Luc Gillon

Monseigneur Luc Gillon was a Belgian priest and nuclear scientist. He became the first rector of Lovanium University (now the University of Kinshasa) in Léopoldville from 1954 to 1967. Gillon played a significant role in the construction of the first nuclear reactor Trico I in Africa, located on the Lovanium campus in 1959.

Life Gillon was born in Rochefort on 15 September 1920. After being ordained priest at Easter 1946 by Cardinal Van Roey, he received in 1952 his doctorate in physical sciences, specializing in nuclear energy, at the Catholic University of Louvain. In 1952, he was invited as "guest staff member" at the Palmer Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. He was appointed protonotary apostolic in 1957.

Nuclear energy

Gillon played a significant role in the construction of the first nuclear reactor in Africa, located on the Lovanium campus. He launched the idea of establishing a nuclear research reactor at the university. In 1958, the government of Belgian Congo, with the approval of the Belgian minister of Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, bought a TRIGA MARK I reactor from General Atomics. He published several books on nuclear energy.