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Article ID: CBB427973226

Carlos Bettencourt Faria’s Dream: The Mulemba Astronomical Observatory at Luanda in Angola (2023)

Maria Almeida (Author)
Bonifácio, Vitor (Author)

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage
Volume: 26
Issue: 4
Pages: 865-877

URI: https://engine.scichina.com/doi/10.3724/sp.j.1440-2807.2023.11.80

DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1440-2807.2023.11.80

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Astronomical observatories Astronomy Biographies 21st century 20th century, late Angola Carlos Mar Bettencourt Faria

Mulemba Astronomical Observatory, later known as the Mulemba Space Centre was founded in 1958 on Luanda’s outskirts in Angola, then an African Portuguese colony, by the polymath Carlos Mar Bettencourt Faria. Being, from all accounts, a charming and knowledgeable individual who was mainly self taught, he managed to build several radio telescopes, a solar observing station, a state-of-the-art electronics laboratory and a satellite tracking facility. Financial support was obtained from a variety of individuals, commercial companies, public institutions and from 1971 onwards Angola’s national government. Faria’s ambitious plans were nevertheless always thwarted or delayed by lack of funds. In 1973 data started to be collected at the solar station but the whirlwind of 1970s politics had a decisive impact in Angola. Faria’s beautiful dream effectively ended when he was assassinated at the Observatory in 1976. In this paper we recall Carlos Bettencourt Faria’s life and his battle against all odds to establish a professional-level astronomical observatory in Angola.

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