In 1981 Manuel moved to the Spanish Open University (acronym in
Spanish, UNED)where he created the firstDepartment of Physics. Itwas
a difficult period as until 1987 neither an appropriate building nor
laboratory equipment were available. Yet theoretical research went
aheadwith quite a number of results about the role of surface deformation
and the Marangoni effect on instability leading to interfacial transverse
and longitudinal–dilational waves. At that time Manuel started
being interested in nonlinear waves like solitons. He provided a theory
for interfacial instabilities leading to such waves. This was done in
collaboration with Hartmut Linde and a Chinese doctoral student,
Xiao-Lin Chu, the first Chinese citizen ever to get a Ph. D. in Physics in
the history of Spain. Besides research in a variety of problems, Manuel
embarked in the adventure of lecturing for the lay audience all over
the country in a program called in Spanish “La barraca de la ciencia”,