Year born: 1918
Research Areas: Stellar populations
"Childhood dreams of becoming an astronomer were not generally considered prudent or realistic on the island if one expected to be assured a reasonable livelihood."
Source: 'Telescopes, red stars, and Chilean skies’ by Víctor M Blanco, published in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Early Life
Víctor Manuel Blanco was born in Guyana on March 10th, 1918. He took an interest in astronomy from a young age. He built a telescope in his backyard and even named his pigs after asteroids!
At first, he was studying to become a doctor, but after taking an astronomy course, he realised he wanted to be an astronomer.
In 1939, he went to the University of Chicago which gave him a scholarship to continue his studies. He served in the US Army from 1941 to 1946. Part of his job there was to predict the weather for pilots. After the military, he went back to university and got his PhD in 1949.
Career Highlights
Víctor's research was mainly on star populations. In 1959, he discovered a star cluster named Blanco 1. In 1967, he became head of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, South America. At the time, most of the world's telescopes were in the Northern Hemisphere. During his time there, Víctor built CTIO into a world-leading telescope. He hired new staff and installed a 4-metre telescope. He also talked with important people in Chile's government, including presidents!
Víctor was a great communicator, leader and scientist. Though he was busy running the observatory, he still continued his research on stars. He made many discoveries about the different types of stars found in galaxies. Due to his work at CTIO, he became one of the world's best ground-based astronomers.
Legacy
The 4-metre telescope built at CTIO was named after Víctor in 1976. The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope is now mainly used to search for dark energy. The asteroid '9550 Victorblanco' is also named in Víctor's honour.
Victor is fondly remembered for his excellent research, leadership skills and warm character. He was terrific at speaking to people with different viewpoints, which meant he could keep CTIO running through difficult times in Chile.
Other Interests
As well as star populations, Víctor was also involved in many other areas of astronomy. He wrote books and papers on many topics such as telescopes and solar system physics.
He was a member of the International Astronomical Union. He had a wife, Betty, who was also an astronomer. He also had a son, Daniel, and two stepchildren, David and Elizabeth.