Robert Aymar
{{Short description|French physicist (1936–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
Robert Aymar (1936 – 23 September 2024{{Cite web |last=cern |date=2024-10-04 |title=Robert Aymar 1936-2024 |url=https://cerncourier.com/a/robert-aymar-1936-2024/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=CERN Courier |language=en-GB}}) was a French physicist who was the Director General of CERN (2004–2008), serving a five-year term in that role.{{Cite web|url=http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2002/12/cern-council-looks-bright-future |title=CERN Council looks to bright future |accessdate=1 September 2015 |publisher=CERN |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810063406/http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2002/12/cern-council-looks-bright-future |archivedate=10 August 2015 }}{{Cite web|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1734150|title = Council appoints Rolf-Dieter Heuer as CERN's next director-general...|accessdate = 1 September 2015|publisher = CERN}}
Life and career
Aymar was born in 1936 in France. After studying at the École Polytechnique, he entered the Corps des Poudres (a former government agency involved in basic and applied research). Following his secondment to the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA) in 1959, his career was focused on fundamental research in plasma physics and its application in controlled thermonuclear fusion research.
In 1977, Aymar was appointed Head of the Tore Supra project, to be constructed at Cadarache, France. In 1990, he was appointed Director of the Direction des Sciences de la Matière of the CEA, where he directed a wide range of basic research programmes, both experimental and theoretical.
Aymar served on many Councils and Committees at national and international level, for example, the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF), and the Joint European Torus (JET). He also acted as chairman of the European Fusion Technology Steering Committee, and as a member of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Technical Advisory Committee. He was appointed ITER Director in 1994 and International Team Leader in 2001.
He chaired the international scientific committee that assessed CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and recommended it for approval in 1996.{{cite journal|date=27 January 2004 |title=News |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1733554 |journal=CERN Courier |publisher=CERN |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=5–6|access-date=5 July 2016}} He also chaired the External Review Committee that was set up by the CERN Council in December 2001 to review the CERN programme.{{Cite web|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1189417|title = Composition of the external review committee|accessdate = 1 September 2015|publisher = CERN}}
Aymar succeeded Luciano Maiani as Director-General of CERN in January 2004. He was honoured in 2006 with the International Global Energy Prize, in 2011 with the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic.{{Cite web|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1357353|title = Robert Aymar awarded the Légion d'honneur|accessdate = 1 September 2015|publisher = CERN}}{{Cite web|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1734682|title = Robert Aymar honoured at CERN|accessdate = 1 September 2015|publisher = CERN}} In 2011 he gave a talk The Origin of LEP and LHC at the international symposium on subnuclear physics held in Vatican City.{{cite book|editor=Sánchez Sorondo, Marcelo|editor-link=Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo|editor2=Zichichi, Antonino|editor-link2=Antonino Zichichi|chapter=The Origin of LEP and LHC by Robert Aymar|pages=97–108|title=Subnuclear Physics: Past, Present and Future; Proceedings of the International Symposium, held 30 October - 2 November 2011, held in Vatican City|series=Scripta Varia, volume 119|publisher=Pontifical Academy of Sciences|year=2014|chapter-url=https://www.pas.va/content/dam/casinapioiv/pas/pdf-volumi/scripta-varia/sv119/sv119-aymar.pdf}} (See Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP).)
Aymar died on 23 September 2024, at the age of 88.{{cite web |title=Disparition d'une figure du CEA, Robert Aymar |url=https://www.cea.fr/presse/Pages/actualites-communiques/institutionnel/disparition-robert-aymar.aspx |website=CEA |access-date=25 September 2024 |date=25 September 2024}}{{cite news |title=Robert Aymar (1936 – 2024) |url=https://home.web.cern.ch/news/obituary/cern/robert-aymar-1936-2024 |access-date=30 September 2024 |publisher=CERN |date=26 September 2024}}
References
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{{S-bef|before=Luciano Maiani}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director General of CERN|years=1 January 2004 – 31 December 2008}}
{{S-aft|after=Rolf-Dieter Heuer}}
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Category:20th-century French physicists
Category:People associated with CERN
Category:École Polytechnique alumni