Sixty years ago, on May 29, 1964, in the Hall of Honor of the University of Chile in Santiago, the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) was inaugurated.
The Government of Chile, seeing the importance and relevance of the White Continent for the country, created the INACH as a single state agency responsible for coordinating, planning and executing actions related to Antarctic science, centralizing and developing in this organization the activities that are carried out. in the Chilean Antarctic Territory.
The first time that Chile’s scientific interest in the Antarctic regions was noted was during the year 1906, in the month of July, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Huneeus, asked the Minister of the Navy to prepare an expedition “to the islands.” Elephants, New Orkney and New Shetland and the Antarctic Continent”, with the aim of verifying a reconnaissance of lands and seas and carrying out scientific research on them, especially magnetic ones.
From the establishment of the first Chilean Antarctic base (Soberanía base, in 1947) until before the launch of the Institute, some scientific teams from universities with interest in polar issues joined the Chilean Navy in its missions to the White Continent. However, the strategic role of this work meant that in 1964 the Scientific Department of the Institute began to operate, which received those interested in participating in the first INACH scientific expedition, ECA 1, in the summer of 1964/65.
Andrés López, director(s) of INACH, points out that “for 60 years, we have complied with the National Antarctic Policy as is our mandate, encouraging the development of excellent research, participating in the Antarctic Treaty System, disseminating polar knowledge. in citizenship and strengthening Magellan as a gateway to the White Continent.”
This last point is evident in one of the most important milestones in institutional history, when in 2003 the national headquarters of INACH was moved from Santiago to Punta Arenas, capital of the Magallanes Region and Chilean Antarctica. With this, it becomes a symbol of decentralization and the strengthening of the extreme regions of the country.
Likewise, López emphasizes that in these six decades a robust National Antarctic Science Program has been formed that today has 89 projects financed, mainly, by INACH and the National Research and Development Agency (ANID), bringing together 465 researchers, and to 33 national institutions, covering almost all regions of the country from Antofagasta to Puerto Williams.
“We are turning 60, a special moment to remember and review what has been achieved, and to look to the future, which is reflected in the multiple and interesting projects that we are promoting, such as the renewal of our scientific bases in Antarctica, the International Antarctic Center, the network of multiparametric sensors to measure climate change, Marine Protected Areas, and the holding, in a few more months, of the largest world meeting of Antarctic science in our country,” López concludes.