Ambassador of France, Francois Delattre, left, inducts Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and vice president of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, into the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur during a ceremony at Caltech on Tuesday, September 6, 2011. (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff Photographer, Pasadena Sun)
Pasadena Sun
Lauded for advanced space exploration and for accomplishments that have strengthened international bonds, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Dr. Charles Elachi received France’s highest accolade Tuesday — knighthood in its National Legion of Honor.
Under Elachi’s leadership, JPL has collaborated with France’s national space agency on projects ranging from satellites that track rising sea levels to the Mars rover Curiosity, which launches later this year. French scientists developed the rover’s rock-zapping laser.
Elachi was born in Lebanon, a former French protectorate, and studied in France after earning distinction as Lebanon’s top teenage science student. He began working at JPL in 1971 while a doctoral student at Caltech. Thirty years later he became director.
