hus upportingathrynlesko's eeminglybvious utoften isregardedoint: school ouldneither orm or ontinueo existwithoutsomemechanism or nstructingdvanced tudents. heprovision or nstruc-tion lsofulfillsne ofGeison's riteria or successfulesearchchool-"a read-ily vailable oolof alentedotential ecruits."54oreover,lmost llthe eniorscientistsf heLaboratorio ere rofessorst theUniversityfMadrid ndthusable to recruit esearchtudentsasily,s theLaboratorio aspracticallyhe nlyplace n townwhere licenciado ouldexpect o do serious esearch.The survivingocuments o notallowus to know xactlywhoworked t theLaboratoriouring 910and 1911,but t seems lmost ertainhatCabrera ndEnriqueMoles did most fthepreliminarylanningndresearch. oles,forn-stance,designed he section fphysical hemistryollowinghe model oftheOstwald nstitutenLeipzig,where e hadstudied.55y 1912,however,herewasalready senior taff: hephysicists abrera,Jer6nimo ecino, nd ManuelMartinezRisco, and thechemistsMoles,Angeldel Campo,JulioGuzmain,Santiago iha deRubies, nd Le6nGomez-nearly llof them ull rassistantprofessorst theMadrid acultyfSciences,whichmeant hat hey adtodividetheir imebetween he two nstitutions.o judgefrom heauthorship f thetwenty-oneaperspublished uring 912-1913andtheeightnprogresshen,eighteen ersonsworked t theLaboratorio tthat ime.56By 1914the tructurefthe aboratory as almost omplete. herewere ivecentral roups: hysics,irectedyCabrera, nddedicatedmainly osuch athergeneralndmiscellaneousopics s thephysical ropertiesfmetals nelectricandmagneticields,ndoptics; hysicalhemistryMoles);magneto-chemistry(Cabrera); lectrochemistryndelectroanalysisGuzmain);ndspectroscopydelCampo).At leastuntilthe 1920sthesewerethemaintopicspursued t theLaboratorio. heschemewasvery imple: hegroupswere enteredn a leader,and the emphasiswas upon physics, speciallymagnetism,nd physicalchemistry-theields fCabrera ndMoles.Such a limitedndinterconnectedfield f nterestsadsome dvantages;nparticular,hegroups ollaboratedo ahighdegree uring hefirstears,whenCabrera oauthoredaperswithMoles,Guzman, nd Piha de Rubies. n this ense, oo,one can speakofa "researchschool," lthoughnat eastoneaspect tdiffersromhe ideal"researchchoolwith "charismatic"irectorosited yJackMorrell.57lthough ewas a com-petentcientistndadministrator,abrerawasfar romossessinghe cientificstature rcharisma f a Liebig, n Ostwald, Sommerfeld,r a Fermi.

54SeeKathryn . Olesko's rticlenthis olume,swell sOlesko, hysicss a Calling: isciplineandPracticentheKonigsbergeminaror hysicsIthaca,N.Y./London:ornell niv.Press, 991);andGeison, Scientifichange"cit.n. 4), p. 26.5 Moles describedhis activities t Ostwald's aboratoryn "Un cursote6ricoy practico eQuimica-Fisica,"nales e aJunta araAmpliacibneEstudios Investigacionesientificas,91 ,4:69-87.56Memoria orrespondientelosahos1912y 1913 cit.n.29).57Jack .Morrell,TheChemist reeders:heResearchchools fLiebig ndThomas homson,"Ambix, 972,9:1-46.



