Review

JORGE SAHADE

1915–2012

Prof. Jorge Sahade was a man with an internationally well–known career and who achieved numerous awards and recognition through his strong determination in all that he set his mind to do.

He was born in Alta Gracia, Córdoba, Argentina, in 1915 and graduated as a Land Surveyor in his home province. After finding a job which led him to move to Buenos Aires in 1937, he learned about a new "interesting" –as he recalled– university career that had been created at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, in La Plata City. It was there where he obtained his PhD degree in astronomy in 1943 and earned a grant from this university to carry out research in astrophysics. It was within the framework of this endeavor that he would meet Professor Otto Struve and would start a fruitful collaboration in the study of interacting binary stars. During his second stay from 1955 to 1957 in Berkeley, USA, his insight into the anomalous behavior of stellar lines in symbiotic stars, discovered by Otto Struve, would lead to the well–known "Struve–Sahade effect".

Professor Sahade's scientific trajectory produced about 200 papers published in high–impact factor journals and several more conference contributions in international journals. He was the PhD thesis supervisor of several astronomers, such as Dr. Virpi Niemela, Dr. Roberto Mendez and Dr. Juan Zorec, among others. But, above all, his impact on Argentinean astronomy surpasses any of these academic numbers recorded in his Curriculum Vitae.

After returning from Berkeley to Argentina, Prof. Sahade played a key role in the foundation of the Asociación Argentina de Astronomía in 1958, of which he was elected President for two consecutive terms during the following decade. He also concentrated all his efforts towards a broader collaboration within the Latin American astronomical community, which led to the foundation of the Liga Latinoamericana de Astronomía, of which he was one of its first–day honorary members. Once living in La Plata, he led efforts to improve Argentinean astronomical facilities, the purchase of a 2.1–m telescope being an epitome of his endeavors in this direction. This telescope finally saw first light in 1986 at the Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito in the province of San Juan, and was named "Telescopio Jorge Sahade" on the occasion of the telescope's tenth anniversary, i.e. in 1996. In the 70's Prof. Sahade foresaw the need for creating an institute for the promotion of joint–research work between astronomers and scientists working in the field of other exact sciences. In 1971 he thus became the first director of the Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE), located at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. In parallel, he got involved with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Executive Committee. He became IAU President from 1985 to 1988. During his IAU presidency, he managed not only to focus on his research activities but also to work hard for the IAU Astronomy Education and Development Commission, a commitment which allowed him to make astronomy reach those Latin American countries which at that time had no astronomical tradition. Far from taking a break, Prof. Sahade kept on working to contribute to the expansion of research activities, this time as the first President of the Comisión de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) in Argentina. In this context, he strongly supported the inclusion of Argentina as a member of the Gemini Partnership which would give access to 8–m class telescopes. He also served time as the Argentinean representative within the Gemini Board.

Although Prof. Sahade passed away last December 18th, 2012 , his spirit, memory, and impact as a scientist, and above all, as a greatly appreciated man, will be remembered forever. From now on, Asteroid (2605)–1974 QA, named "SAHADE" as of 1986 by the IAU, confirms Prof. Sahade's presence by its particular brightness in the sky. From up there, it proclaims his lesson: "invest your time and efforts in education, the best legacy for the world".

Guillermo Bosch