A-Z of European Space

The first decades: 1959-1994

Personalities Organisations Projects
  • 1945 - joined Belgian Foreign Ministry: Secretary in the Belgian embassy in Washington (1946-1949), Counsellor in Rio de Janeiro until 1962, returned to Brussels as Director of Scientific Policy in the Foreign Ministry
  • 1960s - headed the Belgian delegation to ESRO and ELDO
  • 1967 - Chairman of ELDO Council
  • 1967 - resumed career of diplomatic postings, including the Middle East, Brazil, France and the Holy See

As Director of Scientific Policy in the Foreign Ministry, Baron Paternotte was responsible for relations with a number of international scientific bodies, including the Atomic Energy Commission and ESRO and ELDO. As ELDO delegate, he helped establish an ELDO long-range guidance station in Belgium. He was also one of the European signatories to the INTELSAT accord.

  • 1938 – Graduated in chemistry of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris
  • 1947 – worked for the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain
  • 1958-1967 – seconded as Executive Officer of the Advisory Committee for scientific and technological research. Chaired the Consultative Committee on Scientific and Technological Research (CCRST) and the General Directorate for Scientific and Technological Research (DGRST) 
  • 1965-1972 – Chairman of the National Institute for Agricultural Research
  • 1972-1976 – President of the Futuribles International think-tank

Piganiol was a French chemist who played an important role in the development of post-war French scientific politics. At the request of General de Gaulle, he chaired the Consultative Committee on Scientific and Technological Research, which he transformed into the General Directorate for Scientific and Technological Research, an interministerial body promoting scientific and technological research in the service of society.

  • 1930s - worked at Philips and then the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) shipbuilding and repair company in Rotterdam, trained as naval architect
  • 1950s - official at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs
  • 1972-1973 - last Chairman of ELDO Council
  • 1961 – Degree in Law from the University of Muenster
  • 1966-1967 – Financial Administrator for North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf
  • 1968-1973 and 1978-1979 – German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology in Bonn
  • 1971-1977 – Director of Administration at the Von Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble
  • 1979-1991 – Vice-President of the Management Board of the Forschungszentrum Juelich-KFA research centre, responsible for administration, finance, personnel, contract, legal affairs, internal audit and public relations
  • 1991-1997 – ESA Director of Administration based at ESA HQ in Paris
  • Italian physicist, known for his contribution to the theory of weak interactions. Professor of Physics at the University of Bologna from 1952 until his retirement
  • 1960-1964 - Vice President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  • 1962-1963 - Director of Research at CERN, Chairman of Scientific Policy Committee from 1966 to 1968
  • 1968-1970 - Chairman of the Comitato Nazionale del CNR for the Physical Sciences
  • 1971-1972 - Chairman of ESRO Council
  • 1973-1978 - Member of Euratom Scientific and Technical Committee
  • 1977-1979 - Italian delegate to the CERN Council

Puppi was Chairman of the ESRO Council from 1971 to 1972, during a period of reform necessitated by the deep divisions within ESRO on applications satellites and European development of an independent launcher capacity. The Package Deal he successfully negotiated gave a renewed focus on applications programmes, and made them optional for member states.