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146 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELLDuringhese arly ears heLaboratorioeachedut othe nternationalcien-tific ommunitynseveralways nd acquired ome nternationaltandingntheprocess.Atthe implestevel, t wasa policy ftheJuntandtheLaboratoriooinvite oreigncientistso ecturen Madrid; lthoughotverymany ame, heywere istinguished:lbert instein, rnold ommerfeld,ermannWeyl, ierreWeiss, rwin chrbdinger,tto Honigschmidt,ndPaulScherrer,or xample.EvenmoremportantastheJunta's olicy f endingheLaboratorioesearch-ersabroad, s wesaw nthe aseof Cabrera ndMoles,whowent o Zurich nJunta cholarshipsn 1912.Almost ll thephysicistsnd chemists hobecamesenior esearchersnthe nstituto,hetherermanentlyrtemporarily,eceivedgrantsostudynd work broad.Thus n1909Angel el Campowent oParis oworkwithGeorgesUrbain; n 1909-1910,ManuelMartinez iscovisitedAm-sterdam, here e collaborated ith eter eeman, arryinguttheresearchorhisdoctoral issertation.8n 1912-1913JulioGuzmain ent oLeipzig o workwith arlDrucker;antiago ifia eRubies pent ixmonthsn Geneva nd Rus-sia; andJeronimoecino pent hreemonthsnParis, tudying etrologyttheBureau nternationales PoidsetMesures.n 1916-1918JulioPalacios,whowouldbecome he eader ftheX-ray iffractionroup ftheLaboratorio, entto Leyden oworkwithHeikeKammerlinghnnes n ow emperatures.n 1921JuanCabrera,Blas's younger rother, ent o Paris,wherehe workedwithMauricede Broglien his Laboratoire e Rechercheshysiques.n 1929and1932 Arturo uperier, abrera's ollaborator,ho while nexile nEnglandnthe ate 1930s wonfameforhis researchn cosmicrays,went uccessivelyoStrasbourg,here eworkedwithPierreWeiss, ndto Paris,where eworkedwith harlesMaurin.nthe ight fSpain'spast cientificistory,hese cientificvoyagersonstitute rathermpressiveroup,withwell-chosenbjectives.Besides xposingherecipientsfthegrantsowork t the enter,hesenter-national isits roughtpaintothe nternationalttentionf hewidercientificcommunity.abrera's tay nZurichmayhave ed Jakob aub,Einstein's irstcoauthor,o arrangeo spend fewmonthsDecember1915-March 916) nMadrid.Laub,whohadoccupied he hair fgeophysicsttheNationalUniver-

sity fLa Plata nArgentinaince1911, pent art f nArgentineummer ithPierreWeissn Zurich eforeWorldWar .WhilenMadrid, aubpublishedwopiecesofwork, newrittenloneandone withCabrera.59Themost trikingxample ftheway nwhich cholarshipsbroad ouldpayoffwasthatofMiguelCatalan.Catalan, chemistn thespectroscopyroupsince1915, pent1920-1921 tAlfred owler'saboratoryt the mperial ol-legeofScience ndTechnologynLondon.Whenhe firstoinedtheLaboratorio,the workdonebythespectroscopyroupunder hedirectorshipfAngeldelCampo, chemistryrofessort theUniversityfMadrid, onsistedrimarilyf58 ManuelMartinez isco, a asimetriae ostripletese Zeeman, pt.nMartinez isco,OeuvresscientifiquesParis:PressesUniversitairese France, 976).59Jakob aub,"Sobreunaespeciede radiaci6n ifractada roducidaluminandoos bordes eloscuerposonrayos ontgen,"n.Soc. Espan.Fis. Quim., 916,14:52-61; ndLaub andBlasCa-brera,Acerca e la acci6nde los bordes e los orificiosn losrayos amma,"bid,1917,15:51-54. On Laub seePyenson, ulturalmperialismnd ExactSciencescit.n. 17),pp. 163-202, 27-228; and LewisPyenson,SilverHorizon:A Noteon theLaterYearsofthePhysicist-DiplomatJakob aub,"JahrbuchurGeschichteon taat,WirtschaftndGesellschaftateinamerikas,988,25:757-766.



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SPAIN'SFIRST SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 147"spectrumnalysis fminerals."60henCatalanreturnedoSpain, henaturefthespectroscopicalorks arried utat theLaboratoriohanged ramatically.While tudyinghe pectra fmanganesenLondon,hediscovered ultiplets.61Thediscoveryroughtudden ame otheLaboratorio ndplaced tat thefore-frontf heresearchhen eing one nquantum hysics.ndeed, rom hat imeonwardsne ofCabrera's rguments,hen sking ormore esourcess directorof heLaboratorio, asthat heSpanish roupi.e.,Catalan nd a few ollabora-tors) houldnot ose theprestigiousosition hey adachievedntheworld fphysics.It is well knownthatCatalan's discovery apidlyreceiveda theoreticalinterpretationromArnold ommerfeldnMunich.Thisepisode lsorevealsthegood effectf theJunta's olicyofbringingn foreignecturers.)n thespringf1922Sommerfeldisited arcelona ndMadridunder he uspices ftheJunta,ecturingn several spects fquantum heory.62nMadridhemetCatalan,alreadyback from ondon. As a result fthatvisit, collaborationbeganbetweenMadrid ndMunich.On 20 June 924Sommerfeldpproachedthe nternationalducational oardaskingt togrant scholarshipoCatalanso that he atter ouldspend year t theMunich nstitute,as he ismarriedand has to provideforhislivinghimself."Catala'nwas in fact high choolteacher nd obtained universityrofessorship-a pecialone,sponsored ytheAcademy fSciences-in 1932.)ReferringoCatalan's fundamentalorkon the spectrum fmangan," nd the "exchangeof thoughts n scientificquestions" hat he twohadhad "continuously"incetheirmeetingnSpain,Sommerfeld ent n:

