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Baron Marcel Nicolet (1912-1996)

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Baron Marcel Nicolet (1912-1996) Eos, Vol. 78, No. 26, July 1, 1997 1993-1994 patents. For research papers in marks, "implies that U.S. industry is far from study will be available from CHI Research, physics, NSF support is cited most often and self-sufficient in science." It concludes "that Inc., 10 Whitehorse Pike, Haddon Heights, NJ the Navy is second, followed by the Depart­ public science plays an essential role in sup­ 08035; tel. 609-546-0600; fax 609-546-9633; ment of Energy, the Air Force, DARPA, the porting U.S. industry, across all the science- e-mail [email protected]. Army, NASA, and DOD in general. linked areas of industry, amongst companies —Excerpted from the American Institute of This "strong reliance of U.S. industry pat­ large and small, and is a fundamental pillar Physics Bulletin of Science Policy ents on public sector science," the paper re­ of the advance of U.S. technology." The News Baron Marcel Nicolet (1912-1996) PAGES 267, 270 Marcel Nicolet, honorary founder and di­ rector of the Institut d'Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique, passed away on October 8,1996. Born in the village of Basse Bodeux, Belgium, on February 26,1912, Nicolet completed his studies in Greek and Latin Classics and went to the University of Liege to study philology. After a few months, he switched courses and regis­ tered as a student at the Faculty of Sciences, where he obtained a degree in physics in 1934 after writing a dissertation on the spectrum of 0 and B stars. He published this work with Paul Swings in the Astrophysical Journal. Marcel Nicolet (left) with Senator Lyndon Nicolet was soon noticed by Jules Jaumotte, B. Johnson at a space symposium on upper at­ director of the Institut Royal Meteorologique mosphere and medicine in November 1958. (IRM) in Uccle, and he became a staff mem­ ber of the institution in 1935. He liked to re­ tions in Uccle when war broke out. The mem­ call that new arrivals started off in the bers of the IRM scientific staff were mobilized Nicolet was ennobled by the king of Belgium weather office, as he did. Nicolet split his at the Belgian Army Headquarters, and they in 1986. His coat of arms bears a globe with cir­ days between Uccle and the meteorological lived through the last hours of the 18-day cam­ cles of longitude and latitude. A satellite in or­ office in Haeren, where he worked for the na­ paign of the German invasion in May 1940 at bit surrounds the globe. tional airport weather forecast, while prepar­ the Belgian coast, which marked the begin­ ing a doctoral thesis under the direction of P. ning of World War II. Nicolet used to enjoy re­ jorie Meinel husband and wife team had just Swings in Liege. His thesis, "Study of the Spec­ counting the episodes experienced with his observed the nocturnal spectrum of the OH trum and Composition of Stellar Atmos­ friend, Jacques Van Mieghem, who later be­ molecule identified by Herzberg, and ozone pheres," was presented in 1937. In March of came Director of the IRM. observations by the Naval Research Labora­ the same year, he spent his first mission When he returned to Uccle, Nicolet and tory via rocket-borne spectrometers had just abroad, at the Swiss Lichklimatisches Obser- his colleagues were placed under the author­ demonstrated a deficit of mesospheric ozone vatorium in Arosa, where Gotz was observing ity of the German occupying forces, a repre­ that disagreed with the theory formulated by the atmospheric ozone in collaboration with sentative of which was present to ensure that Chapman in 1930. At Caltech, Nicolet met an­ Gordon Dobson, who was at Oxford. Observa­ orders were obeyed. They were forbidden to other European invited by Roach: Sir David tions of night airglow were also undertaken forecast the weather. Nicolet continued his Bates, mathematician and pupil of Sir Harry there, in which Nicolet participated. Now study of the Sun and the upper atmosphere Massey, and therefore a specialist in the the­ married, he returned to Arosa from October and was able to present an agregation thesis, ory of atomic and molecular collisions. Bates 1938 to March 1939, accompanied by Alice. "Contribution to the Study of the Iono­ and Nicolet became close friends and By then, Nicolet had authored 28 scien­ sphere," to the University of Brussels in 1945. pooled their knowledge to explain the reduc­ tific publications, eight of them with other Nicolet's thesis explained how the iono­ tion in the mesospheric ozone by catalytic re­ writers. His publications focused on the spheric D region forms on purely theoretical actions involving HO*. Their results were atomic and molecular composition of stars, and speculative bases. He postulated that so­ subsequently transposed to the stratosphere the Sun in particular, and also comets and lar radiation at the wavelength of the Lyman for NOx by Paul Crutzen in 1970 and by Rich­ the Earth's upper atmosphere. Over the alpha line of hydrogen could penetrate the ard Stolarski and Ralph Cicerone for CIO* in course of his long career, he authored more mesosphere, leading to ionization of nitric ox­ 1973, and finally made widely available by than 200 publications, particularly in aero- ide. For this, he imagined an optical window Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina in nomy but also in meteorology and astrophys­ in the oxygen absorption spectrum and NO 1975. ics, and they all bore the mark of his formation processes. In May 1950, some 20 scientists, mainly extremely rigorous scientific approach. He This work, subsequently translated into American but also including Sidney Chapman, also published two books, Aeronomy (Mir English by NASA, brought him international who had left Oxford for the University of publishers, Moscow, 1964) and Study on the acclaim and invitations to numerous confer­ Alaska, and Nicolet discussed Lloyd Berkner's Chemical Reactions of Ozone in the Strato­ ences, as well as an invitation from Frank suggestion of repeating the International Po­ sphere (Institut Royal Meteorologique, 1977). Roach, a specialist in airglow, to spend Janu­ lar Years every 25 years rather than every 50 Nicolet had just been charged with creat­ ary-June 1950 at the California Institute of years. This meeting took place at the Naval ing an infrastructure for radiation observa- Technology. At this time, the Aden and Mar- Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, China This page may be freely copied. Eos, Vol. 78, No. 26, July 1, 1997 Lake, in California. The question was de­ in 1985. Many installations became perma­ the leading international minds in gas phase bated again at the Conference on the Physics nent, and scientific institutions were formed chemistry and photochemistry to the secrets of the Ionosphere, which was hosted by the that specialized in studies and research by of aeronomy. Ionospheric Laboratory of Pennsylvania means of space vehicles. In Belgium, a group Nicolet retired in 1977, but continued his State University at the invitation of its direc­ of scientists at the Observatoire and the Insti­ scientific work on the Sun's ultraviolet radia­ tor, A. Waynick. Waynick invited Nicolet to tut Meteorologique, together with members tion, especially with Lucien Bossy, and on be research professor at the Ionospheric Re­ of several universities, created the Centre Na­ stratospheric chemistry. His unselfish spirit of search Laboratory, where he subsequently su­ tional de Recherches de l'Espace, of which cooperation won him the Bowie Medal, the pervised several doctoral students. The Nicolet was naturally made director. highest distinction of the American Geophysi­ official proposal for a third Polar Year was Pursuing his scientific work, Nicolet was cal Union, for his role in determining photo- put to the International Council of Scientific the first to explain the braking effect of the at­ dissociation and photoionization in the Unions via the Joint Commission (geophysics mosphere on the first satellites. He was ac­ atmosphere, predicting the presence of a he­ and astronomy) on the Ionosphere meeting knowledged for this scientific milestone by lium belt around the Earth, and the presence in Brussels in 1950. the the United Nations in 1960. This work, for of NO, N02, HN03, H02, and H202 in the at­ The decision was made to hold the third which he had laid the foundations in 1938, mosphere before any observations were made. International Polar Year, which was to be ti­ was to win him the Daniel and Florence King Baudouin ennobled Nicolet in 1986. tled "International Geophysical Year." To or­ Guggenheim prize of the International Acad­ He was surprised by this attention, yet it ganize the event, the International Council of emy of Astronautics in 1963, given for his dis­ made him very happy because his constant Scientific Unions set up the Special Commit­ coveries in astronautics over the previous 5 wish was to be a loyal servant to Belgium. As tee for the International Geophysical Year years. He obtained this distinction after Van Belgium's present Minister for Science Pol­ (CSAGI), whose bureau was chaired by Sidney Allen, who received it for discovering the ra­ icy, Yvan Ylieff, remarked recently: "Thanks Chapman with the American Llyod Berkner, diation belts around the Earth. The highest to the action of Marcel Nicolet, the contribu­ the Russian Vladimir Beloussov, and the authorities consulted Nicolet in Belgium, as tion made by Belgian researchers has at­ Frenchman Jean Coulomb as members and when President Kennedy was assassinated tained an importance and a quality much Nicolet as secretary general. At the time, and replaced by Vice-President Johnson, higher than could have been expected of a Chapman was president of the Association of senator of Texas and champion of space ex­ small country, and this in a field that is recog­ Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity, whose ploration whom Nicolet had met.
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