Pierre Kaufmann (1938 – 17 February 2017) was a French physicist and astronomer. He worked at Mackenzie University, Unicamp, and USP, and founded research into radio astronomy and solar physics in Brazil.

Career

He studied physics at

Mackenzie Presbyterian University Mackenzie Presbyterian University (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie'') is a private university in São Paulo, Brazil. The Mackenzie Presbyterian University is an institution of higher learning that has a st ...

, starting in 1957, and graduating in 1961, before going to

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and

Groningen University The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the second oldest in the country (after ...

. He was the principal researcher of the

Solar Submillimeter Telescope The Solar Submillimeter Telescope (SST) is a solar dedicated instrument with the aim to study the radiation produced by high-energy particles during solar flares. Observing at 212 and 405 GHz with a focal array since 2001, it is a unique ins ...

and Solar-T, and started the Atmospheric Science program at the

Brazilian Antarctic Program The Brazilian Antarctic Program (; PROANTAR) is a program of the Brazilian Navy which has presence in the continent of Antarctica. It coordinates research and the operational support for research in the region. It currently maintains a year-round ...

. He founded research into radio astronomy, spatial geodesy, and solar physics in Brazil. He helped install the first radio telescope in Brazil in 1962, at the Professor Aristóteles Orsini Planetarium, but the antenna was subsequently destroyed by cows. He was funded by FAPESP is its first year of operation, to work on radio star scintillation. He also helped construct radio telescopes in

Campos do Jordão Campos do Jordão () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 52,405 (2020 est.) in an area of . The city is situated above ...

and at

Itapetinga Radio Observatory Pierre Kauffman Radio Observatory (Portuguese: Rádio Observatório Pierre Kauffman - ROPK), formerly known as the Itapetinga Radio Observatory (Portuguese: Rádio Observatório de Itapetinga - ROI), is a radio observatory located in the municipal ...

. He was a professor at the

since 1998, where he was coordinator for the Center for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a senior researcher at the Centre for Semiconductor Components (Portuguese: Centro de Componentes Semicondutores) at

UNICAMP The University of Campinas (), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. Established in 1962, Unicamp was designed from scratch as an integrated Research institute, researc ...

, as well as an associate professor at the

Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo The Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo (or the Engineering School of the University of São Paulo, Portuguese: Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo) (usually called Poli, Poli-USP or EPUSP) is an engineering school a ...

. He published over 200 papers, and supervised 17 Masters students, 7 PhD students, and 8 postdocs. He was also the president of the URSI Brazilian National Committee between 1989 and 2009. He was a member of the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Science, International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl. Among COSPAR's objec ...

, the

Brazilian Academy of Sciences Brazilian commonly refers to: * Brazil, a country * Brazilians, its people * Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect Brazilian may also refer to: * "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis * Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937) * Bra ...

(since 1987), and the Brazilian Astronomical Society. He was an associate member of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

Personal life

Kaufman was born in 1938. He grew up on a farm in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, south France, and became interested in astronomy as a child. His family moved to Brazil in 1941, fleeing

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He joined the Association of Amateur Astronomers as a teenager, in 1954. He had a brother. He died in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

on 17 February 2017, aged 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufmann, Pierre 2017 deaths 1938 births French physicists Radio astronomers Mackenzie Presbyterian University alumni Leiden University alumni University of Groningen alumni Academic staff of Mackenzie Presbyterian University People from Aix-en-Provence