Hiswork nthemangan-spectrum.. fitteddmirablynwithhe spect f he uan-tum heory hich developed n 1920 nthe AnnalenerPhysik" ol.63. I myselfhave nterpretedn a theoreticalasis in the"Annalen erPhysik"Vol. 70, Mr.Catalan's esults. r.Catalanhassinceusedmymethodn a series ffurthermpor-tant reatisespublishedn"Anales e SociedadEspailola")onthe pectrumfSc,Mo, Cr. He alsogotvery oodresultsnthe pectrumf ron, study hat oes o-gether ithhis worknWashingtonndMunich.63With ommerfeld'support, atala'n ot hegrant. ppropriately,henextyear(1925-1926),another rant romhe EB sentKarlBechert, ithwhomCatalanhadcollaboratednMunich, oMadrid.64Thevery trengthftheLaboratorios thecentralnstitutionnSpainmain-tainingontactsbroadhad a correspondingrawback:nly hosewhoremainedin theLaboratorio pontheir eturn romcholarshipsbroadkeptdoingre-search.Thus MartinezRisco conducted oneduring is tenuren Saragossa

60 For descriptionfworksnprogressn1914-1915 eeMemoriaorrespondientelos ios 1914y 1915 Madrid:Junta araAmpliaci6ne Estudios, 916), npp. 199-200.61 MiguelA.Catalan, Series ndOther egularitiesnthe pectrumfManganese,"hilosophicalTransactionsftheRoyal ociety fLondon, 922,223A: 27-173.62 See"Elprofesorrnold ommerfeld,"evistaMatemdtica ispano-Americana,922, :81-86;and bWrica,922, 7:341.SeealsoJoseM.Sanchez-Ron,Documentosaraunahistoriae afisicamoderna nEspaha:Arnoldommerfeld,iguelA.Catalan, ngel elCampoyBlasCabrera,"lull,1983,5:97-109.63 Arnold ommerfeldoWickliffeose,20 June 924, EB 1.2,Rockefellerrchive enter.64 See TrowbridgeoRose, 16April1925, EB 1.2,41.577,Rockefellerrchive enter.



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148 JOSEM. SANCHEZ-RONAND ANTONIROCA-ROSELL(1914-1919) as professorfacoustics nd optics.Whenhe returnedo Madridand theLaboratorio,n 1919,hisworkmetwithittle uccess.Vecino ot chairin Santiago eCompostelan1914 ndone n Saragossahe ollowingear; here-after e didno scientificork f ignificancentil isprematureeath n 1929.Thesamecanbe said ofJuan abrera,who n1920obtained chair nSaragossaandspent herest fhiscareer here.fwe assume hat hese hysicistserenotvery ifferentrom hosewhoremainedn Madrid ndcontinuedoing esearch,thenwemust oncludehattwasthe ackofresourcesrof congenialcientificatmospherehatbroughtheir esearcho a stop.And whenwe consider hatSaragossawas probablyhethird niversityn importancenscientifictudiesafterMadrid ndBarcelona,weare furtheredto appreciatehe pecialpositionheldby theLaboratorio e Investigacionesisicas.

