Jacques Blamont

Jacques Émile Blamont (; 13 October 1926 – 13 April 2020) was a French astrophysicist, author and the founder scientific and technical director of National Centre for Space Studies (CNES-Centre national d'études spatiales), known to have contributed to the development of Veronique, the first rocket launched by France in 1957. He was an elected fellow of the French Academy of Technologies and a professor emeritus of the Pierre and Marie Curie University (University of Paris VI).

Blamont was a recipient of several national honours such as Commander of the Legion of Honour, the third highest French civilian honour, Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit, the second highest French civilian honour, Commander of the Academic Palms, Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, the highest French civilian honour, President's Silver Medal, Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples and Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.

Biography Jacques Blamont was born in Paris in France on 13 October 1926 and did his studies at the École Normale Supérieure He graduated from École Normale Supérieure in 1948 During this period, he served the Pierre and Marie Curie University as a professor without chair from 1957 to 1961, as a full professor from 1962 to 1996 and as a professor emeritus from there on. He also worked as a research director at École Militaire (Joint Defence College). a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology in 1985 and a distinguished visiting scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory during 1980–2001. Indian National Science Academy (1978), National Academy of Sciences, USA (1980), Air and Space Academy (1983), Academia Europaea (1989), Academy of Technology (2000), French Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society

Legacy

Blamont was one of the pioneers of French space programme and played a part in providing the payload for the first two Indian rocket launches in 1963 and 1964. viz. Vénus dévoilée, Voyage autour d'une planète (Venus Unveiled – 1987), Le Chiffre et le Songe, Histoire politique de la découverte (The Digit and the – 1993), Le Lion et le Moucheron, Histoire des Marranes de Toulouse (The Lion and the Midge – 2000) and Introduction au Siècle des Menaces (Introduction to the Age of Menaces – 2004). He also mentored 80 research scholars in their doctoral research.

Awards and recognition Blamont received three of the highest French civilian honours, Commander of the Legion of Honour, Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit and Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit apart from the honour of the Commander of the Order of Academic Palms and the Silver Medal from the President of the French Republic in 1967. He received the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1989 and the Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 2015. He was a winner of NASA awards twice, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1972 and NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 2000 and the French Academy of Sciences honoured him two times, Leon Grelaud Prize in 1960 and Prix Paul Doistau–Émile Blutet in 1967. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Indian Space Research Organization awarded him the Yuri Gagarin Medal in 1985 and the Vikram Sarabhai Medal in 1994 respectively. He won three awards from the International Academy of Astronautics, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Award in 1967, Guggenheim Medal in 1986 and Von Karman Award in 1989. He was also a recipient of Rovel H. Prize from the Faculty of Paris in 1957, Aimé Cotton prize of the French Physical Society in 1960, CNES Vermeil medal in 1967, Spie prize, French Roberval Prize in 1993, Gold Medal of the Guiana Space Center in 1995, George N. Goddard Award from the International Society for Optical Engineering in 1997, Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Space Science Award in 2004 and Prix International d'Astronautique (International Astronautics Prize), formerly known as Prix REP-Hirsch in 2019.

Award gallery