Hubert Curien (30 October 1924 – 6 February 2005) was a French

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and a key figure in European science politics, as the President of CERN Council (1994–1996), the first chairman of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA) (1981–1984), and second President of the

Academia Europæa The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

and a President of

Fondation de France The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent private organisation, recognised as being in the public interest, and created at the instigation of Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux in an effort to stimulate and foster the g ...

Biography

Born in Cornimont,

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

, Curien enlisted in the French resistance during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war he studied physics at the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in Paris. Curien became the director general of the

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

(CNRS) in 1969, and was one of the founders of the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes science in Europe. It was e ...

and chairman from 1979 to 1984. He was also head of the French space agency from 1976 to 1984, and first chairman of the board of ESA from 1981 to 1984. Curien was the Minister of Research of France from 1984 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993. He entered the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in 1994. Curien was the President of the

from 1998 through 2000. Two years later, in November 2002, he retired from

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

after 38 years of contribution to accelerator projects, starting as a fellow in 1964. As a tribute to Curien, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to rename its bilateral scientific exchange programmes, previously referred to as "Integrated Action Programmes" or "PAI" to "Hubert Curien Partnerships" or "PHC". The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has such "Hubert Curien Partnerships" with more than 60 countries of the world. The 2004 Forum Engelberg also paid tribute to their President Curien for the occasion of his upcoming 80th birthday. In honor of his contribution to European space, it was decided by ESA, NASA, and the international Committee for Space Research (

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Science, International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl. Among COSPAR's objec ...

) to name the landing site of the Huygens probe after him, and from 14 March 2007 it is known as the "Hubert Curien Memorial Station".ESA News item dated 06 Mar 2007, Huygens landing site to be named after Hubert Curien
/ref> His son Pierre-Louis Curien is a noted theoretical computer scientist.

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Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curien, Hubert 1924 births 2005 deaths People associated with CERN Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Lycée Saint-Louis alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni French physicists Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Members of Academia Europaea Members of the French Academy of Sciences People from Vosges (department) CNES presidents

Biography

See also

References

External links