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Pierre Léna

Delegate for science education, Académie des sciences, France

Member since 1991 of Académie des sciences (Paris), Pierre Léna, born 1937 in Paris, is Officier de la Légion d'honneur, Officier de l'ordre du Mérite, Prix Deslandres et Henri de Parville (Académie des sciences), Prix Maurice Pérouse (Fondation de France), Prix Holweck (Société française de physique/Institute of Physics), Médaille Janssen (Société astronomique de France), Erasmus Médal (Academia Europeae). He is also a member of Academia Europeae, Academia de Ciencias exactas y naturales d'Arentine, Academia de Educacion d'Argentine and of the Académie pontificale des sciences.

The scientific work of Pierre Léna is centred on infrared astronomy, a major branch of astronomy born ca.1960. With novel observations, he contributed to model the solar atmosphere and its temperature minimum. Adapting to infrared the speckle interferometry discovered by the French Antoine Labeyrie, he was first with his students to apply it to star formation and measure the size of dust cocoons around forming stars. This work led him to organize the European Very Large Telescope as an interferometer, again following Labeyrie's ideas. This world's most powerful instrument is now operating. He then worked on a new interferometer, connecting with optical fibers large telescopes on Mauna Kea (Hawaii).

Beginning 1984, he led a team first implementing adaptive optics on a telescope, a technique now worldwide adopted on giant instruments. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles, author of several books on astrophysics, on education in science, popular books and television series.

He represented France at the governing Council of the European Southern Observatory (1986-1993), directed the Graduate School of Astrophysics at Université Paris 7 (1976-1984 & 1992-1996) before becoming Director of the Ecole doctorale Astronomie d'Ile-de-France (1997-2003).

His interest in educational matters led him to become Président of the Institut national de recherche pédagogique (1991-1997) and to be an active member of the La main à la pâte (Hands On) action renovating science education in schools since 1996. He was Président of the Société française de physique in 1989. Until 2007 he has been Président of the Comité d'éthique des sciences from Centre national de la recherche scientifique) and vice-president of the Association Bernard-Grégory. Since 2005, he is Education Secretary of the French Académie des sciences.