Astronomer, Solar Physicist, Département Fizeau
Université de Nice-Sofia-Antipolis & Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur Av. Copernic 06130 GRASSE (F)
Tel: (33) (0) 4 93 40 53 53, Fax: (33) (0) 4 93 40 53 33, E-mail: rozelot@obs-azur.fr
Jean Pierre Rozelot (JPR) was born in Nevers, France, and he devoted his entire life to Astronomy. After having obtained his B.A. degree in Nevers, he studied electronics in Grenoble, where he received a MSEE at the "Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Electronique". He defended two Ph. D. Thesis, one in Physics, at Paris VII University, and the other in Economics, at Nice University.
In 1964 he received a NATO grant for observing the solar corona at the Pic du Midi Observatory, South of France, under the supervision of Professors B. Lyot and J. Rösch, among the most eminent solar scientists of that time. Then he moved as a visiting astronomer to the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder (Colorado, USA).
From 1975 to 1978, JPR was the Scientific Advisor of the French Embassy in Warsaw (Poland), and from 1978 to 1982, the Scientific Advisor of the « Représentation de la France aux Communautés Européennes » in Brussels, where he negotiated the first Scientific and Technical Programme of the European Union as chairman of the Scientific and Technical Research Committee. He was appointed as scientific advisor at "Aerospatiale", Space and Strategic Systems Division, and later he was designated by the international court of trade of Cairo (Egypt) as an expert in several astronomical conflicts.
From 1982 to 1988 he was director of the Department CERGA of the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice-France, where he conducted researches in the field of Sun-Earth connections, specially related to the influence of the solar luminosity variability upon the Earth’s climate.
Since 1996 JPR is Deputy Director of the branch “Research and Training in Astronomy” at the French Agency CNRS.
He was awarded of several prizes from European and American Institutions for his contributions to the advancement of astronomical science.
He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and Gioenia Academy.
JPR is a fervent lover of the arts, enjoying opera, dance ballets, classical as well as contemporary, and symphonic music.
Teaching Activity
From 1988 to 1999 JPR was professor of Optics at the Ecole Plytechnique of Sceaux, France. He was the “diploma memoir” supervisor of a great number of students issued from the French academic system "Schools of Engineers, or Polytechnicum" (Ecole des Mines de Paris, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Ecole Polytechnique…) as well as Master and PhD thesis supervisor of several students, mainly of the Nice University. He gave numerous lectures for PhD students in European and American Universities and he was the director of several summer schools in Astrophysics for PhD students.
Scientific Activity
The main scientific interest of JPR is the study of the Sun’s shape both from theoretical and observational points of view, that he pursued along his astronomer career. These studies are of overwhelming importance for the accurate determination of the Post Newtonian Parameters of the theory of General Relativity, as the measure of the gravitational moments of the Sun and the advancement of Mercury’s perihelion, and of the relationships between the solar radius and luminosity variations, which reflect on the influence of solar irradiance on terrestrial climate, possibly giving rise to the very actual problem of climate global change. In order to achieve his scientific results, JPR has also been involved into the projects for constructing innovative instruments for measuring with high accuracy, from ground and space, the tiny deviations from the Sun’s spherical shape. In this framework he registered, together with Dr Mestre, a patent on the roughness of astronomical mirror surfaces. One of the most important results of the scientific activity of JPR was the discovery of the solar “leptocline” (so called by the author himself), a thin subsurface layer where expansions and contractions take place owing to the action of magnetic fields along the sunspot cycles and determine the irradiance variability.
JPR is the author of about 150 scientific articles, mainly on solar physics, published in refereed international astronomical journals among a total of 300 articles published. He has been invited speaker and chairman of several international conferences.