Brief biography of André Berger

André Berger is Master of Science in Meteorology from M.I.T. (1971) and Doctor of Science from the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) (1973). He is ordinary professor and was head of the Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics Georges Lemaître (1978-2001) at the Catholic University of Louvain where he lectures on meteorology and climate dynamics. He is doctor honoris causa from the University of Aix-Marseille III, the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse and the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons. He was C.R.B. graduate fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (1970-71) and professor at the Vrij Universiteit Brussel and Université de Liège.

André Berger was chairman of both the International Climate and Paleoclimate Commissions and of NATO scientific Panels. He was president of the European Geophysical Society and is Honorary President of the European Geo-Sciences Union. He is fellow of the American Geophysical Union. He serves on several national and international scientific committees dealing with climate and global change. He is, in particular, member of the scientific council of the European Environment Agency.

He received the Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award from the World Meteorological Organization (1994), the Milutin Milankovitch Medal from the European Geophysical Society (1994), the Prix quinquennal A. De Leeuw-Damry-Bourlart of the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research for 1991-1995 and the European Latsis Prize in 2001. He is member of the Academia Europaea, foreign member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, membre associé étranger de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris, member de l'Académie Nationale de l'Air et de l'Espace, membre de l’Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts de Belgique, foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, membre étranger de la Société royale du Canada and associate of the Royal Astronomical Society (London).

André Berger is the author of "Le Climat de la Terre, un passé pour quel avenir ?". He has edited 10 books on climatic variations and has published more than 150 papers on this subject. He is associate editor of Surveys in Geophysics and editorial board member of The Holocene, Climate Dynamics and Earth and Planetary Science Letters. He was editor of EOS for Atmospheric Sciences, associate editor of Atmospheric Environment and board member of Climatic Change.

His main research is about modeling climatic changes at the geological and at the century time scales. He has made notable contributions to the astronomical theory of paleoclimates which explain the recurrence of glacial-interglacial cycles from the long-term variations of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The climate model that he has developed with his team is also used for simulating the response of the climate system to human activities and the possible impact of such man's induced perturbations on the natural course of climate at the geological time scale. He is a cited pioneer of the interdisciplinary study of climate dynamics and past climate history.

He has been ennobled by His Majesty Albert II, King of the Belgians, with the title of Chevalier (Sir) and received the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the President of France.