Professor Jean-Pierre Contzen, a long-time and well respected member of the International Science and Technology Center’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), unexpectedly passed away on October 27, in Saint Petersburg, Russia while on active duty as Chairman of the NIERSC foundation. 

He had an illustrious career starting with his joining the European Launcher Development Organization in 1964, where he worked on future space vehicle concepts. In 1969 he joined the European Space Organization where he developed programs for satellite applications. In 1974 he began a 25 years' association with the European Commission occupying successive Directorships of Programs of the Joint Research Center (JRC), Science & Technology Policy, Director General of the JRC and served as Special Adviser of the Commissioner in charge of External Relations. During this time, he was also member of the Standing Committee of START (Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training) and member of the Management Board of the European Environmental Agency. He later served as an adviser to the Minister of Science & Technology of Portugal.

He was Chairman of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the United Nations University and was the Invited Chair Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon and at the Eurasian National University of Kazakhstan. He also dealt with environmental issues through his chairmanship of the Board of Guardians of the Russian Scientific NIERSC Foundation (Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre) in Saint Petersburg and as member of the Scientific Committee of the Institut Royal pour la Gestion Durable des Ressources Naturelles et la Promotion des Technologies Propres (IRGT) in Brussels. He was also a member of the Committee of Applied Sciences of the Royal Belgian Academy.

Since 1995, Professor Contzen was an active member of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics Board of Directors and became its Chairman in 2005. 

Professor Contzen’s formal relationship with the ISTC started almost from the very beginning as a founding father. He served as the ISTC’s Board Chairman during its formative period and then in October 1998 he was welcomed as a European Union science representative to the ISTC SAC at its 13th Meeting in Moscow, Russia. From that time moving forward, he was a stalwart of ISTC’s independent science review and project evaluation through its 58th SAC Meeting held in September of 2015 in Annecy, France. He was the engine of the ISTC’s Y2K initiative that set many precedents for successful targeted collaboration.

Professor Contzen was a very creative person and a catalyst for ISTC. He was a mentor to many at ISTC and to the SAC Committee. A brilliant engineer with an immense memory and with a broad understanding of science in general. Jean-Pierre was a person that was always willing and available to help. Mr. Contzen will be greatly missed. 

Last but not least, he was the beloved husband of Arlette Lacroix and father of Bernard, Baudouin, Christine and Thierry.