News

Leaders for ALMA

Leaders for ALMA

4 workshops to improve the leadership skills of our managers and supervisors have been implemented since October. Under the title "Extraordinary Coach", 60 participants, most of whom are in charge of a work team, have gathered. "It has been a very positive experience. The workshops are dynamic, a lot of role-play, so they have to lose the fear of...

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A garden for the OSF

A garden for the OSF

When Francisco went to make an inspection, he found a surprise: "I never imagined that the most beautiful place in the observatory would be the Wastewater Treatment Plant," says Francisco Herrera, Management Control and Administrative Assistant in the CFG area. There, in the middle of an arid desert, he found a green place, full of native plants, cactus, and...

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“It is very gratifying to realize that the work done contributed to an important global milestone”

“It is very gratifying to realize that the work done contributed to an important global milestone”

Óscar was short of breath. His six years' experience working in thermoelectric power plants had helped him land a position with us, but nothing anticipated him for the Chajnantor's altitude. "I had a hard time assimilating the environmental conditions to which we are subjected," says Óscar Alarcón, 10 years after arriving as an Operator of the Power Generation and...

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Four years after the first glimpse of a black hole, ALMA is working on a satellite project for higher resolution imaging

Four years after the first glimpse of a black hole, ALMA is working on a satellite project for higher resolution imaging

"I think, without fear of contradiction, it was the most exciting day since I've been working at ALMA," says David Rebolledo, Operations Astronomer, recalling that April 10, 2019 when our observatory was a key player in obtaining the first images of a black hole in conjunction with seven other radio telescopes around the world.The press around the planet portrayed...

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Do you Recommend?: Jonathan Antognini, a team player

Do you Recommend?: Jonathan Antognini, a team player

"It is always nice to receive a formal recognition, but it is even more emotional to see the happiness of several of my colleagues when they noticed that I had been awarded", says Jonathan Antognini, last winner of our Fundamental Statements award, in the Collaboration category. After 8 years at ALMA as Integration & Testing Lead, Jonathan was honored...

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“This wonderful machine changed the world, producing the kind of ‘transformational science’ it was designed for”

“This wonderful machine changed the world, producing the kind of ‘transformational science’ it was designed for”

It was no ordinary stone. That monolith in Chajnantor was engraved with some kind of moons that looked like an observatory, and it said "ALMA - AOS Technical Building". It was September 2006, and Giorgio Siringo -who had arrived two years earlier to put "eyes" on the APEX radio telescope from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in...

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