Spanish National Research Council
The Spanish National Research Council, called in Spanish the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, or CSIC, has a module on Mars right now. It's called TWINS, short for Temperature and Winds for InSight. The module rode to the Martian surface aboard NASA's InSight lander, which landed on the 26th of November 2018. TWINS keeps watch on Martian weather at the landing site, one small role inside a much larger institution.
Where did an organization capable of building hardware for another planet come from? Why was its founding mission framed as restoring an ancient unity between science and the church? What does this institution actually do across Spain's research landscape, and how did its headquarters end up doubling as a fictional mint on Spanish television?
Francisco Franco's earliest government created the CSIC in 1939. It built the council from the assets of an older body, the Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas, known as the JAE. The JAE had operated since 1907, growing out of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and shaped by Krausist philosophy.
The founding charter stated its goal in Spanish: "la restauración de la clásica y cristiana unidad de las ciencias destruida en el siglo XVIII." In English, that meant restoring the classical and Christian unity of the sciences destroyed during the eighteenth century. One man was put in charge of carrying out that mission, and he would go on to shape the institution for decades.
José María Albareda led CSIC from the outset until his death in 1966. He was one of the earliest members of Opus Dei and a close friend of the movement's founder, Josemaría Escrivá. In 1959, partway through his tenure, Albareda was ordained a priest.
When he died, Manuel Lora-Tamayo took over as head of the council. Lora-Tamayo also served as Spain's minister of Education, a post he held from 1962 to 1968. Decades later, the council's mission would be spelled out in far more granular detail, laid out article by article in its governing statute.
CSIC ranks as the largest public research institution in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its declared aim is to advance scientific and technological progress, working with both Spanish and foreign partners to do it. That mandate stretches across the entire chain of research, from basic science through to transferring knowledge into the productive sector. Centres and institutes carrying out that work are spread across every one of Spain's autonomous regions.
CSIC employs just 6 percent of all the people working in research and development across Spain. Yet it generates around 20 percent of the country's entire scientific production. It also runs the most complete and extensive network of specialist libraries, alongside a series of joint research units shared with other institutions. Turning that capacity into public value is written into the council's operating statute as a formal duty, one among many.
Article 5 of CSIC's governing statute lays out a long list of formal duties, running well past a dozen separate items. Some are direct: carrying out scientific and technological research, and passing the results of that research on to public and private institutions. Others push CSIC into the role of matchmaker and teacher. The statute directs it to help create technologically based companies, to train researchers, and to run highly specialised courses for experts. It also charges the council with promoting scientific culture more broadly across Spanish society.
Requests for CSIC to represent Spain in international and national scientific bodies once ran through the Ministry of Education and Science. Today, the CSIC state agency belongs instead to the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The statute also has the council collaborating with universities on research and postgraduate education, and advising public and private entities on science and technology questions. Carrying out all of that work draws on the council's own scientific expertise, organized into a set of specialized fields.
CSIC divides its work into eight scientific and technical areas, spanning everything from the humanities to chemical technology. Humanities and social sciences account for 17 of its centres, while biology and biomedical science account for 22. Natural resources research is spread across 24 centres, and agricultural sciences across another 23. Physical science and physical technology also claim 24 centres. Materials science and food technology together fill 13. Food science and food technology alone fill 8, and chemical science and chemical technology round out the picture with 16.
As of January 2018, CSIC counted 139 specialised research centres carrying out work across those eight fields. A handful of those centres also come with equipment few universities could afford on their own.
CSIC administers six facilities in Spain classified as "Singular Scientific and Technological Infrastructures," or ICTS. These are reserved for equipment whose investment and upkeep costs run unusually high relative to typical research budgets. Among them are the Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory and the Doñana Reserve Biological Station. The list also includes two working research vessels, the Hespérides and the RV Sarmiento de Gamboa, plus the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base. The Integrated Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room at the Microelectronics Institute of Barcelona rounds out the group.
The European Union recognises and supports these facilities as strategically important infrastructure, and each year they draw researchers from Spain and abroad. Spain also takes part in two large facilities located elsewhere in Europe, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and the Max von Laue-Paul Langevin Institute. That reach also shows up in print, in journals the council has published for decades.
Archivo Español de Arqueología, one of CSIC's journals, has been in print since 1940, carrying research in Spanish archaeology. One account of the council's own history comes from outside CSIC. It's an article by Carlos Martinez Alonso, titled "Re-founding the Spanish National Research Council: New Methods, New Culture." It appeared in Max-Planck-Forum 7, tied to a Ringberg symposium in May 2006, on pages 59-70, catalogued under ISSN 1438-8715.
The council's own headquarters building has a second life on screen, standing in as the exterior of the Royal Mint of Spain. That's in the Spanish television series La Casa De Papel, known internationally as Money Heist. Every time a new episode airs, a working research institution plays a fictional mint under siege.
Common questions
What does the Spanish National Research Council do?
The Spanish National Research Council, known as CSIC, is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. It develops and promotes scientific and technological progress, working with Spanish and foreign partners across the full chain from basic research to transferring knowledge into the productive sector.
When was the Spanish National Research Council founded, and why?
CSIC was established in 1939 by one of the first governments of Francisco Franco, built from the assets of the earlier JAE, which had run since 1907. Its founding charter set the goal of restoring the classical and Christian unity of the sciences that it said had been destroyed in the eighteenth century.
Who led the Spanish National Research Council after it was founded?
José María Albareda headed CSIC from its founding until his death in 1966. He was one of the earliest members of Opus Dei and a close friend of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá, and was ordained a priest in 1959; Manuel Lora-Tamayo, Spain's minister of Education from 1962 to 1968, succeeded him.
How much of Spain's scientific output comes from the Spanish National Research Council?
CSIC employs about 6 percent of all staff working in research and development in Spain, yet it generates roughly 20 percent of the country's total scientific production.
What large facilities does the Spanish National Research Council manage?
CSIC administers six Spanish facilities classified as Singular Scientific and Technological Infrastructures: the Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory, the Doñana Reserve Biological Station, the Hespérides and RV Sarmiento de Gamboa research vessels, the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base, and a micro and nanofabrication clean room at the Microelectronics Institute of Barcelona. Spain also takes part in two European facilities, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and the Max von Laue-Paul Langevin Institute.
What Mars mission is the Spanish National Research Council involved in?
CSIC built the TWINS module, short for Temperature and Winds for InSight, which flew aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander. The lander touched down on the 26th of November 2018, and TWINS monitors weather conditions at the landing site.
Where does the Spanish National Research Council's headquarters appear on television?
The CSIC headquarters building serves as the exterior of the Royal Mint of Spain in the Spanish television series La Casa De Papel, known internationally as Money Heist.
All sources
24 references cited across the entry
- 4NewsLa ciencia que desmanteló FrancoManuel Ansede — Prisa — 25 July 2015
- 5NewsEl CSIC se olvida de su herencia franquistaNuño Domínguez — Prisa — 24 November 2014
- 23La verdadera casa de papelPaula Boente — Grupo Crónica — 25 February 2018