Monseigneur Luc Gillon was a Belgian priest and nuclear scientist. He became the first rector of the Lovanium University (now University of Kinshasa) in Léopoldville from 1954 to 1967. Gillon played a significant role in the construction of the first nuclear reactor Trico I in Africa, located on the Lovanium campus in 1959.
Luc Gillon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 September 1920 Rochefort |
| Died | 5 June 1998 (aged 77) Brussels |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation(s) | Priest, nuclear physicist |
| Known for | Construction of the first nuclear reactor in Africa |
Life
editGillon was born in Rochefort on 15 September 1920.[1] After being ordained priest at Easter 1946 by Cardinal Van Roey, he received in 1952 his doctorate in physical sciences, specializing in nuclear energy, at Louvain. In 1952, he was invited as "guest staff member" at the Palmer Physics Laboratory at Princeton University.[2] He was appointed protonotary apostolic in 1957.[1]
Monseigneur Gillon went to the Belgian Congo and became the first rector of the Lovanium University (now University of Kinshasa) in Léopoldville from 1954 to 1967. Upon his return to Belgium in 1972, he became the Dean of the Faculty of Science at UCL, where he taught until 1987. Gillon also served as the Governor for Belgium at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, as vice-president and then board member of the Belgian Nuclear Research Center.
Honorary canon of St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Gillon holds a number of Belgian and foreign awards, as well as honorary doctorates from several universities.[1]
He passed away at the age of 77 on 5 June 1998, and was laid to rest in the Rochefort cemetery after a funeral in Louvain-la-Neuve.[3]
Nuclear energy
edit
Gillon played a significant role in the construction of the first nuclear reactor in Africa, located on the Lovanium campus.[4][5] He launched the idea of establishing a nuclear research reactor at the university.[6] In 1958, the government of Belgian Congo, with the approval of the Belgian minister of Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, bought a TRIGA MARK I reactor from General Atomics.[6] The Trico I reactor became critical on 6 June 1959 and was shut down on 29 June 1970.[7] He published several books on nuclear energy.[8][9][10][11]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Luc Gillon". Nouvelle biographie nationale (PDF) (in French). Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique. 1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "Luc Gillon". Bulletin des séances – Académie royale des sciences d'outre-mer (in French). 1999. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "Luc Gillon". sites.uclouvain.be. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
- ^ LIFE Inc (11 July 1960). Congo. Time Inc. p. 24. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ Seaborg, Glenn T. (29 July 1996). Scientist Speaks Out, A: A Personal Perspective On Science, Society And Change. World Scientific. pp. 285–286. ISBN 978-981-4500-65-4. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Vraag: Kernreactor in Kinsjasa" (in Dutch and French). Belgian Senate. June 1998. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ International Atomic Energy Agency. "IAEA Research Reactor Database (RRDB)". nucleus.iaea.org. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Gillon, Luc; Kestergat, Jean (1988). Servir – en actes et en vérité. Document Témoignage. Paris-Gembloux: Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0754-6.
- ^ Gillon, Luc (1986). Le nucléaire en question: après l'accident de Tchernobyl. Paris: Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0613-6.
- ^ Gillon, Luc (1979). Le nucléaire en question (in French). Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0271-8.
- ^ Gillon, Luc (1998). L'atome et l'homme (in French). Racine Lannoo. ISBN 9782873860417.