Professor Sydney Gales
Prof. Sydney Galès (1943-2024), Guest Lecturer at the Emilio Segre Distinguished Lectures in Physics Endowed by Raymond and Beverly Sackler for the academic year 2018/2019, is the director of research at CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research in France) and an internationally renowned physicist, expert in the fields of atomic nucleuses and accelerators.
Prof. Galès received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Orsay, France. Most of his scientific carrier has been carried out in CNRS, where he became deputy director. Significant part of his scientific carrier was as director of research in IPN Orasy (Institute of Nuclear physics (, which was founded by Nobel prize winners Irene and Joliot Curie. His post-doctoral training was conducted at the Cyclotron lab (Michigan, USA (. In 1992, Prof. Galès was appointed “Professor "extraordinary” of physics at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and remained so till 2009.
During 1986-1994 Prof. Gales had formed AGOR (Accélérateur Groningen-ORsay) a European collaboration of 50 researchers, engineers and technicians to construct the first European superconducting cyclotron accelerator in Orsay, France. In May 1994 the accelerator launched its first beam.
Prof. Galès has been a member and chaired numerous international committees: chairman of GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds, which is France’s national large heavy ion accelerator); chair of NuPECC (Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee); member of the selection panel of the Nobel prize for physics (2005-2009), and member of other auditing & reviewing committees for big infrastructures such as GSI-FAIR (Germany), RIKEN (Japan), KORIA (South Korea), JINR (Russia) and IMP (China). He was also member of OECD, IUPAP, EU FP6 and FP7 committees. He is now chair of iThemba Labs (South Africa) and Chair of G-PAC FAIR-GSI Germany.
Since 2008, Prof. Galès has been the coordinator of NuPNET, the EU-funded ERA-NET project. He has taken part in coordinating ELI’s (Extreme Light Infrastructure Consortium) activities including organizing its international meetings and summer school. During 2013-2016, he has led as scientific director, ELI’s project in Romania for nuclear physics (ELI-NP). Since 2017 he is the scientific advisor of ELI-NP and member of the international scientific advisory board of the project.
Prof. Galès has taken part in setting-up the European Centre for Theoretical Physics (ECT*) in Trento, Italy and he is also one of the founding fathers of "Ecole Joliot-Curie" International School (European School of Physics).
Since the beginning of the millennium, Prof. Galès has contributed to the emergence of subatomic physics, the physics of ephemeral nuclei, (so-called "exotic nuclei"), and has taken initiative in the new science domain of high power lasers (multi-PW).
Prof. Galès is the authors of more than 250 publications in referee international journals, writer of 150 invited papers at international conferences, editors of more than 30 books conferences, and has chaired over 100 international conferences, schools and workshops in the field of subatomic and its related applications.
Prof. Galès is a recipient of various distinctions including: Medal of CNRS (France ‘78), Knight of the Queen (The Netherlands,’95), Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (France,’97), Flerov Prize (Russia,2009), Grand Prix Felix Robin (French Physical Society,2014) and Chevalier dans l’ordre National de la Legion d’honneur (2015).
