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Hans Lippershey invented the first telescope in 1608.
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Astronomers started using radio telescopes in the 1960s in order to view asteroids, planets, comets, and other objects.
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By the 1980s, several small arrays in Japan, Europe, and the US was operating.
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Astronomers from several countries went to the Atacama desert to make a field investigation , guided by a map and a Chilean astronomer, Hernán Quintana. The sky was the deepest blue they'd ever seen, and the moisture content in the air was the lowest among anywhere they've been.
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After checking the Atacama desert, many countries, including the US, Japan, and Europe agreed to cooperate on building the telescope.
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The first antenna, tested and redesigned in New Mexico, arrived at the Chilean port of Antofagasta, and was carried up the mountain by a truck.
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ALMA antennas arrived and were set up over a period of 4 years.
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Before ALMA was completed, Joaquin Vieira and other researchers from Caltech used 16 antennas of ALMA to image 26 distant galaxies, and they found out that many stars in those galaxies were a billion years younger than previously expected.
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ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, was officially opened.
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Since the official opening of ALMA, it helped astronomers solve interesting questions, such as why massive galaxies are so rare in the universe and how planets are formed.
