Catherine Cesarsky

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Catherine Cesarsky

Catherine Jeanne Césarsky (* 1943 in Ambazac ) is a French astronomer , known for her successful research activities in a number of central areas of modern astrophysics . She was President of the International Astronomical Union and Director General of the European Southern Observatory .

education

Born in France, Catherine Cesarsky grew up mainly in Argentina and received a degree in physics from the University of Buenos Aires . She graduated with a PhD in astronomy in 1971 from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., USA) and then worked for several years at the California Institute of Technology .

Career

In 1974 she moved to France and worked at the Service d'Astrophysique (SAp), Direction des Sciences de la Matière (DSM), Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) . Her career began in France. From 1985 to 1993 she was chairwoman of the SAp. As director of the DSM from 1994 to 1999 , she actively led a team of approximately 3,000 scientists , engineers and technicians in a wide range of research programs in the fields of physics, chemistry , astrophysics and earth sciences .

From 1999 to 2007 she was Director General of the European Southern Observatory . Her time of responsibility included the completion of the construction of the Very Large Telescope and its instruments and the start of its operation, the conclusion of the agreements and the start of construction by ALMA and the start of studies on the European Extremely Large Telescope .

From August 2006 to August 2009 she was President of the International Astronomical Union .

From April 2009 to April 2012 she was High Commissioner of the Atomic Energy Agency in France and advisor to the French government on energy and science issues. She chaired the scientific programs committee of the French space agency CNES ( Center national d'études spatiales ) and the advisory committee EURATOM - Fusion (CCE-FU).

In 1998 she received the COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Space Science Award . She is a member or guest member of several academies ( Académie des Sciences , Academia Europaea , International Academy of Astronautics , National Academy of Sciences , Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , Royal Society of London ) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva . She is Commandeur of both the Ordre national du Mérite and the Legion of Honor .

research

Dr. Cesarsky is known for her research activities in several central areas of modern astrophysics. She devoted the beginning of her career to high energy physics. Here she researched the propagation and composition of cosmic rays , matter and fields in diffuse interstellar space, as well as the acceleration of particles through astrophysical shocks, e.g. B. in connection with supernovae .

She then switched to infrared astronomy . In this field, she was research director of the ISOCAM camera on board the ESA's Infrared Space Observatory , which was in operation between 1995 and 1998. As this she headed the ISOCAM central program, which coordinated research into the infrared emissions from various galactic and extragalactic sources and was thus able to contribute new, highly interesting results to the fields of star formation and evolution of galaxies . These results have now been confirmed by other results from the ESO VLT and space telescopes such as the Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes .

Awards and honors

Web links

Commons : Catherine Cesarsky  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catherine Cesarsky elected president of the International Astronomical Union . International Astronomical Union. August 28, 2006. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  2. ↑ Institut de France, Académie des sciences ( Memento of June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 36 kB)
  3. ^ Décret du 16 may 2008 paru au Journal officiel de la République française du 17 may 2008.
  4. ↑ Décret du 31 December 2010 portant promotion paru au Journal officiel de la République française du 1 January 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Cesarsky, Catherine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Césarsky, Catherine Jeanne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French astrophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Ambazac , France