ESA scientists honoured by the European Geosciences Union in Vienna
7 April 2011
Yesterday afternoon ESA scientists Jean-Pierre Lebreton and Dmitriy V. Titov were honoured by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). At a ceremony in Vienna, the two were respectively presented with the Jean Dominique Cassini Award and the David Bates Award.The EGU is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in geosciences, planetary and space sciences for the benefit of humanity. These two awards, along with others, are given out at their annual conference for outstanding contributions in these areas.
The Jean Dominique Cassini Medal & Honorary Membership of the EGU is one of the three equally ranked most prestigious awards made by the Union. It is reserved for scientists who have achieved exceptional international standing in planetary and space sciences, defined in their widest senses, for their merit and their scientific achievements.
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Jean-Pierre Lebreton |
"I am very honoured and very pleased to receive the Cassini award which I consider is the recognition by the Science Community of my overall contribution to ESA's Planetary Science programme and especially my involvement in the Cassini-Huygens mission that lasted, short of 2 Earth years, one Saturn year (approximately 29 years). I would like to share this award with my colleagues, especially with all ESA colleagues who worked on Huygens, as they really know how hard it was to drop Huygens successfully onto the then-unknown foggy world of Titan. I'm pleased to see that Cassini continues to delight us with discoveries and it is expected to do so for another Saturn season. I am looking forward with great expectation to Rosetta's landing in 2014 and to the implementation, hopefully in the near future, of a great mission to Jupiter and its icy moons," says Lebreton.
The Division of Planetary & Solar System Sciences has established the David Bates Medal in recognition of the scientific and editorial achievements of Sir David Robert Bates, FRS. It is reserved for scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to planetary and solar system sciences.
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Dmitriy Titov |
"It is a great personal honour and pleasure for me to receive this award, but beyond that I consider it as a recognition of the role that the Venus Express mission had played and is still playing in the planetary sciences. At the peak of interest in Mars, ESA decided to pay a visit to another of our planetary neighbours, providing a non-standard, elegant and very effective step towards leadership in the field," says Titov.
The EGU General Assembly 2011 brings together geoscientists from all over the world to discuss Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. The meeting in Vienna is taking place on 3-8 April 2011.
