ABSTRACT

This article focuses on issues of land tenure to retrace the history of how Hawai‘i’s Mauna Kea volcano was ‘discovered’ by and for astronomers. In the aftermath of Hawai‘i’s 1959 accession to US statehood, an inhospitable tract of land was suddenly heralded as being ‘probably the best site in the world’ for the observation of the Moon, planets and stars. Political and academic institutions moved decisively to secure exclusive rights over the land and started to market it to off-island scientists. In the mid-1970s, a first major project, the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, caused intense pushback from environmental activists and recreational users of the mountain. With the rebirth of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, the tension surrounding astronomical facilities on Mauna Kea only increased, foreshadowing the conflicts to come.

摘要

本文重点关注土地使用权问题，以追溯天文学家如何“发现”夏威夷的莫纳克亚火山的历史。在夏威夷 1959 年加入美国后，这片荒凉的土地突然被誉为“可能是世界上最好的观测月球、行星和恒星的地点”。政治和学术机构果断采取行动以确保对土地的专有权，并开始向岛外科学家推销它。在 1970 年代中期，第一个重大项目加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜引起了环境活动家和该山休闲用户的强烈反对。随着夏威夷主权运动的重生，围绕莫纳克亚山天文设施的紧张局势只会加剧，为即将到来的冲突埋下伏笔。