Catherine Cesarsky

French astronomer, known for her successful research activities in several central areas of modern astrophysics. She was formerly president of the International Astronomical Union and the director general of the European Southern Observatory.

She graduated with a PhD in Astronomy in 1971 from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., USA), and for several years worked at the California Institute of Technology.

In 1974, she moved to France, becoming a staff member of the Service d'Astrophysique (SAp), Direction des Sciences de la Matière (DSM), Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA). She then established her career in France. From 1985 to 1993, she was the Head of SAp. Later, as Director of DSM (1994 - 1999), she led a team of about 3000 scientists, engineers and technicians active within a broad spectrum of basic research programmes in physics, chemistry, astrophysics and earth sciences. From 1999 to 2007, she was the Director General of the European Southern Observatory; she was thus responssible for the end of construction of the VLT and its instruments and for the operations, for the conclusion of the agreements and the first part of the construction of ALMA, and she launched the studies for the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At present, she is the High Commissioner for Atomic Energy in France, advisor to the French government for science and energy issues. She chairs the Science Program Committee of the French space agency, CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), and the Consultative CommitteeEURATOM - Fusion (CCE-FU).