Catherine Cesarsky

Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky (born Catherine Jeanne Gattegno on 24 February 1943) is an Argentine and French astronomer, known for her research activities in astrophysics and for her leadership in astronomy and atomic energy. She is the current chairperson of the Square Kilometre Array's governing body, SKAO Council. She was the first female president of the International Astronomical Union (2006-2009)

Education Born in France, Catherine Cesarsky was largely raised in Argentina and she received a degree in physical sciences at the University of Buenos Aires. She graduated with a PhD in astronomy in 1971 from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., USA). Her thesis focused on the propagation of cosmic rays in the galaxy and was advised by physicist Russell Kulsrud.

Career After obtaining her PhD, Dr. Cesarsky was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology for three years, where she worked with Peter Goldreich. Direction des Sciences de la Matière, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, and she established her further career in France. From 1985 to 1993, she was the head of the Service d'Astrophysique. Later, as Director of Direction des Sciences de la Matière from 1994 to 1999, she led 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 responsible for the end of construction of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its instruments and for the operations, for the conclusion of the agreements and the first part of the construction of Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), and she launched the studies for the European Extremely Large Telescope.

She was the High Commissioner for Atomic Energy in France from 2009 to 2012 and remains a scientific advisor to the French government for science and energy issues. She chairs the Science Program Committee of the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales,

From August 2006 to August 2009, she was President of the International Astronomical Union, the first woman to hold the position. She became chairman of the board of the Square Kilometre Array Organisation in 2017 and took on the post of chairperson of its successor governing body, SKAO Council, in 2021. and a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 2010, she received an honorary degree from the University of Geneva. Other awards and honours include:

1989 – Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite 1994 – Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur 1998 – Recipient of the Committee on Space Research Space Sciences Award 1999 – Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite 2004 – Officier of the Légion d'Honneur 2005 – Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005 – Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London (2005) 2007 – Member of the French Academy of Sciences 2008 – Commandeur of the Ordre national du Mérite 2009 – Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France 2011 – Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur 2024 – Fritz Zwicky Prize for Astrophysics and Cosmology