Raimond Castaing

Raimond Castaing

Raimond Bernard René Castaing (born December 28, 1921 in Monaco , † April 10, 1998 ) was a French physicist.

career

Castaing went to school in the Principality of Monaco, in Condom and in Toulouse . From 1940 he studied physics at the École normal supérieure of Paris (ENS) and at the University of Paris, interrupted by the labor service in 1943/44. He also attended lectures by Frédéric Joliot-Curie , who taught at the Collège de France , as well as lectures by Alfred Kastler and others at the ENS. In 1946 he graduated from the ENS and from 1947 worked as an engineer at the state space research organization ONERA . In 1951 he was with André GuinierPhD. In doing so, he developed the microprobe named after him, which enabled material studies in the micrometer range from the analysis of the X-ray spectra after electron bombardment ( electron beam microanalysis , EPMA, Electron Probe Micro Analysis). In the late 1950s he was also involved in the development of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) (with his student Georges Slodzian ). The first demonstration took place in 1960 and further development took place at Cameca and there was competition with the SIMS developed in the USA by Richard Herzog and Helmut Liebl . In 1952 he became a lecturer (Maître de conferences) at the University of Toulouse and from 1956 at the University of Paris. From 1959 he was a professor at the University of Paris in Orsay, where he founded the Laboratory for Solid State Physics with Jacques Friedel and others.

From 1968 to 1973 he was scientific director, later general director of ONERA. From 1982 he was in the French National Council for Nuclear Safety Issues and from 1987 in the French National Committee for Nuclear Energy. In this capacity, he headed a state commission in 1996 that was supposed to assess the Superphénix reactor. From 1984 to 1987 he was on the board of directors of the French steel company Usinor .

In 1966 he received the Holweck Prize , in 1975 the Médaille d'or du CNRS and in 1977 the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America. In 1968 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . In 1977 he also became a member of the Académie des Sciences .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Presentation of the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America for 1977 to Raimond Castaing (PDF; 235 kB)
2. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Raymond Castaing
3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter C. Académie des sciences, accessed on October 25, 2019 (French).