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 , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

(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 Europea ...

and a President of

Fondation de France The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent administrative agency which was established by the French government in an effort to stimulate and foster the growth of private philanthropy and private foundations in France.Fond ...

Biography

Born in

Cornimont Cornimont (; german: Hornenberg) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. History A World War II tank battle was fought in Cornimont at Haut-du-Faing on 16 October 1944. See also *Communes of the Vosges depar ...

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low 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 singl ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

, Curien enlisted in the French resistance during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war he studied physics at the

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

in Paris. Curien became the director general of the

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

(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 organisation that promotes the highest quality science ...

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 (French: ''Académie des 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 research. It was at ...

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 a northwestern suburb of Gen ...

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 Scientific Unions (ICSU). Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, wi ...

) to name the landing site of the

Huygens probe ''Huygens'' ( ) was an atmospheric entry robotic space probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), launched by NASA, it was part of the ''Cassini–Huygens'' mission an ...

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 Pierre-Louis or Pierre Louis is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Pierre-Louis Bentabole (1756–1798), revolutionary Frenchman * Pierre-Louis Billaudèle (1796–1869), priest from, and educated in, Fra ...

is a noted theoretical computer scientist.

References

External links

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 Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Members of Academia Europaea Members of the French Academy of Sciences People from Vosges (department)