Antonio Rodotà (24 December 1935–23 February 2006) was the fifth Director General of the European Space Agency ( ESA), serving from 1997 until 2003. He died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on February 23, 2006, aged 70. He was the brother of Stefano Rodotà, a former Italian politician proposed by Movimento 5 Stelle as

President of the Italian Republic The president of Italy, officially titled President of the Italian Republic (), is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The presid ...

. He belongs to

Arbëreshë people The Arbëreshë (; ; ), also known as Albanians of Italy or Italo-Albanians, are an Albanians, Albanian ethnolinguistic group minority historically settled in Southern Italy, Southern and Insular Italy (in the regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Basili ...

from

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

area in Southern Italy.

Early years

Rodotà was born on 24 December 1935 in

, Italy. He came from the Arbëreshë community of San Benedetto Ullano. After graduating from University of Rome in 1959 as an electronics engineer, he began his career with SISPRE SpA, Italy.

Career

In 1965 he served as Italian delegate to

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, then joined Italian company Selenia from 1966 to 1980, followed by three years as head of the Compagnia Nazionale Satelliti. He then moved on to Alenia-Spazio in 1983 where he held a series of senior positions before becoming chief executive in 1995. Under his leadership, Alenia became a supplier of space hardware for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

European Space Agency

Before joining ESA, he was director of the Space Division of

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...

(Italy) and a member of the boards of several international companies, as well as

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. During his term of office at ESA, Rodotà was an active advocate of international cooperation, a promoter of European space activities, and was one of the founders of the

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

European

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system.

Tribute

ESA's next Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain paid tribute by saying,

Sources

Antonio Rodotà

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodota, Antonio 1935 births 2006 deaths European Space Agency personnel Italian people of Arbëreshë descent