Nicole Capitaine

Capitaine became deputy director of the Department of Fundamental Astronomy at the Paris Observatory in 1985. She became the director in 1993. Her scientific activity was carried out mainly within the framework of the Space Geodesy Research Group (GRGS), as well as various working groups of the International Astronomical Union. In 2002, still at the Paris Observatory, she became a full-time astronomer in the SYRTE department (Space Time Reference Systems). From 2003 to 2007, she served as a member of the Standing Committee for Science and Metrology co-chaired by Christian Bordé and Jean Kovalevsky.^[2] In 2013, she retired and became an emeritus astronomer.

Her work, carried out in the framework of a large international cooperation, led to a better definition of reference systems and time scales for astronomy, as well as to a better knowledge of the rotation of the Earth. They have also led to the adoption by the IAU and IUGG (International Geodesic and Geophysical Union) of new parameters and models for astronomy and geodesy, which are essential for many applications to space dynamics and the dynamics of the Solar System.^[3]

• Antoine d'Abbadie Prize from the French Academy of Sciences / Prix Antoine d'Abbadie de l'Académie des sciences (1986) ^[4]
• Member of the Bureau des Longitudes / Membre du Bureau des Longitudes (1992) ^[4][5]
• Descartes Prize of the European Union / Prix Descartes de l'Union européenne (2003) ^[4]
• Chevalier des palmes académiques
• Officier de la Légion d’Honneur

• "Full biography (French)" (PDF). French Academy of Sciences. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
• "IAU Affiliations". International Astronomical Union. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2018.