Below follows the Biennual Report of the Stockholm Observatory for 1997-1998. The foremost thing we notice as editors, is the large growth of scientific output of the Stockholm Observatory in terms of refereed papers since 1993. Using the previous Stockholm Observatory Report, covering the period 1988-1996, one finds that the annual output during 1988-1993 was about 10 refereed papers per year, during 1994-1995 it was about 15 refereed papers per year, in 1996 it rose further to a level of about 40 refereed papers per year and has remained there since. Thus, between 1993 and 1996, the scientific output in terms of refereed papers quadrupled, which is remarkable. One of the causes is probably the increase of junior scientific staff which continued during 1997-1998, with the arrival of six new people and the departure of two. The junior positions are only temporary ones mostly financed by soft funds, and a continued high scientific output will be required in order to maintain the size of the junior scientific staff.
Sylvain Bontemps from France and Adrick Broeils from the Netherlands, both of which greatly contributed to the research activities in the infrared group and galaxy group, respectively, left during the period 1997 and 1998. Helmuth Kristen obtained his PhD and left for a post-doc position at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard, and Daniel Hartstein left after obtaining a licentiate degree. The Stockholm Observatory saw the return of two of its PhDs, Erik Gullbring from his NFR postdoc at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard, and Mats Löfdahl from his position at Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, California. Cecilia Kozma, also PhD of the Observatory stayed on as an NFR research associate. Another two people joined the staff on the research associate level, Kay Justtanont from Thailand and Juri Poutanen from Russia. Finally, a new postdoc arrived, Andrei Beloborodov from Russia. The Observatory saw the retirement of research engineer Kurt Sundewall who for decades has not only been invaluable for the engineering efforts, but also for contributing so much to the social activities, including poems of the day and song texts written for important occasions and celebrations. Monica Huldtgren also left after having worked in the infrared group for many years.
The development of the new Stockholm Centre for Physics and Astronomy was stalled due to various appeals during period 1997-1998. In 1998, one appeal reached the highest court, regeringsrätten, where it was overthrown except for some details, and the matter was sent back to the Government for reconsideration. This was the state at the end of 1998. The move of Stockholm Observatory to the new Centre is now scheduled for the summer of 2001.
During this period basic science was facing budget cuts, in particular, a large cut in the budget for Sweden's participation in large international facilities, the two most expensive being CERN and ESO. Observatory staff participated in committee work of the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR) generating a report arguing for the strong needs of Sweden to remain a member of ESO, in particular considering that the Very Large Telescope project will be completed during the next few years. The threat of leaving ESO was fortunately largely removed during the fall of 1998.
In spite of the economical difficulties facing many University departments,
Stockholm Observatory has been able to more or less balance its budget
during 1997 and 1998. Together with the large scientific output, the
continued growth of the Observatory, the success of the Observatory
scientific staff in obtaining external funding, and the likely start of the
building of the Stockholm Centre for Physics and Astronomy, this has
generated a base for optimism for the future.
May 1999
The Editors
Stockholm Observatory, SE-133 36 Saltsjöbaden, Sweden