Born March 23 1953
Married to Barbara Courvoisier, born Doebeli
Father of Sophie (1977), Fabien (1980) and Yves (1983)
Education
1971 High School diploma, Moraga, California
1972 maturité scientifique at the collège de Genève
1977 Physics diploma in theoretical physics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ)
1980 PhD in theoretical physics with Prof. N. Straumann at the University of Zurich
Professional career
1981-1984 European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.
1984-1988 Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility at ESO (European Southern Observatory) in Garching bei Muenchen (Germany).
1988 Senior scientist SERC fellow (4 months) in Preston, UK.
Since 1988 University of Geneva, full professor since 1999.
Sabbatical stays in the UK, in Germany and Chile.
Teaching in Geneva, Lausanne, at CERN and in numerous specialised schools.
Initiator and director of the ISDC (INTEGRAL Science Data Centre, then Data Centre for Astrophysics)
July 2009-June 2010 Skipper of the sailing yacht CERES around the Atlantic ocean
Research, teaching and publications
High energy astrophysics. Observations using satellites and ground based telescopes. Modeling of accretion processes onto black holes and neutron stars.
Supervision of 16 doctoral thesis.
Teaching in general astronomy, high energy astrophysics and cosmology.
Author or co-author of more than 400 publications cited more than 5000 times.
Author of two books:
High energy astrophysics: An introduction Springer Verlag 2012
CERES en Atlantique, récit et réfexions d'un Suisse en mer Ed. Slatkine 2012
External functions
Expert for ESO, ESA, PPARC (UK), The Swedish national space board, Belgian Science policy, Science Foundation of Ireland, Fonds National Suisse, SRON (The Netherlands), the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Member of visiting committees in France and Italy.
President of the European Astronomical Society (EAS)
President of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences
President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
Editor in chief of Astronomy and Astrophysics Reviews
Member of the council of the Swiss Institute of Metrology (METAS)
Vice-president of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC)
President of the Dudley Wright Foundation
Corresponding member of the Société Royale des Sciences de Liège
Member of the International Academy of Astronautics
Former president of the Space Research Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences
Former Swiss delegate to the Science Programme Committee of ESA
Former member of the Federal Space A airs commission
Former member of the council of the Centre de données stellaires in Strasbourg
Former president de la foundation of the autonomous theological faculty of the university of Geneva
Former president of the asembly of the professors of the university of Geneva (Sénat)
Former member of the Astronomy committee of the UK