Catherine Cesarsky
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| Catherine J. Cesarsky | |
 Catherine J. Cesarsky
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| Born | February 24, 1943 Ambazac, France |
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| Residence |  Germany |
| Nationality |  French |
| Fields | Astronomer |
| Institutions | European Southern Observatory Germany |
| Known for | Designing the ISOCAM camera onboard the Infrared Space Observatory |
| Notable awards | COSPAR Space Science Award (1998) |
Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky is an astronomer and known for her successful research activities in several central areas of modern astrophysics.
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[edit] Early life
Born in France, Cesarsky received a degree in Physical Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires and graduated with a PhD in Astronomy in 1971 from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., USA). Afterwards she worked at the California Institute of Technology. In 1974, she moved to France, becoming a staff member of the Service d'Astrophysique (SAp), Direction des Sciences de la Matière (DSM), Commissariat à l'Eénergie Atomique. She then established her career in France. From 1985 to 1993, she was the Head of SAp. Later, as Director of DSM (1994 - 1999), she led a team of about 3000 scientists, engineers and technicians active within a broad spectrum of basic research programmes in physics, chemistry, astrophysics and earth sciences. Since 1999, she has been the Director General of the European Southern Observatory.
[edit] Contributions
She first worked on the theory of cosmic ray propagation and acceleration, and galactic gamma-ray emission. Later, she led the design and construction of the ISOCAM camera onboard the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) of the European Space Agency (ESA), and the ISOCAM Central Programme that studied the infrared emission from many different galactic and extragalactic sources. This has unleashed new and exciting results on star formation and galactic evolution, and in the identification of the sources providing the bulk of the energy in the Cosmic Infrared Background. Between 1999 and 2007 Dr. Cesarsky was Director General of the European Southern Observatory. She is the author of more than 250 scientific papers.
Cesarsky is or has been a member of the Visiting Committees of Harvard College Observatory, Space Telescope Science Institute, European Southern Observatory. She also participates or has participated at or chaired the Haut Comité de l'Observatoire de Paris, the Fachbeirat of the Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik (Heidelberg), as well as those of the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik (Garching) and the Max Planck Insitut für Extraterrestrische Physik (Garching), the Max Planck Institut für Radioastronomie (Bonn) and ESRON (Netherlands). She was President of the International Astronomical Union from 2006.
[edit] Personal
Cesarsky is married and has two children.
[edit] Awards & Distinctions
- Recipient of the 1998 COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Space Science Award
- Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (1989)
- Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1994)
- Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (1999)
- Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (2004)
- Member of the Academia Europaea
- Member of the European Academy of Sciences
- Member of the International Academy of Astronautics
- Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London
