Catherine Bréchignac

Who is Catherine Bréchignac?

Catherine Bréchignac is a French physicist. She is an Officer of the Légion d'honneur, President of the International Council for Science and former president of the CNRS, Europe's largest scientific body. The Times says she has "a formidable reputation for determination, decisiveness and an aptitude for analysing and clarifying complex matters." As a president of the CNRS, she was responsible for 25,000 employees, 12,000 of whom are researchers, and a budget of 2.42 billion Euros.