[IGSMAIL-7739] Passing of Richard Biancale

[Frank Lemoine]

Dear colleagues.

It is with profound sadness that we must announce to you the passing our 
colleague, Dr. Richard Biancale, geodesist, recently retired from the 
CNES in September 2018, and most recently working at the GFZ 
(Oberpfaffenhofen) with Dr. Frank Flechtner on GRACE Follow-On. We were 
informed of his death on Monday February 4, 2019 from a heart attack 
while skiing in the Alps.

Richard had a long and distinguished career in Space Geodesy. He 
received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University Pierre and Marie Curie in 
Paris (France) while working under Professor Christoph Reigber at the 
Technical University of Munich (Germany). He worked as a research 
scientist at the University of Sao Paulo, at the DGFI (/Deutsches 
Geod//ätisches Forschungsinstitut/) in Munich (Germany), and at CERGA 
(/Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Géodynamique et Astronométrie/) 
Grasse (France), before joining the French Space Agency, the CNES 
(Toulouse, France) in 1982 as a scientific engineer.

Under the direction of Michel Lefebvre, one of his first jobs at the 
CNES was to define the DORIS tracking system for the TOPEX/Poseidon 
mission. Since 1984 he was very involved in the French-German 
cooperation on gravity field modeling, first with the GRIM models, and 
then with the EIGEN models after the launches of CHAMP and GRACE. He 
served as the scientific manager of the Stella laser geodetic satellite, 
launched in 1993.Under the direction of Dr. Georges Balmino, he became 
chief of the “Terrestrial and Planetary Geodetic Department” of the CNES 
in 1992. He received his “Habilitation” in 2006 and starting in 2008 
served as Executive Director of the Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie 
Spatiale (GRGS), a French national group that gathers 120 researchers 
from organizations involved in Space Geodesy studies.

Over the course of his career he has supervised and inspired more than a 
dozen Ph.D students and served as a mentor to many colleagues and young 
scientists. Understanding the importance of training the next generation 
of scientists in satellite geodesy, he has taught geodesy for over 25 
years at engineer schools (e.g. ENSG /[Ecole de la 
G//éomatique///National School of Geographic Sciences]/, ENSTA /[École 
Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées]), /at universities (e.g. 
Paris VI), and short training courses (e.g. GRGS Summer School).

Throughout his careerhe has worked assiduously to improve the quality of 
geodetic data, and to advance the science obtained from these data. He 
was a strong proponent of the need for improving the International 
Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), supporting the contributions to the 
IDS, IGS, ILRS, IVS and IERS.He has participated and led national and 
international proposals for new innovative space missions that would 
continue to advance the contribution of geodesy to science and 
society.Most recently, before and after his retirement from CNES, he 
worked to advance the proposal for the Tahiti Geodetic Observatory, a 
fundamental station including VLBI, SLR, GNSS and DORIS whose geographic 
location would be of prime importance to the ITRF and to the mm-level 
goals of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) in the next decade.

Asmany of his colleagues noticed, Richard Biancalehad a joie de vivre. 
He was charming, free, passionate and cheerful man who embraced life 
whether it was in a fine restaurant after a scientific meeting, sailing 
around the Mediterranean or across the Atlantic on his catamaran, 
“RaphyO^2 ”, or visiting interesting cultural or natural locales.As his 
colleagues, we were all privileged to enjoy his friendship. We lament 
this tragic loss.

To his family, including wife, Irmtraud, and four children, Raphaël, 
Philipp, Johannes & Joselyne, we extend our deepest sympathy and most 
heartfelt condolences.

Sincerely,


Frank Lemoine

///(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S.A)/

Laurent Soudarin

(Collecte Localisation Satellites, Ramonvile-Saint Agne, FRANCE)

Jean-Michel Lemoine & Pascale Ferrage

/(Centre Nationale d’Études Spatiales, Toulouse, FRANCE)/

Jean-Paul Boy

/(EOST, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, FRANCE)/

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