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
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. ...
, 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
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, 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
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...
.
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
satellite navigation
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning. A satellite navigation system with global coverage is termed global navigation satellite system (GNSS). , four global systems are ope ...
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