Jenaro Gajardo Vera

Jenaro Gajardo Vera was the sixth of ten brothers, son of medic Delfín Gajardo Merino and N. Vera.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} Although he worked as a painter and poet, Gajardo studied Spanish and law at University of Chile.

In 1951 he moved to Talca to work as a lawyer. While there he founded the Telescopic Interplanetary Society (In Spanish, {{Lang|es|Sociedad Telescópica Interplanetaria}}). One of its purposes was to "create a committee to welcome the first extraterrestrial visitors [who arrive on the Earth]". Bishop Manuel Larraín Errázuriz was a member of this Society, and thanks to his participation the organization managed to avoid mocking and criticism from local citizens.

He published two essays, "Algunas cosas sencillas" (Some simple things) and "Copas de fuego" (Cups of fire), and also was the director of Grupos magazine. However, he is mostly known for his lunar claim.

File:Full Moon Luc Viatour.jpg, registered before a notary by Jenaro Gajardo Vera in 1954]]

On September 25, 1954, before the notary of Talca, César Jiménez Fuenzalida, Gajardo requested to leave record of his claim as owner of the Moon "from before 1857"—legal formula used back then to get ownership of lands without existing title deeds—by registering a deed:

{{blockquote|JENARO GAJARDO VERA, lawyer, poet, is the owner from before the year 1857, adding to the possessions of his ancestors the celestial body and only satellite of the Earth, with a diameter of 3,475.99 kilometers, under the name of Moon, whose boundaries are, due to being an spheroidal body: North, South, East and West: outer space. His place of residence being: Calle 1 Oriente 1270 and his marital status being married. Talca.

|(Signature)

Jenaro Gajardo Vera

RUN 1.487.45-K Ñuñoa

Talca, September 25, 1954.|}}

Following Chilean laws, he published three announcements on the Official Diary of Chile—a requirement adopted in Chile to give anyone possessing any right to ownership of the territory the opportunity to appeal—paying CL$42,000 of the time. As the request was endorsed, he proceeded to inscribe the property in the Real Estate Register, Talca.{{Cite book |author=Virgiliu Pop |title=Who Owns the Moon?: Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral Resources |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Q85MpsFtEgC&q=jenaro+gajardo+moon&pg=PA5 |accessdate=December 14, 2012 |year=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-9134-6 |chapter=Chapter 1: Is the Moon for Sale? - 1.2 The Trivial Issue: "Extraterrestrial Real Estate" |pages=5–6}}

According to Gajardo, his goals were:

• To make a "poetic protest taking the side of the various potential inhabitants of the satellite," because he wanted a world without jealousy, hate, vices or violence.
• Acquire the Moon "to join the Social Club of Talca, which had a membership requirement of having a property."

{{Reflist}}

;Newspapers

• [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19690714&id=3UwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CrMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6155,2995534] - Beaver County Times
• [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ju4eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KyQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1400,1171216&dq=gajardo+moon&hl=en] - The Times-News
• [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RVVQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kFcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1805,1636768&dq=gajardo+moon&hl=en] - The Evening Independent

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Category:1919 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:Chilean male poets

Category:20th-century Chilean painters

Category:Chilean male artists

Category:20th-century Chilean poets

Category:20th-century Chilean male writers

Category:People from Malleco Province

Category:University of Chile alumni

Category:Chilean male painters

Category:20th-century Chilean male artists

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