André Léon Georges Chevalier Berger (born July 30, 1942) is a Belgian climatologist and professor from Acoz. He is best known for his significant contribution to the renaissance and further development of the

astronomical theory of paleoclimates Milankovitch cycles describe the collective effects of changes in the Earth's movements on its climate over thousands of years. The term was coined and named after the Serbian geophysics, geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković. In the ...

and as a cited pioneer of the interdisciplinary study of climate dynamics and history.

Biography

Trained in mathematics, Berger holds a PhD in sciences from the

Université catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

(1973) and a master of sciences in meteorology from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(1971). He has received honorary doctoral degrees from Paul Cézanne University Aix-Marseille III (1989),

Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier University Paul Sabatier University (''Université Paul Sabatier'' , UPS, also known as Toulouse III) was a French university, in the Academy of Toulouse. It was one of the several successor universities of the University of Toulouse, established in 1229, ...

(1999) and the

Faculté polytechnique de Mons The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Mons (, ) is a faculty of engineering at the University of Mons in the Wallonia region in Belgium. Before the 2009 merger of the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons and the University of Mons-Haina ...

(2004). He is presently an

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

professor and senior researcher at UCLouvain. Berger works in the field of

paleoclimatology Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

, and worked on the astronomical theory of paleoclimate (also known as the Milankovitch theory) in the 1970s, and its promotion and development in the following decades. He has renewed this theory and improved the accuracy of the long term variations of the astronomical parameters used for calculating of the incoming solar radiation (

insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

) over the last and next millions of years. He became known in 1977 for his paper in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' and later in the '' Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics'' (1978), delivering all the spectral components of the long term variations of

orbital eccentricity In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values be ...

, obliquity (

axial tilt In astronomy, axial tilt, also known as obliquity, is the angle between an object's rotational axis and its orbital axis, which is the line perpendicular to its orbital plane; equivalently, it is the angle between its equatorial plane and orbita ...

) and climatic

precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In o ...

. His contributions have played a key role in the time scale calibration and interpretation of paleoclimate records and in the modelling of glacial-interglacial cycles. He has mainly worked on the simulation of past and future climates in close collaboration with physicists and geologists worldwide. He was at the origin of the very first Earth systems model of intermediate complexity. He was full professor of meteorology and climatology at UCL,

maître de conférences The following summarizes basic academic ranks in the France, French higher education system. Most academic institutions are state-run and most academics with permanent positions are French Civil Service, civil servants, and thus are Academic tenur ...

at the Université de Liège where he was Chaire Francqui in 1989, visiting professor at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

, and has been invited to many other universities in Europe, America and Asia. He was invited to deliver the Union Lecture of the

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; , UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques. The IUGG is a me ...

(IUGG) in 1987, the Society Lecture of European Geophysical Society (EGS) in 1994 and the Slichter Lecture at the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

in 2001. He was chairman of the Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics

Georges Lemaître Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître ( ; ; 17 July 1894 – 20 June 1966) was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician who made major contributions to cosmology and astrophysics. He was the first to argue that the ...

from 1978 to 2001, a period during which he started to develop climate research there. He was the supervisor of 22 doctoral degree theses and continues to serve as a jury member for academic tenure and habilitation. Berger is the author of ''Le Climat de la Terre – un passé pour quel avenir?''.Berger A., 1992. Le Climat de la Terre, un passé pour quel avenir. De Boeck Université, Bruxelles, 479pp. He started to contribute, as early as in the 1970s, to the awareness of society to

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and the impact of human activities on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

Works

Berger's field of research is

geosciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

and more specifically the

Berger, A., 1988. Milankovitch Theory and Climate. Reviews of Geophysics, 26(4), pp. 624-657. and climate modelling.Berger, A., Gallee, H., Fichefet, Th., Marsiat, I., Tricot, Ch., 1990. Testing the astronomical theory with a coupled climate-ice sheet model. in: L.D. Labeyrie and C. Jeandel (Eds), Geochemical variability in the Oceans, Ice and Sediments. Palaeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 89(1/2), Global and Planetary Change Section, 3(1/2), pp. 125-141. In the 1970s, he improved significantly the accuracy of long-term variations of

obliquity In astronomy, axial tilt, also known as obliquity, is the angle between an object's rotational axis and its orbital axis, which is the line perpendicular to its orbital plane; equivalently, it is the angle between its equatorial plane and orbital ...

and climatic precession used for calculating the incoming solar radiation (

).Berger, A., 1978. Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary Climatic Changes. ''Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences'', 35(12), 2362-2367. He calculated the periods characterizing the variations of the astronomical parameters,Berger, A., 1977. Support for the astronomical theory of climatic change. ''Nature'', 268, 44-45. showing that, in addition to the known 40-ka period of

(ka = thousand years) and 21-ka period of climatic

, there are periods of 400 ka, 125 ka, 95 ka and 100 ka in

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

, of 54 ka in

and of 23 ka and 19 ka in climatic precession. Under the leadership of

Nicholas Shackleton Sir Nicholas John Shackleton (23 June 1937 – 24 January 2006) was an English geologist and paleoclimatologist who specialised in the Quaternary Period. He was the son of the distinguished field geologist Robert Millner Shackleton and great- ...

