Robert Klapisch

Klapisch completed his secondary studies at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, before attending Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris and Collège Lavoisier. He obtained an engineering degree from ESPCI Paris in 1952,{{cite web|url=https://www.espci.org/fr/anciens/eleves/71/|title=Les ingénieurs de la 71e promotion de l'ESPCI Paris|work=ESPCI|language=fr}} and a doctorate at Paris-Sud University in 1966.

Klapisch began working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1956, after his graduation from ESPCI. He interrupted his research between 1960 and 1962 to perform his military service in the Algerian War. Between 1968 and 1969 Klapisch had a sabbatical leave, which he spent at Princeton University. He also conducted research at the Curie Institute in Paris, employed alongside Jean Teillac and René Bernas.{{cite web|url=http://www.sciences.u-psud.fr/fr/la_faculte/historique-et-environnement.html|title=René Bernas|work=Université Paris-Saclay|language=fr}} Klapisch was one of the original members of the Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules (IPN), founded in 1956. After Bernas' premature death{{Cite journal|journal=CERN Courier |volume=11|page=195|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1729339|title=Death of Professor Bernas|publisher=CERN|year=1971|location=Geneva }} at age 50, in 1971, Klapisch directed the laboratories at IPN.

Klapisch held the position as director of research at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) from 1981 to 1986.{{Cite book|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/28058/|title=Senior Staff Appointments (by the Director-General) (Gabathuler, Klapisch, Mannelli, Heyn)|publisher=CERN|year=1980|series=CERN/1380|pages=2}}{{Cite web|url=http://library.cern/archives/CERN_archive/guide/management/directorate/isadirres|title=Archives of Directors of Research {{!}} CERN Scientific Information Service|website=library.cern|access-date=2020-03-26}} In this role he supervised the research program for the Super Proton–Antiproton Synchrotron, which resulted in the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1984/summary/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1984|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-26}} As a strong supporter of the Low Energy Antiproton Ring,{{Cite book|last=Plass|first=Günther|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/124681|title=Design study of a facility for experiments with low energy antiprotons (LEAR)|publisher=CERN|year=1980|location=Geneva}} Klapisch went on to be one of the pioneers of the antiproton programme. He also played an instrumental role in the development of the heavy-ion research program at CERN,{{Cite book|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/62450|title=123rd Meeting of Scientific Policy Committee, 21 - 22 Jun 1982 - CERN, Geneva, Switzerland : Draft minutes|year=1982}}{{Citation|last=Rafelski|first=Johann|title=Possible Experiments with Heavy Ions at the PS/SPS: CERN SPC 1982|date=2016|work=Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks - From Hagedorn Temperature to Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at CERN|pages=379–386|editor-last=Rafelski|editor-first=Johann|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-17545-4_29|bibcode=2016mhbq.book..379R|isbn=978-3-319-17544-7|author-link=Johann Rafelski|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last=Bruno|first=Giuseppe Eugenio|year=2015|editor-last=Bravina|editor-first=L.|editor2-last=Foka|editor2-first=Y.|editor3-last=Kabana|editor3-first=S.|title=CERN achievements in relativistic heavy ion collisions|journal=EPJ Web of Conferences|volume=95|pages=06001|doi=10.1051/epjconf/20159506001|bibcode=2015EPJWC..9506001E|issn=2100-014X|doi-access=free}} which opened the possibilities to study quark–gluon plasma.{{Citation|last=Rafelski|first=Johann|title=Quark-Gluon Plasma in p̄- Annihilation on Nuclei|date=1984|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4684-8727-5_48|work=Physics at LEAR with Low-Energy Cooled Antiprotons|pages=507–511|editor-last=Gastaldi|editor-first=Ugo|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-8727-5_48|isbn=978-1-4684-8729-9|access-date=2020-03-27|editor2-last=Klapisch|editor2-first=Robert}}{{Cite book|last1=Gastaldi|first1=Ugo|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/134736|title=The LEAR project and physics with low-energy antiprotons|last2=Klapisch|first2=Robert|year=1981}} From 1994 to 2000, Klapisch was involved in a group, led by Rubbia, devoted to an innovative approach to nuclear energy.{{Cite web|url=https://home.cern/news/obituary/physics/robert-klapisch-1932-2020|title=Robert Klapisch (1932 - 2020)|date=31 March 2020|website=CERN|language=en|access-date=2020-04-05}}{{Cite book|last1=Rubbia|first1=Carlo|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/289551|title=Conceptual design of a fast neutron operated high power energy amplifier|last2=Rubio|first2=Juan Antonio|last3=Buono|first3=S.|last4=Carminati|first4=F.|last5=Fiétier|first5=N.|last6=Gálvez|first6=J.|last7=Gelès|first7=C.|last8=Kadi|first8=Y.|last9=Klapisch|first9=Robert|publisher=CERN|year=1995|series=CERN-AT-95-44-ET|location=Geneva}}{{Cite journal|last=Klapisch|first=Robert|year=2000|title=Accelerator driven systems: an application of proton accelerators to nuclear power industry|journal=Europhysics News|volume=31|issue=6|pages=26–28|doi=10.1051/epn:2000606|bibcode=2000ENews..31f..26K|issn=0531-7479|doi-access=free}}