VI. THE INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE FISICA Y QUIMICADespite herelativeuccess ftheLaboratorionthe1 20s, t became lear hattheresourcesvailable otheJunta ere ot nougho copewithhedynamicsfthedevelopmentf theresearcheseing onductedrprojectedhere. ecause,as mentioned,atalan's nvestigationsere nternationallynown, abrera re-quentlywrote astillejo or pecialfunds nhisbehalf,s on 18July 923, oallowCatalan nd hiscoworkerstoconfirmisresearchesnthe onstituentsfspectra,whichhave attractedo much ttentionrom hespecialists."65Faced with uchrequestsnd imited esources,astillejo urned othenewlyorganized nternational ducationalBoard of the Rockefelleroundation.Castillejo ad earlierontactedheRockefelleroundationor elp n mprovingthe anitaryituationnSpain,during visit otheUnited tatesnAugust 919.Wickliffeose,nowdirectorf he EB,visitedMadridnMarch1922on behalfof heRockefelleroundation. e was mpressednthat ccasion nd wrotehefoundation'sresidenthatCastillejo's roupwas"themosthopeful orce" orprogressnSpain: [they]regivinghemselves.. with verynlightenednthu-siasm o thepromotionf ontacts ith oreignountries,oeducationf groupofteachersnd scientific en, ndto theprovidingffacilitiesor cientifice-searchnconnection ith heUniversity.hey re a tremendouseaven ndonecannot alkwith hemwithouteing onvincedhat n the ndtheyregoing owin."Roseagainvisited pain nJanuary924, ndCastillejo ookhim ovisitthemain aboratoriesfphysics,hemistry,aturalciences,ndagriculturetMadrid, hen ounded im ut s to whetherhe EB wouldmake donation ornewphysicsndchemistryaboratory.66SevenmonthsaterCastillejowrote memorandumo theIEB in whichhe notedthatthe Junta wned and thussupported ompletely) abrera'sLaboratoriond supportednpartCarracido'saboratoryforganic nd bio-logical hemistryt theFaculty fPharmacyndJoseCasares's aboratoryfanalytical hemistryt the Facultyof Sciences.He then made a plea for

65BlasCabrera o JoseCastillejo, 8July 923,Junta rchives,SIC.66 SeeMemoria orrespondienteloscursos 922-3y 1923-4 Madrid:Junta araAmpliaci6neEstudios,925), npp.128-136; ndWickliffeose oGeorge incent,March 922,RF 1.62.885,Rockefellerrchive enter,uoted nRobert . Kohler,Science ndPhilanthropy:ickliffeoseandthe nternationalducation oard,"Minerva,985, 3:75-95; onpp.82-83.



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SPANS FIRSTSCHOOLOFPHYSICS 149

Frgw 1. The nstituto acionaldeFlsica y Quimica ftertscompleion,n 1932.CourtesyftheConsejo uperior e Investigacionesienticas (CSIC).support, mphasizingheprofessionalaliber fthe aboratoriesnd themeagerfunds vailable o them:

Allthese aboratoriesavepublishedontributionsndmonographs,ome f heminperiodicals,thersn special eries dited y heJunta... [They] fferpportuni-ties o prepare oungmen or oing broad, ndare cientificomes or hem n theirreturn.But .. theJunta adtogive ts ttentionndmoney o many ther ranchesf ci-ence and education.... The total mount rantedy theJuntanthe astyear ..91,000pesetas or quipment, aterial,ndsalaries.. is so small hat he aborato-ries ack dequate upply fmaterial,nd the alaries,ng from 50to 500 pese-tas a month o not allowfull imework.There re alreadyn Spainenough rained cientistso start n institutefphysicsandchemistryor raduate searchwork, estined opromotehe uturerogressfmedicine, atural ciences, ngineeringndagriculture.The Juntahoped that the Spanish government or tspartwould provide

a) Resources o secure ull imework or hemostmportant embersf he nstituteandscholarshipsor thersocover iving xpenses; ) enoughmoney ormaterial;c) opportunitiesor heprofessorsnd uat oftheuniversitiesndengineeringschools o attendhe nstituteo as to make f t seminaror he rainingf eachersinthehighestevels fphysicsndchemistry-,)means f ssistance o nvite oreignprofessorso direct pecialresearchesr to teachnewmethods.67

Castillejo also mentioned earlierplans for eitherremodeling hebuildinginwhich the Laboratorio was housed or purchasingor renting n ordinarybuild-ing-plans since abandoned. Thus "the chemists whomoststronglynsistedonthe need for newbuilding], he Junta nd theSpanishGovernment gree"thatthe EB might eitherprovid[e]buildings nd equipmentfor n Institute fPhys-ics and Chemistrywhich Spain shall maintain .. or giv[e] a contribution orequipmentwhich ouldbe immediatelyvailablefor he urrentaboratoriesntheirtemporary uarters, ostponing ntil the future heprojectof a newInstitute."