,Shackleton N.J., Berger A., Peltier W.R., 1990. An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene time scale based on ODP site 677. Phil. ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences'', vol. 81 part 4, pp. 251-261. he contributed to improve the age of the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal. He identified the instability of the astronomical periods and the existence of a 1.3-Ma period (Ma = million years) in the amplitude modulation of obliquity.Berger A., Loutre M.F. and Melice J.L., 1998. Instability of the astronomical periods from 1.5 Myr BP to 0.5 Myr AP. ''Paleoclimates Data and Modelling'', 2(4), pp. 239-280. He demonstrated the relationship between the different periods of the astronomical parameters,Berger A., Loutre M.F., 1990. Origine des fréquences des éléments astronomiques intervenant dans le calcul de l'insolation. ''Bulletin Sciences'', 1-3/90, pp. 45-106, Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. estimated the value of these astronomical periods over tens to hundreds of millions of years,Berger, A., Loutre, M.F., Dehant, V., 1989. Pre-Quaternary Milankovitch frequencies. ''Nature'', 342, p. 133. and showed the origin of the 100-ka period in astronomyBerger A., Melice J.L. and M.F. Loutre, 2005. On the origin of the 100-kyr cycles in the astronomical forcing. ''Paleoceanography'', 20(4), PA4019, . and, under the leadership of J. Imbrie, in paleoclimates.Imbrie J., Berger A., Boyle E.A., Clemens S.C., Duffy A., Howard W.R., Kukla G., Kutzbach J., Martinson D.G., McIntyre A., Mix A.C., Molfino B., Morley J.J, Peterson L.C., Pisias N.G., Prell W.L., Raymo, M.E., Shackleton N.J., and J.R. Toggweiler, 1993. On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles. 2. The 100,000-year cycle. ''Paleoceanography'', 8(6), pp. 699-735. He delivered an easy-to-handle and accurate calculation of the long-term variations of the daily, seasonalBerger A., Loutre M.F. and Q.Z. Yin, 2010. Total irradiation during the interval of the year using elliptical integrals. ''Quaternary Science Reviews''. 29, 1968-1982 and caloricBerger, A., 1978. Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements. ''Quaternary Research'', 9, 139-167. irradiations. With his team, he developed one of the first Earth Model of Intermediate Complexity (EMICs).Gallee, H., van Ypersele, J.P., Fichefet, Th., Tricot, Ch., Berger, A., 1991. Simulation of the last glacial cycle by a coupled sectorially averaged climate - ice-sheet model. I. The Climate Model. ''Journal of Geophysical Research''., 96, pp. 13,139-13,161 Based on such

climate model Numerical climate models (or climate system models) are mathematical models that can simulate the interactions of important drivers of climate. These drivers are the atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. Scientists use climate models to st ...

s, he showed the importance of the long-term variations of

to simulate the glacial-interglacial cycles,Berger A., Loutre M.F., and H. Gallee, 1998. Sensitivity of the LLN climate model to the astronomical and CO2 forcings over the last 200 kyr. ''Climate Dynamics'', 14, pp. 615-629.Yin Q.Z. and A. Berger, 2010. Insolation and CO2 contribution to the interglacials before and after the Mid-Brunhes Event. ''Nature Geoscience'', 3(4), pp. 243-246. the possible exceptional length of our

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene i ...

Berger A. and M.F. Loutre, 1996. Modeling the climate response to the astronomical and CO2 forcings. ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris'', t. 323, série II a, pp. 1-16.Berger A. And M.F. Loutre, 2002. An Exceptionally long Interglacial Ahead? ''Science'', 297, pp. 1287-1288. the importance of the 400-ka period in searching for analogues of our present-day and future climate,Berger A. and M.F. Loutre, 2003. Climate 400,000 years ago, a key to the future? in ''Earth's Climate and Orbital Eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 Question. Geophysical Monograph'' 137, A. Droxler, L. Burckle and R. Poore (eds), American Geophysical Union, pp. 17-26. the relative role of the multiple feedbacks involved in the explanation of the glacial-interglacial cycles, water vapour in particular.Berger A., Tricot C., Gallee H., and M.F. Loutre, 1993. Water vapour, CO2 and insolation over the last glacial-interglacial cycles. ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'', London, B, 341, pp. 253-261. More recently he initiated research on the origin of the east Asian summer monsoon in ChinaYin Q.Z., Berger A., and M. Crucifix, 2009. Individual and combined effects of ice sheets and precession on MIS-13 climate. ''Climate of the Past'', 5, pp. 229-243. and started to work on the diversity of climate over the last nine interglacials.

