Honorary lecture from Claude Nicollier
© NASA
Claude Nicollier is an astrophysicist, an astronaut, a professor and a leading figure of EPFL and the Swiss Space Center. He will give a Honorary lecture on March 10, 2015 at the Swiss Tech Convention Center. Save the date!
Claude Nicollier, astrophysicist, astronaut, professor, leading figure of EPFL and the Swiss Space Center, will give a Honorary lecture on Tuesday, March 10th 2015 at 5:15pm, at the Swiss Tech Convention Center, auditorium A.
This lesson will outline the major steps in the understanding of the concept of gravity, with the names of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein clearly standing out. It will describe and illustrate the very special conditions of “Zero-g” in a free flying spacecraft. The Principle of Equivalence, basis of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, will also be presented, with some of its consequences.
Claude Nicollier has been a European Space Agency astronaut for nearly 30 years. He first graduated in physics (Bachelor) and astrophysics (Master), and then earned the title of Swiss Air Force pilot, airline pilot and test pilot. He was a member of the first group of ESA astronauts selected in 1978. He was then assigned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for Space Shuttle training and flight assignment.
He took part in four space flights, and spent more than 1000 hours in space, including a spacewalk of more than eight hours duration to install new equipment on the Hubble Space Telescope. Since 2004, he has been a professor at EPFL, teaching at Master’s level, and provides assistance to students on various space related projects. He is also involved in the “Solar Impulse” solar powered aircraft program as Head of Test Flights.
Registration until February 20th: http://go.epfl.ch/nicollier