Canadian-French astrophysicist Hubert Reeves whose fascination for the Universe’s past led him to become the historian of the cosmos and of matter, has died. Latterly he became an environmentalist as well. “After skimming the skies, he became passionate about the Earth.”
In one paper he said: that astronomy and ecology could be seen “as two facets of the same theme: our existence. Astronomy, by telling us the story of the Universe, tells us where we came from, and how we came to be here today. Ecology, by making us aware of the threats to our future, aims to tell us how to stay there.”
He was born 13 July 1932 6pm Montreal, Canada, where after graduation he taught and became a scientific advisor to NASA. But in his 30s he moved to Europe and became Director of research at the CNRS, France’s national scientific research centre, and scientific advisor to the French Atomic Energy Commission. There he might have stayed, respected by colleagues but little known until he was persuaded to write a book, which initially could not find a publisher. When it did it, he sold over a million copies and had it translated into over thirty languages. Thirty books followed and his memoirs.
He had a deeply buried 8th house Sun Pluto conjunction in Cancer which would fuel his interest in the mysteries that lay far beyond our limited reality. His Sun Pluto also squared an innovative, experimental Uranus and trined an intense 12th house Scorpio Moon. His communicative 9th house – teaching and writing – had a flamboyant and entertaining Mercury and Jupiter in Leo as well as cosmic Neptune which in turn squared his 7th house Mars. He was always destined to come out of the academic shadows with attention grabbing Leo and a publicity-attracting Mars Neptune.
His writers’ 21st harmonic is well-aspected, both charming and explosively direct. His get-it-together 5H and seeking-and-searching 7H are also notable. As is his breakthrough-genius 13H and global-fame 22H.
Thank you for Marjorie!
Quoting Hubert Reeves “Earth, blue planet, where every spring the sun brings back the flowers in the dark undergrowth”, I hope light will emerge in these dark times.
He was a beloved and familiar figure in Québec but probably little known in English Canada. He wrote that mankind was the greatest predator and that the future would be more austere, but we should never lose our passion for living. A good and wise man as well as a great scientist.
Actually, a mystic in the true sense of the word. He even looks a bit like a kind mythical wizard! I must read that book.