Functions

Berger has served in many international bodies involved in the development of present-day and past climate research. He was chairman of the International Climate Commission of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (1987–1993) and of the Paleoclimate Commission of the International Union of Quaternary Research (1987–1995); president of the European Geophysical Society (2000–2002), co-creator of the

European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet". The organisation has headq ...

of which he is honorary president; member of the First Scientific Steering Committee of the

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) was a research programme that ran from 1987 to 2015 dedicated to studying the phenomenon of global change. Its primary focus was coordinating "international research on global-scale and regi ...

on Global Changes of the Past (1988–1990), Committee which is at the origin of PAGES. In 1991, he was the initiator of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project ( PMIP). For the

Commission of the European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

, he was chairman of the Coordination Group on Climate Processes and Climate Change of the Climatology and Natural Hazards Program (1988–1992), of the External Advisory Group on Global Change, Climate and Biodiversity (2000–2002) and member of the Contact Group of the Climate Programme on Reconstruction of Past Climate, Climate Models and Anthropogenic Impacts on Climate from 1980 to 1983 (groups which are at the origin of the CEC Framework Programme). For the Scientific Committee of

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 ...

, he was chairman of the Special Programme Panels on the Science of Global Environmental Change (1992) and on Air-Sea Interactions (1981) and of the programme Advisory Committee of the International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modelling and its Applications (1980–1985). He was also member of committees in charge of advising policy makers and scientific institutions, in particular the

European Environment Agency The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment. Definition The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides ...

(EEA, 2002–2009), the European Science Foundation (ESF), Gaz de France (1994–1999 ) and Electricité de France (1998–2009). He was a member of the scientific committee of universities and research institutes, among which

Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement The Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory (, or LSCE) is a French mixed research unit ( UMR 8212) between the CNRS, the CEA and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, aimed at the study of climate and in particular climate change. It is ...

, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Département Terre-Atmosphère-Océan de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut Paul Simon Laplace et Collège de France in Paris, Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Géophysique de l'Environnement and the European University and Scientific Pole of Grenoble, LEGOS in Toulouse, Météo-France, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Great-Britain and Beijing Normal University. He is a voting member of the BAEF (Belgian American Educational Foundation, Herbert Hoover Commission for Relief in Belgium) which he was fellow in 1970–1971. He has organised and chaired international meetings, among which are the First International School of Climatology on Climatic Variations and Variability, Facts and Theories at the Ettore Majorana Center of Erice in Sicily, from 9 to 21 March 1980,Berger A. (Ed.), Climatic Variations and Variability: Facts and Theories, NATO ASI, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland, 795pp., 1981. the symposium Milankovitch and Climate (with J. Imbrie) at the Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory from 30 November to 3 December 1982,Berger A., Imbrie J., Hays J., Kukla G. and Saltzman B. (Eds), ''Milankovitch and Climate: Understanding the Response to Astronomical Forcing''. NATO ASI Series C vol. 126, Reidel Publ. Company, Holland, 895 pp., 1984. the tenth general assembly of the European Geophysical Society in Louvain-la-Neuve from 30 July to 4 August 1984, the IUGG symposium Contribution of Geophysical Sciences to Climate Change Studies in Vancouver in August 1987,Berger A., Dickinson R., Kidson J. (Eds), 1989. ''Understanding Climate Change. Geophysical Monograph n° 52'' - IUGG vol. 7, American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C., 187pp. the symposium Climate and Geo-Sciences, a Challenge for Science and Society for the 21st Century in Louvain-la-Neuve in May 1988,Berger A., Schneider S., Duplessy J.Cl. (Eds), 1989. ''Climate and Geo-Sciences, a Challenge for Science and Modern Society in the 21st Century''. NATO ASI Series C: Mathematical and Physical Sciences, vol. 285, Kluwer Academic Pu¬blishers, Dordrecht, Holland, 724pp. the symposium Climate and Ozone at the Dawn of the third Millennium in honour of

Paul Crutzen Paul Jozef Crutzen (; 3 December 1933 – 28 January 2021) was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric chemist. In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland, Frank Sherw ...