67 Castijkjo, memorandumothe EB,21July 924,EB 1.2, 4.577,Rockefellerrchiveenter.



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150 JOSE M. SANCHEZ-RON AND ANTONI ROCA-ROSELLJust n case the Board decidedto help onlywith quipment,Cabrera preparedlist, ppended to the memorandum, f the materialsmost urgently eeded in theLaboratorio.The list gives a good idea of the problemsthatthe Laboratoriowas

then facing:1. MAGNETICCHEMISTRY. nthis epartmentheres enough pparatus or hede-terminationf the magneticonstantssome ofthe results btained ave alreadybeenpublished,thers re npreparation).utfor completetudyf he ron roupthe nstallationfX-ray pparatuss essential. hiswould equire he pendituref20 to 25,000pesetas, sumbeyond hemeans f theLaboratory.Furthermoreor heprosecutionf he tudy f hemagneticonstantsf he rareearths,"pparatusor iquefactionfgases ndfor btainingow emperature,t easttothat f iquid air, s indispensable.2. ATOMICWEIGHTSBY MEANSOF PHYSICAL-CHEMISTRYMETHODS.Forthiswork heapparatus or heproductionf owtemperaturess also absolutelyndispensable,nas much s theres in Madridnot ven hepossibilityfobtainingiquid ir at anymoment.3. SPECTRUM ANALYSIS.Thewellknown tudies f Dr.Catalanhavereached helimit four aboratoryquipment.o continue hemt s necessaryoacquire wo rthree spectrographs"fgreaterower fresolutionnd range. or this tudy heabovementioned -raypparatus illbe useful. he scope f he roposednvestiga-tionmust epend n the quipment.o starttona solidbasis sum f bout 0,000pesetas or hetwo bove mentionediecesofapparatuswillbe required.68

The InternationalEducation Board took the Junta's proposal seriously ndsentTrowbridge o Madrid. He reported hat n the Laboratorio the "space forphysics s adequate forpresentneeds; thatforphysical hemistrys inadequate-forneither project] s it all welladapted to needs. The equipment swellchosenfor heworkwhich s being done, evidently are has been had to buy onlywhatwas immediately eeded."After hisgeneral tatement, e specified hechief m-mediate needs of the laboratory, ointingout that "Cabrera is very nxious tostart line of nvestigationnX-ray pectraof those elementswithwhichhe hasbeenworking n the sideofmagnetism; e has the manto do thework;he has thematerials n whichhehas carriedout themagneticwork, ut he lacksa partof theauxiliary pparatus."As to a new nstitute, rowbridge oubtedwhether heGov-ernmentwouldreally upport heproject:"I gathered yvisits o the Minister fEducationand to theActingDictator Primode Rivera] nothing utvagueassur-ances thatthe Governmentwas readyto do what was necessary, tc. and thedefinite ssurance thatthewritten nswerto theJuntademand would be givensoon." Nonetheless,Trowbridge oncluded,

I amconvinced,s a result fmy isit oMadrid,hat heJuntas the gency hroughwhich owork,f he .E.B.proposes oattemptnythingnthat ountryn thepuresciences. gooddealmaybe donewith ellowships,utfornearly wenty ears heJuntatself asbeenadministeringfellowshiplannotvery ifferentrom hat ftheBoard, nd inmyopinion hey aveas a result sufficientucleus fforeigntrainedmen nphysicsndchemistryomake t afe, rovidedherere dequate ov-ernmentuaranteesor upport,o nvest considerableum n a model nstituteor

68 Ibid. The English s Cabrera's.



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SPAIN'S IRSTSCHOOLOF PHYSICS 151Research nPhysicsndChemistry.here s no doubt ut hat paincouldproperlysupport uchan Institutend that tcoulddo goodservice oscience enerally.69

Less than a year ater, nother epresentativerom heRockefelleroard,Charles E. Mendenhall, hysics rofessort Wisconsin, orroboratedrow-bridge's pinions:ThegeneralituationnMadrid s regardshysicsndchemistryhould, think,be very ncouragingo the .E.B.,bothfromhe tandpointf the ttitudefthosewhom tproposes o benefitnd from heextreme eed ofsuchassistance s theBoardproposes o give. hat stosay, found small roup f nthusiasticndrathersurprisinglyctiveworkersoused nanutterlynadequatemannerndcarryingntheirworkwith,sfar s I could ee,no ocalencouragementxcepthatwhichomesfromheJunta.... I know fno institutionthome t which omparable orksunderwaywhichs housed n suchprimitivendinefficientuarters.70

As the atheromplex egotiationsetweenheJEB,heJunta,ndthe panishgovernmentaverecentlyeenanalyzed lsewhere,71eneednotdiscuss hematter ere, xcept opoint utthat he xecutiveommitteef he EB decidedon 1March1926 "to

spain's first school of physics- blas cabrera's laboratorio de investigaciones físicas

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