Raphaël Liégeois

Raphaël Liégeois (born 8 January 1988) is a Belgian-Luxembourgish biomedical engineer and astronaut. Liégeois completed a doctorate at the University of Liège on the functioning of the human brain from 2011 to 2015, and then held post-doctoral appointments at the National University of Singapore and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He has held a teaching and research position at the University of Geneva and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne since 2021. He was selected as a member of the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group.

Raphaël Liégeois
Born (1988-01-08) 8 January 1988
Namur, Belgium
NationalityBelgian-Luxembourgish
Alma materUniversity of Liège
Occupations
  • Biomedical engineer
  • astronaut
Space career
ESA astronaut
Selection2022 ESA Group

Early life and education

Liégeois was born and raised in Namur, Wallonia, Belgium on 8 January 1988.[1][2][3] He attended l'Athénée royal François Bovesse in Namur for secondary school.[4] A significant literary figure of his childhood was Tintin, the main character of the comic The Adventures of Tintin who is a journalist from Belgium who travels around the world.[5] The 1995 film Apollo 13, on the thirteenth mission in NASA's Apollo program, was also a strong influence.[6]

Liégeois studied biomedical engineering at the University of Liège from 2005 to 2011. During this time, he graduated from the École Centrale Paris through an exchange program in 2009, and earned a master's degree in fundamental physics from the Paris-Sud University the following year. He participated in a physics experiment with France's space agency, CNES, while studying in the country.[1]

Liégeois returned to the University of Liège to complete a doctorate in neuroscience from 2011 to 2015.[1] His thesis was written on "Dynamical modelling from resting-state brain imaging" under supervision of professors Rodolphe Sepulchre and Steven Laureys.[7] In 2014, he represented his university in the Belgian final of the science communication contest Ma thèse en 180 secondes (My Thesis in 180 seconds), where he presented his research to a public audience.[2][8][9]

Career

Academic career

As a post-doctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore, from 2015 to 2017, Liégeois searched for neuroimaging markers of neurodegenerative diseases. He worked on models of brain function as a post-doctoral research fellow at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland from 2018 to 2021.[1][10] In 2019, he conducted research as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, in California, United States.[1][11] Starting in 2021, he has held the permanent position of Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of Geneva and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In the position, he has taught neuroengineering and statistics alongside his research.[1][3]

Astronaut career

Liégeois was one of five career astronauts of the European Astronaut Corps chosen as part of the 2022 selection of astronauts.[1] He will have the opportunity to become Belgium's third person in space, following astronauts Dirk Frimout and Frank De Winne.[12] Shortly before Christmas in the next month, he was received by King Philippe of Belgium at the Castle of Laeken, and he met with prime minister Alexander De Croo, Dirk Frimout and Frank De Winne, and businesspeople in the space industry.[13][14]

In the spring of 2023, Liégeois is set to begin twelve months of training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, to prepare for his first mission.[9][13]

Personal life

A Belgian-Luxembourg national, Liégeois's parents are from Belgian Luxembourg and one of his grandparents is from Luxembourg.[15] His father trained as an engineer and his mother has worked as a psychiatrist.[16] He has held Luxembourgish citizenship since 2018.[17]

Liégeois has two children.[18] After he completed his post-doctoral research in Singapore in 2017, he and his spouse returned to Belgium by bike, meeting with poets in twelve countries throughout Asia and Europe in four months.[1][18][19] It was covered by the local Namuroise television channel Canal C.[2][18]

Liégeois is an active balloon pilot.[4][1]

References
  1. "Raphaël Liégeois". esa.int. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  2. Devillers, Sophie (23 November 2022). "Un Belge dans l'espace : avec Raphaël Liégeois, notre pays décroche le troisième astronaute de son histoire". La Libre Belgique (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  3. Starckx, Senne (31 December 2022). "Toekomstig ruimtevaarder Raphaël Liégeois: op zoek naar het mysterie". De Standaard (in Flemish). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  4. Vandreck, Stéphanie (23 November 2022). "De Namur à la lune : le parcours passionné de Raphaël Liégeois" (in French). RTBF. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  5. Logean, Sylvie (13 December 2022). "Raphaël Liégeois, l'espace en pleine conscience". Le Temps (in French). Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  6. Christophe, Nadin (3 March 2023). "Belgisch-luxemburgischer Astronaut auf dem Weg zur ISS". Luxemburger Wort (in German). Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  7. Liegeois, Raphaël (23 September 2015). Dynamical modelling from resting-state brain imaging (Thesis). University of Liège. hdl:2268/186009.
  8. Adam, Caroline (22 May 2014). "Finale nationale du concours 'Ma thèse en 180 secondes' ce soir à l'ULg" (in French). RTBF. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  9. "Raphaël Liégeois, Doctor of Engineering Science from ULiège, joins ESA's new class of astronauts". University of Liège. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  10. "Raphaël Liégeois". Medical Image Processing Lab. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  11. "Raphaël Liégeois". Brain Dynamics Lab. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  12. "België krijgt nieuwe astronaut: Raphaël Liégeois is gekozen door ruimtevaartorganisatie ESA". De Standaard (in Flemish). 23 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  13. "King Philippe receives Belgian astronaut at Laeken Castle". The Brussels Times. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  14. Derclaye, Guillaume (1 January 2023). "Raphaël Liégeois sur le futur des sciences: «Il faut rappeler que sur certains aspects, il y a du doute»". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  15. Antar, Gabrielle (24 November 2022). "Houston, we have a Luxembourger going to space". Luxembourg Times. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  16. Fasler, Lorraine (22 December 2022). "Portrait d'un astronaute – Objectif Lune pour l'enseignant à l'UNIGE Raphaël Liégeois". Tribune de Genève (in French). Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  17. Martin, Nicolas (23 November 2022). "Spatial: Raphaël Liégeois, premier astronaute belgo-luxembourgeois". L'essentiel (in French). Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  18. Velde, Stéphane Vande (23 November 2022). "Raphaël Liégeois sera le prochain astronaute belge". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  19. "Une belle expérience de voyage pour Marine Cauz et Raphaël Liégeois" (in French). RTBF. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
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