Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 astronomer currently residing in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, known for her successful research activities in several central areas of modern astrophysics. She was formerly president of the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

. Educated at the University of Buenos Aires

University of Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...

 and at Harvard, she began her career at the California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

 and went on to work on cosmic ray

Cosmic ray

Cosmic rays are energetic charged subatomic particles, originating from outer space. They may produce secondary particles that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and surface. The term ray is historical as cosmic rays were thought to be electromagnetic radiation...

s, galactic gamma ray

Gamma ray

Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...

 emission, and on work connected with the European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

's Infrared Space Observatory

Infrared Space Observatory

The Infrared Space Observatory was a space telescope for infrared light designed and operated by the European Space Agency , in cooperation with ISAS and NASA...

.

Cesarsky was for five years the director-general of the European Southern Observatory

European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...

. She has served on the committees of the Harvard College Observatory and the Space Telescope Science Institute. She has also been involved in the Haut Comité de l'Observatoire de Paris, the Fachbeirat of the Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik (Heidelberg), the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik (Garching) and the Max Planck Insitut für Extraterrestrische Physik (Garching), the Max Planck Institut für Radioastronomie (Bonn) and SRON (Netherlands).

Awards & Distinctions

• Recipient of the 1998 COSPAR
  COSPAR
  The Committee on Space Research was established by the International Council for Science in 1958.Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, with emphasis on the free exchange of results, information, and opinions, and providing a forum,...
  
   (Committee on Space Research) Space Science Award
• Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (1989)
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
  Légion d'honneur
  The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
  
   (1994)
• Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (1999)
• Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (2004)
• Member of the Academia Europaea
  Academia Europaea
  Academia Europæa is a European non-governmental scientific academy founded in 1988. Its members are scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. It publishes European Review through Cambridge Journals....
  
  
• Member of the European Academy of Sciences
• Member of the International Academy of Astronautics
  International Academy of Astronautics
  The International Academy of Astronautics is an international community of experts committed to expanding the frontiers of space. It is a non-governmental organisation established in Stockholm on August 16, 1960....
  
  
• Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2005)
• Foreign Member of the Royal Society
  Royal Society
  The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
  
   of London
• Prix Jules Janssen
  Prix Jules Janssen
  The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the French Astronomical Society. Created in 1897 and awarded annually, it is usually given in alternate years to a French astronomer, and to an astronomer of another nationality. It is distinct from the Janssen Medal , which is awarded by the French...
  
   of the French Astronomical Society (2009)
• 2010 Doctorate Honoris Causa University of Geneva

External links

• About Catherine J. Cesarsky