In 2002, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Roselyne Bachelot assigned Yves Coppens with creating the French Charter for the Environment. Klapisch accepted Coppens' invitation to join the scientific committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/27236-rapport-commission-coppens-preparation-charte-environnement|title=Rapport Commission Coppens preparation Charte environnement {{!}} Vie publique|website=www.vie-publique.fr|access-date=2020-03-26}} Klapisch served on a number of scientific committees in Europe, the United States, and Canada. In 1982, Jean-Pierre Chevènement asked him to write a report on the future of nuclear science in France. This report earned him a spot in the Ordre des Palmes académiques.

In 2002, Klapisch organized a series of lectures, called Partage du Savoir en Méditerranée, carried out under the direction of the Association for the Advancement of Sciences.{{cite web|url=http://www.sciences.u-psud.fr/fr/la_faculte/historique.htm|title=AFAS|work=Advancement Sciences|language=fr}} The conferences were finally held on 1 through 3 March 2010 in Jordan, 6 May 2011 in Malta, 17 to 20 May in Tunis, and 7 through 9 May in Rabat. From January 2010 until his death, Klapisch was an elected member of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Sustainability based in Potsdam, of which Klaus Töpfer is the Director.

• 50px Legion of Honour (2007){{Cite web|url=https://www.sharing-knowledge.org/robert-klapisch-president-of-the-foundation-receives-the-medal-of-officier-de-la-legion-dhonneur/|title=Robert Klapisch, President of the Foundation, receives the Medal of Officier de la Légion d'Honneur|date=2007-11-09|website=Sharing Knowledge Foundation|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-31}}
• Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (1982)
• Joliot-Curie Prize of the French Physical Society (1970){{Cite web|url=https://www.sfpnet.fr/prix/prix-joliot-curie|title=Prix Joliot-Curie - Société Française de Physique|website=www.sfpnet.fr|language=fr|access-date=2020-04-01}}
• Three Physicists Prize of the École Normale Supérieure (1980)
• W. F. Rockwell Medal for Science and Technology de l'International Institute for Technology

• {{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev.ns.19.120169.000341|doi-access=free|title=Mass Separation for Nuclear Reaction Studies|year=1969|last1=Klapisch|first1=R.|journal=Annual Review of Nuclear Science|volume=19|pages=33–60|bibcode=1969ARNPS..19...33K}}
• Hyperfine Spectroscopy of radioactive atoms (1979)
• Le rayon et la forme des noyaux exotiques (1980)
• Laser optical spectroscopy on francium D2 resonance line (1980)
• Laser spectroscopy of alkali atoms (1981)
• La Charte de l’environnement : enjeux scientifiques et juridique (2003){{cite web|url=http://www.avancement-sciences.org/fichiers/2003_Charte.pdf|title=La Charte de l'environnement : enjeux scientifiques et juridiques|date=13 March 2003|work=Consultation Nationale pour la Charte de l'Environnnement|language=fr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081115070223/http://www.avancement-sciences.org/fichiers/2003_Charte.pdf|archive-date=15 November 2008}}
• Projet Rubbia de réacteur nucléaire sous-critique (2000)
• Publications by Robert Klapisch recorded in INSPIRE-HEP.{{Cite web|url=http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/R.Klapisch.1|title=Klapisch, Robert - Profile - INSPIRE-HEP|website=inspirehep.net|access-date=2020-03-26}}

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Category:1932 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:People associated with CERN

Category:20th-century French engineers

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:French physicists

Category:Recipients of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques