50 Years of the ESO Fellowship:

Pioneers Across Two Continents (1976-2026)

ESO Garching & Vitacura

ESO will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Fellowship Programme with events in Garching and Vitacura. The Director General, the Director for Science, and current and former Fellows will come together to share experiences and reflect on how the programme has contributed to ESO over the years.

The Fellowship Programme has played an important role in ESO’s development. Fellows work across the organisation from science to engineering and operations, gaining hands-on experience of how a world-leading observatory operates. At the same time, they form a natural bridge with the wider community: they come to ESO, contribute and learn, and then continue their careers across the community often maintaining strong links.

In 2026, we celebrate a special milestone at ESO: the 50th anniversary of the ESO Fellowship programme. Over the past five decades, more than 500 postdoctoral Fellows have been part of ESO, across its offices in Geneva, Garching, and Vitacura, and its observatories in La Silla, Paranal, APEX and ALMA. Through your work, ideas, and dedication, you have helped shape ESO into what it is today, and many of you have gone on to inspiring careers within and beyond academia.

To mark this occasion, the Offices for Science in Germany and Chile are organising a joint celebration on the 17th of June 2026, taking place simultaneously in Garching and Vitacura, with online participation also possible. Together with ESO's communication department, we hope to use this anniversary to highlight the Fellowship as one of ESO's flagship programmes.

We invite you to contribute to this celebration. One simple and meaningful way to do so would be to send a short video (15-30 seconds) with a message of your choice, a “happy birthday” to the Fellowship Programme, a memory, a reflection, or a wish for the future. If you prefer, you are also welcome to share a photo and a short written message instead. Every contribution, no matter how small, will help us tell the story of the ESO Fellow community and reflect the broader history of ESO through your experiences. If you wish to contribute, please send your contribution to janderso[at]eso.org  (in the format e.g. Lastname_Firstname.mpg). To be able to incorporate your contribution into our celebration, please send no later than 22/05/26.

We would also be delighted if you could join us for the event in person, either in Germany or Chile, or online. If you are interested in attending, please let us know by filling in the following FORM

While the detailed programme is still being finalised, the event is expected to begin around 09:30 in Chile / 15:30 in Germany and will run for a few hours.

We look forward to you all contributing to this historic celebration!

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