Jenaro Gajardo Vera

Biography

Jenaro Gajardo Vera was the sixth of ten brothers, sons of medic Delfín Gajardo Merino and N. Vera. 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. In this city he founded the Telescopic Interplanetary Society (In Spanish, 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 the teasing 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.

Registration of the Moon

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

JENARO GAJARDO VERA, lawyer, poet, is the owner since before year 1857, joining to his possessions the one of his ancestors the celestial body, 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. He lives in Calle 1 Oriente 1270 and his filing status is married. Talca.

Following Chilean laws, he published three announcements on the Official Diary of Chile —requirement adopted in Chile to let anyone possessing any right on the grounds to have the opportunity to appeal— paying CL$42,000 of the time. Since the request was endorsed, he proceeded to inscribe the property in the Real Estate of Talca.

Goals

According to Gajardo, his goals were: