Christian was born in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France) in 1954. Went through elementary school and middle/high school there, spending 9 years (from 6th grade to “Math Spé”) at Lycée Henri Poincaré.
[Observatoire du Pic du Midi]
Christian attended Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan (or ENSET at it was known back 35 years ago) for four years, graduating in Mathematics at Université d’Orsay (Paris Sud) and with a Masters in Astronomy (DEA) at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI). For his first thesis (Thèse de Troisième Cycle), which he defended in 1979, he spent many nights at Pic du Midi Observatory, observing the satellites of Uranus on photographic plates at the 1m telescope.
[CERGA – Plateau de Calern]
After a year spent teaching high school mathematics to juniors and seniors at the Lycée Beaumont in St Dié, Christian was hired as an astronomer in October 1980 at CERGA (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Géodynamique et Astronomie), located on a plateau 30km North of Grasse. He moved from the observation and dynamics of the satellites of Uranus to Lunar Laser Ranging and time transfer experiments. CERGA is now part of OCA-Geoazur.
[North Kohala meadows]
After 16 years spent close to Grasse on the French Riviera, Christian moved in September 1996 to the gentle hills and green meadows of Waimea, on the Island of Hawai’i, to work as Resident Astronomer for CFHT. He managed various CFHT projects, moved in 1999 to the Senior Resident Astronomer position (now called Director of Science Operations), and became Executive Director of the Observatory in April 2003, completing my third and last term on Apr 30, 2012.
[LBT Observatory – Mt Graham]
After more than 16 years spent on the Island of Hawai’i, he moved in early February 2013 to Tucson, Arizona, where he currently leads the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory. While headquarters (and his office) are on the University of Arizona campus, the LBTO telescope is seated close to the summit of Mt Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains.