Former President of the CERN Council Michel Spiro has been promoted to the class of officer of the Legion of Honour (Officier de la Légion d'honneur), a very high French order of merit, on 14 July 2021.

The announcement of the order’s recipients came in July and Michel Spiro, who is – among other roles – the current president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and Chair of the Board of the CERN & Society Foundation, was awarded the honour in a ceremony held at the Collège de France on 30 November 2021 in the presence of his family, colleagues and friends.

Nobel Prize laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji awarded the medal on behalf of the French President in a video transmission. He underlined Michel Spiro’s important contributions to astro- and particle physics throughout a long international career. Furthermore, he highlighted Michel Spiro’s current leadership as President of IUPAP, illustrated by his energetic promotion of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, which was recently proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. Michel Spiro concluded with a few words about his commitment to the CERN & Society Foundation and thanked all those who have supported him throughout his outstanding career.