Michel Spiro, Former President of the CERN Council, promoted to the class of officer of the Legion of Honour (officier de la Légion d’honneur), the highest French order of merit

Some of the guests surrounding the newly appointed officer. From left to right: Laurent Chevalier, Jean Tran Thanh Van, Jens Vigen, Michel Spiro, Larry Sulak, Jean-Louis Faure, Gilles Cohen-Tannoudji (representing his brother Claude Cohen-Tannoudji) and Pascale Goy. (Image: CERN)

(PRESS RELEASE) GENEVA, 17-Dec-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research, has announced that Michel Spiro, its former president of the Council, has been promoted to the class of  officer of the Legion of Honour (officier de la Légion d’honneur), the highest French order of merit.

The announcement of the order’s recipients came in July and Michel Spiro, who is – among other roles – the current president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and Chair of the Board of the CERN & Society Foundation, was awarded the honour in a ceremony held at the Collège de France on 30 November 2021 in the presence of his family, colleagues and friends.

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, the 1997 physics Nobel prize winner, awarded the medal on behalf of the French President in a video transmission. He underlined Michel Spiro’s important contributions to astro- and particle physics throughout a long international career. Furthermore, he highlighted his current leadership as President of IUPAP, focusing in particular on his enthusiastic promotion of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, which was recently proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. Michel Spiro concluded with a few words about his commitment to the CERN & Society Foundation and thanked all those who had supported him throughout his career.

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SOURCE: CERN