, Nobel Prize 1995, of Willi Dansgaard and

, Crafoord Prize 1995 and, with Claude Lorius, Tyler Prize for Environment 1996, the Milutin Milankovitch anniversary symposia in Belgrade in 2004 Berger A., Ercegovac M., Mesinger F. (Eds), 2005. Paleoclimate and the Earth Climate System. Milankovitch Anniversary Symposium. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Scientific Meetings, vol. CX, Dept of Mathematics, Physics and Geosciences, Book 4, Belgrade, 190 pp. and 2009, the first Colloque à l'étranger du Collège de France at the Palais des Académies in Bruxelles on 8–9 May 2006 (with J. Reisse and

Jean-Pierre Changeux Jean-Pierre Changeux (; born 6 April 1936) is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins (with a focus on the allosteric proteins), to the early development of the ner ...

), the Third von Humboldt International Conference on East Asian Monsoon, Past, Present and Future, at the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

in Beijing from 24 to 30 August 2007 (with Z. Ding) .Berger A., Braconnot P., Guo Z., Rousseau D.D., and Tada R. (Eds), 2009. ''The East Asian Monsoon: Past, Present and Future.'' Climate of the Past 2008-2009, Special Issue, vol. 4, 19-28, 79-90, 137-145, 153-174, 175-180, 225-233, 281-294, 303-309; vol. 5, 13-19, 129-141. In 2009, a special issue of ''Climate of the Past'' was published in his honourCRUCIFIX M., Loutre M.F., Claussen M., Ganssen G., Rousseau D.D., Wolfe E., and J. Guiot, 2008-2009. Climate Change: from the geological past to the uncertain future – a symposium honouring André Berger. Special Issue of ''Climate of the Past'', vol., 5. with a prefaceCrucifix M., Claussen M., Ganssen G., Guiot J., Guo Z., Kiefer T., Loutre M.F., Rousseau D.D. and E. Wolff, 2009. Preface to Climate Change: from the geological past to the uncertain future. ''Climate of the Past'', 5, pp. 707-711 dedicated to his work. In Belgium, he is a co-founding member (with Alain Hubert and Hugo Decleir, 1999) and member of the Administration Council of the

International Polar Foundation Based in Brussels, Belgium, the International Polar Foundation (IPF) communicates and educates on polar science and polar research as a way to understand key environmental and climate mechanisms. The foundation also promotes innovative and multifac ...

, member of Mgr Lemaître Foundation (1995), member of Fonds Léopold III de Belgique for the Exploration and Conservation of Nature, of the Scientific Council of GreenFacts, administrator of the Fondation Hoover Louvain and member of the National Committee of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) which he was the president from 2000 to 2004, of the National Committee of the International Geosphere-Biospere Programme on Global Change (IGBP), of the National Committee for Quaternary Research (BELQUA), of the National Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) and of the National Committee of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)

Awards

* 2010 Prix Georges Lemaître of the Amis et Anciens de l'UCL and of the Fondation Louvain * 2008 Winner of an Advanced Investigators Grant of the European Research Council * 2007 Foreign member of the Academy of Science of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

(MSRC-FRSC) * 2006 Foreign member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...

* 2004 Special recognition to distinguished Belgian scholars from the World Cultural Council * 2003 Associate member of the Royal Astronomical Society, London * 2003 Membre titulaire de l' Académie Nationale de l'Air et de l'Espace de

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

* 2002 Member of the l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique * 2001 European Latsis Prize in 2001. * 2000 Membre associé étranger de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris (France) * 1997 Foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

* 1999 Fellow of AGU * 1996 Chevalier ( Belgian Knight) by His Majesty Albert II, King of the Belgians. Motto is ''Lux Scientia et Labore''. * 1995 The Prix quinquennal A. De Leeuw-Damry-Bourlart of the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research for 1991–1995. * 1994 Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award from the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

(1994). * 1994 Milutin Milankovic Medal from the European Geophysical Society (1994). * 1989 Member of Academia Europaea * 1989 Golden Award of the European Geophysical Society (EGS) * 1987 Honorary member of the European Geophysical Society (EGS) * 1987 Foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen * 1984 Prix Charles Lagrange de la Classe des Sciences of the Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (20e période quadriennale 1980–1984) * 1980 Prize of the first biennal 1979–1980 of the Societa Italiana di Fisica * He is Officier de la

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(2010), Grand officier de l' Ordre de la Couronne (see citation) (2007), and Officier de l'Ordre de Léopold (1989) * He is part of the stamp sheet "This is Belgium 2007" with eight other Belgian scientists and of the Gallery of Geniuses of the Coimbra Group Universities at the University of Jena. In 2008 he was among the 35 greatest Belgian scientists selected by the Belgian Universities and Eos Science. * He received the Silver Medal of His Holiness Pope Paul VI in 1979.

Bibliography

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References