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Published: 04 March 2026

Board of Trustees

Obituary

ISSI

In Memoriam: Roger-Maurice Bonnet

Two personal “In Memoriam” tributes are dedicated to Prof. Roger-Maurice Bonnet, ISSI Honorary Director and former Executive Director. These reflections honor not only his remarkable work and contributions, but also the personality that shaped his presence among us. Through personal memories, Prof. Johan Bleeker and Prof. Len A. Fisk seek to pay tribute to his long-lasting legacy.

from
Johan Bleeker

Writing an In Memoriam about Roger Bonnet brings back many precious memories from a period of more than 50 years during which we worked together closely when he served his terms as Director of the ESA Science program and as Executive Director of ISSI.

Roger Bonnet: A Man with a Mission

I met Roger for the first time in the mid 1970’s when I joined the ESA Astronomy Working Group and immediately noticed his enthusiasm and proactive attitude towards a wide range of space science and technology subjects. His apparent drive to boost European space science to a higher echelon caused him to be quite active in ESA’s advisory structure. As chair of the ESA Science Advisory Committee in the late 1970’s he tried to work out an approach to put European space science on a more strategic basis. Unfortunately, the resulting ideas of this effort were then not really picked up and implementation never happened. However it was also clear that Roger Bonnet does not easily give up: he was a man with a mission. After he took office as ESA Science Director in 1983, he immediately showed leadership and tenacity by installing a Survey Committee of senior European space scientists. They were to develop a vision for Europe’s role in space science on the global scale that should not only be competitive, but that also could potentially claim global leadership in specific areas of space science. He asked me to chair this Survey Committee and during the ensuing turbulent period of intensive collaboration we became true friends. The outcome of this exercise was the strategic Horizon 2000 program, a true landmark for European space science that was thereafter embraced as the way forward at the ESA Ministerial Council in 1985. The success story of this program is in no small part Roger’s credit owing to his perseverance, consistent and persistent leadership in prioritizing scientific excellence on the supranational European level, not hijacked by political or national preferences or pressures. An interesting afterthought is that Roger occasionally was heard to explain to non-French speaking people that the name Bonnet stands for hat or cap. However, in the maritime world Bonnet also refers to a deployable extension of the main sail on a sailing ship in order to gain more momentum during weak wind conditions. In a metaphorical sense it characterizes Roger in his efforts to get things he believed in going and keeping on course.

Key Role in the Foundation of the International Space Science Institute

Obviously his dedication and all-out commitment to science and space endeavors coupled to his diplomatic and social skills resulted in an extensive global network. This has undoubtedly been a major asset he brought along in his subsequent role as executive director of ISSI. In fact, during his 18-year term as ESA science director, he became very supportive for interdisciplinary coordination and collaboration between various space science disciplines as for example manifested by the Inter-Agency Consultative Group for Space Science, that successfully coordinated international space missions to Halley’s Comet in 1985-1986 time frame. Comprising NASA, ESA, Intercosmos (USSR), and ISAS (Japan), it enabled data sharing, notably using Soviet Vega data to guide the European Giotto probe’s trajectory. So, when Johannes Geiss proposed in 1995 a Swiss based institute for interdisciplinary space science for sharing and analyzing data from various spacecraft in a theme oriented manner, partly funded by ESA and Swiss partners, Roger responded very positively. However, after Johannes presented this proposal to the ESA Science Program Committee, most of the member states reacted very reluctantly, afraid that this would open Pandora’s box for funding requests to ESA from other national initiatives in the member states. I was the Netherlands delegate on the SPC and watched Johannes’ frustration and disappointment about this reluctance. Roger’s clever and tenacious mind came to the rescue. He arranged with ESA Director General Jean-Marie Luton that for the time being the ESA contribution to ISSI would not be charged to the mandatory science budget, but to the mandatory general budget that in principle supports infrastructural activities in member states. So, avant la lettre, Roger played a key role in the foundation of ISSI. In the following years he kept in close contact with Johannes Geiss, the first executive director of the new born ISSI. After Johannes’ retirement in 2003 it was rather evident that Roger, who had stepped down from the ESA directorship in 2001, was the ideal candidate to become his successor given his global overview of space matters, his leadership skills and his inspiring personality. Roger immediately implemented the Call for International Team Proposals and thoroughly assessed the possibility of other operational tools for ISSI resulting in the introduction of workshops and forums for thematic scientific interactions. In 2006 he invited me to become a member of the ISSI Science Committee with the request that I should take up the chair in later years. During my chairmanship of five years (2008–2012), I watched ISSI flourish under his guidance. Earth Science was embraced, funded by the ESA Earth Observation program, ISSI got involved in the ‘Europlanet’ program funded by the European Commission and a protected budget was reserved for involvement of ‘Young Scientists’. The Science Committee noted in particular the appeal of the topical team meetings to the space science community: the number of yearly visitors over the years of Roger’s directorship increased with almost a factor 2.5. Moreover, the apparent success of the ‘ISSI formula’ led to the creation of a ‘sister’ institute in China, ISSI-Beijing. Several of the Science Committee members, including myself, attended the team meetings. This experience clearly showed that the participants much enjoyed the positive atmosphere created by the very supportive and competent ISSI staff that was managed by Roger almost like a family with his characteristic total dedication. This culminated yearly in the annual dinner at the splendid Bellevue Hotel. With good food, special music and a key-note speaker ISSI visitors and staff could exchange views in an informal atmosphere that stimulated a common feel of engagement.

