The revival

 
      In the sixties, the prosperous situation of the French economy would   save the establishment.  Within the framework of  prestigious politics, France involved itself into a  space research, and the development of astronomy became its  priority. A Report was established on the situation of the Observatory and remedies were applied  to it.
 
       Jean Claude Pecker, specialist of the atmosphere of stars and the Sun, was chosen as Director, in 1962, by the University of Paris and André Danjon, the "boss" of the French astronomy, and he dedicated himself to the rebirth of the Observatory.
 
       When he arrived he  found a catastrophic situation: all the buildings  were ruined; the big  dome rusty and immobilized ; the outer walls collapsed ; the  domain stricken by the fire of 1959, invaded by brambles; the service of water outof order, and several families accommodated by Fayet, without any right for the Observatory, just because  it was necessary to find  them a flat in the city!
 
     There was only left money enough  to buy a brushcutter. The week of  his  arrival  was dedicated to  clearing   the summit of the Mountain by the staff (6personnes and himself).
 
       Pecker succeeded in obtaining  from national and local authorities the support and the necessary credits for the recovery and the rehabilitation of the site and the buildings. He wanted to make   the Observatory one of the world  best astronomical  research institutes, and to give  it  an  international vocation.
 
        He settled the Adion (Association   for the International Development of the Observatory of Nice), aimed at   sponsoring  meetings,  symposia, schools,  and grants to foreign astronomers, as well as an annual  Medal rewarding outstanding research work .
 
       At the same time, he boosted the activity of the establishment  by appealing  young astronomers and physicists,  observers  and theorists among whom some will succeed him.
 
        The establishment knew then a fast development.
 
        Whereas the National Office  of Forests made the reafforestation of the burned-out domain, the Departments of civil engineering built and restored 4 km of roads; one installed  everywhere the  telephone (there was only a single line!); one redid  the system of traffic and pumping of the water,  and built a restaurant.
 
      The librar was restored and enriched by modern collections and endowed with a workshop of binding.
 
        One installed  a camera to  follow-up of artificial satellites.
 
        Instruments, such as the big refractor  and  Eiffel's dome, were renewed, under Paul Couteau's responsibility. Others were  replaced;  the 38 cm refractor by a lens of 50cm which allowed  to make a harvest of double stars ( 2700 ).  
 
        Within three years, hardly, the Observatory had been transformed and could welcome its first international scientific colloquium on the aerodynamic phenomena in celestial bodies.  The creation of the Faculty of Science at the University of Nice ( 1965 ) having attracted the scientists of Paris, teacher - researchers  positions  were created under the influence of Pecker as well as a laboratory of astrophysics closely linked  to  the Observatory.
 
         In 1969, estimating  to have fulfilled  his task  Jean Claude Pecker left the Observatory of Nice.
 
         His successors had to pursue the  work. Laboratories of optics,  and electronics as well as a Centre of Calculation were created. The Observatory was the  only laboratory in the region to be equipped with what was at this  time the most powerful computer dedicated to the astrophysics.
 
         He was at  the origin of the creation of the Centre of Double Stars of the Observatory of Nice (CEDON, on 1972), and next year,  of the Centre of Processing of  Astronomical Clichés ( CDCA).
 
         From  6 persons, among which  3 scientists, in 1962, the number increased  in 1980, up  to 45 researchers, assisted by 61 co-workers  ( including gardeners,   mechanicians,  secretaries,  and the staffs of service).
 
        Since then  it didn't stop increasing  until it  become, with the merging of the  Centre of Studies and  Researches  in Geodynamics and Astronomy ( CERGA) in 1988, the second  French astronomical establishment, under the name of Observatory of Côte d'Azur,
 
 

    Raymonde BARTHALOT
___________________________________________________________ _________________________ ______
 
Ref erences:

Annales de l’Observatoire de Nice.
Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes.
 L’Astronomie, Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France.
 Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris.
 Fonds Garnier, archives de l’Opéra de Paris.
 Rapports Annuels de l’Observatoire de Paris.
Ch. GARNIER, Monographie de l’Observatoire de Nice, Librairie Générale de l’Architecture et des Travaux Publics, André, Daly fils et Cie, Paris, 1892. 
J.C. PECKER, Le centenaire de l’Observatoire de Nice, Bulletin de l’ADION (Association pour le Développement International de l’Observatoire de Nice),(Association for the International Developement of the Observatory of Nice) n°18, 1980-81 (29).
R. BAILLAUD, Souvenirs d’un astronome(1908-1977, Rodez, 1980.
A. CLORENNEC, R. FELDMAN, J.P. ZAHN, Cent ans d’astronomie à l’Observatoire de Nice, 1881-1981, Brochure éditée par l’Observatoire de Nice, 1981.
P. COUTEAU, Ces astronomes fous du ciel, édition Sud, Aix-en-Provence, 1981.
B. LEMOINE, Gustave Eiffel, éd. Hazan, Paris 1984.
D.BENEST, L'osservatorio astronomico di Nizza, revista Nouovo ORIONE, 7, Milano 1992 (22).
D.BENEST, Les cartes d'Uranie: l'Observatoire de Nice, l'Astronomie, vol.108, juin 1995 (194).
P. COUTEAU, Le ciel est mon jardin, édition Flammarion, Paris 2000.
A. FOLLI et G. MERELLO, Charles Garnier e la Riviera, Erga Edizioni, Genova 2000.
R. BARTHALOT, L'Observatoire de Nice, l'histoire, les hommes, les instruments, published by Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice 2003 ( 50 p.).

 Local press particurlarly le Petit Niçois and l’Eclaireur.


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