The term BESO is composed of two words: ESO (3 letters) and PEREC (5 letters). ESO stands for European Southern Observatory, an intergovernmental astronomy organization based in Germany. It was founded in 1962 and is supported by 15 countries. PEREC stands for the French author Georges Perec, who was born in 1936 and is best known for his novel 'Life: A User's Manual'. He was a member of the Oulipo literary group and wrote extensively about memory, language, and identity.