PLATO: The history 2005 - 2014

Come gather ‘round friends and I’ll tell you a tale[1]. This is the tale of the great adventures of PLATO, starting in 2005, but rooted back in history since the 1980s. The tale of its fantastic odyssey across an ocean of adversity, incomprehension and skepticism. The tale of a few miracles that saved it several times from definitive failure and oblivion. The tale of a group of tenacious people who followed their chosen path through times of great difficulties, through times of sweat and tears. From the above, you understand that this is not an astrophysical seminar in the traditional sense. Instead, I try to give an account of the long and winding road[2] that we had to travel to get where we are today, on the eve of PLATO’s launch. [1] Bob Dylan, North Country Blues [2] Paul McCartney, The Long and Winding Road