Astrophysicist Hubert Reeves has died at the age of 91

Astrophysicist Hubert Reeves died on Friday October 13 at the age of 91, his son Benoît announced to franceinfo. “He left in peace, to join the stars. A peaceful death, at 3:15 p.m.”, did he declare. ” My entire family joins me in the pain of having to announce to you that our dear father left to join the stars today”he had written a few minutes earlier on his Facebook account.

>> The “fucking human factor”: Hubert Reeves’ explanation of human inaction in the face of the state of the Earth

Hubert Reeves liked to compare humans to stardust. Born in 1932 in Montreal, naturalized French, the scientist was a great popularizer. He studied at the University of Montreal and McGill before obtaining his doctorate in nuclear astrophysics at Cornell University (United States) in 1960, as recalled by Radio-Canada. It was in France that he established himself as research director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

“An outstanding popularizer, a renowned astrophysicist”

Among his many books, let us cite Stardust (1984) and Time to get drunk (1986), The sea explained to our grandchildren (2015), or even The fury of living (2020). The journalist Mathieu Vidard, who presents the scientific program “La tête au carré” on France Inter, was one of the first to pay tribute to him. “He embodied the scientist who knows how to share his knowledge with passion and generosity”he wrote on X.

“Quebec today loses an outstanding popularizer, a renowned astrophysicist. Hubert Reeves knew how to find the words to help us understand humanity and infinity. He leaves today as he came, in dust stars”commented François Legault, Prime Minister of Quebec.