Connecting the Global Space Science Community

Nevertheless, Roger spend considerable time and effort on his liaisons in the global space science network, since he kept explicit opinions on the way forward concerning the world’s space science scene. He suggested to me that I as chair of the Science Committee and he as executive director of ISSI write a paper for the Policy Forum of Science magazine on the future of space astronomy, based on our planning experience with the space science Horizon 2000 program. Now here I got a glimpse of his deeply rooted revolutionary and emotional spirit! The Science editor we had to deal with was a rather nasty and very opiniated gentleman, who continually wanted new drafts based on his view what was to be considered important and what not. Initially Roger tried to convince him that it was our view and not his that should be communicated, but the editor did not budge. Roger got very excited and frustrated by this attitude and told me that we better terminate our effort. I told him that, on the contrary, we should persevere and that he might, if need be, transfer the communication battle with the editor to me. He grudgingly agreed and left for a short visit to the US. After a week he returned, got in touch fully energized, and told me that during his trip he had run into the president of the US National Academy of Science. In his conversation with the president he had also shared his displeasure with Science. The president told him that this experience was certainly not uncommon and that he should hold the fort. That’s what we did and the rest is history. The paper came out in July 2011 under the title ‘A dark age for space astronomy?’ and we fully made our point.

In 2011 Roger decided that reflection on ISSI’s role and stature was desirable to arrive at a solid benchmark for its future. For this purpose he organized a ‘Séance de Réflexion’ in a retreat at Walkringen with ISSI’s Board of Trustees. One of the inputs for this brainstorm session was a SWOT analysis by the Science Committee, based on their experience over the past several years of his directorship. As chair of this Committee I participated in this event that was characterized by a very open minded exchange of views, fully in line with Roger’s trade mark. It led to the conclusion that ISSI should stick to its core business and should not embark on assessment of space policy issues as an element of expansion of its remit. A more restrictive attitude on proposal selection should be adopted evolving the image slightly from ‘Small and Beautiful’ in the direction of ‘Mean and Lean’.

When I stepped down from the chair of the ISSI Science Committee, Roger arranged a farewell dinner for the Committee members and the ISSI staff. At that occasion he offered me a remarkable present, marking so many years of collaboration and friendship. The present entailed an impressive monograph, containing pictures by the Swiss artist Sandro Del-Prete who creates illusionary and surrealistic paintings reminiscent of Escher and Dali. Roger very much admired the work of this artist, who now lives in Bern and whom he actually met to arrange for a personal inscription to me in the book. Del-Petre took inspiration from a chameleon he observed, fascinated by how it looked forward with one eye and backwards with the other and wondered what picture it had of the real world. From that sprouted his interest in different perspectives, the results of which are contained in the monograph ‘The Master of Illusions’. Browsing in the book it occurred to me that the chameleon’s eyes also epitomized Roger role for ISSI: looking back upon his vast experience and network development during his splendid career at ESA, he at the same time could look forward to apply these assets in a different perspective to the benefit of ISSI.

After his term as executive director, Roger remained with ISSI as senior disciplinary scientist and later on as honorary director, ISSI had become his family. We remained in touch during this period until his health necessitated him to go and live near his daughter Ariane and his grandchildren. We will all miss him dearly, but his heritage for space science will remain forever.

Johan Bleeker

Former Director SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

Professor Emeritus in Space Science, University of Utrecht

ISSI Science Committee Member (2006–2012), Chair (2008–2012)

ISSI Board of Trustees Member (2015–2022)

In Memoriam: Roger-Maurice Bonnet

from
Len A. Fisk

I am writing this In Memoriam to honor Roger-Maurice Bonnet’s essential contributions to the International Space Science Institute. Roger Bonnet and I were colleagues and friends since the late 1980s, working together in the pursuit of international cooperation in space research, the very essence of the purpose of ISSI. Where appropriate I will add these aspects of our relationship, particularly those that were separate from but impacted ISSI.

A Shared Commitment to International Cooperation

I became NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications in 1987. Roger Bonnet had been ESA Director of Science since 1983. We shared a strong desire for international cooperation. Our vehicle for coordinating cooperation was the Interagency Consultative Group (IACG), NASA, ESA, ISAS, and Intercosmos. The IACG had coordinated the Halley’s Comet missions. At the time that I became Associate Administrator, the IACG had shifted to coordinating space plasma observations. I had a new start ready for the International Solar Terrestrial Program (ISTP). There were regular meetings of the IACG, with working groups of scientists planning data sharing and coordination of missions. From my perspective, and I am sure from Roger’s, the importance of the IACG was it was an opportunity for unscripted and unconstrained discussions among the principals of the world’s major space science programs. Our close working relationship continued to 1993, when I left NASA.

The program that I inherited when I became Associate Administrator in 1987 included all the missions that had been returned to storage because of the Challenger accident, including the Ulysses spacecraft, the surviving spacecraft of the International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM). ISPM was very important to me personally. As a young scientist in the 1970s, ISPM was the mission I helped to create, working with NASA and with European colleagues who were working with ESA. ISPM consisted of two spacecraft, one from NASA and one from ESA. The payloads on each spacecraft were a mixture of U.S. and European instruments. In 1980, NASA summarily canceled the U.S. spacecraft, despite there being an MOU committing to the joint participation. ESA behaved honorably and continued the ESA spacecraft, then named Ulysses, with all the U.S. instruments that had been selected for flight on the ESA spacecraft, including one on which I was a Co-Investigator, and Johannes Geiss and George Gloeckler were the co-PIs. It is this instrument, and the close connections to Johannes Geiss that resulted first from our working together on ISPM, and then on Ulysses, that would result in my involvement in ISSI.

Advancing Space Science through International Cooperation

The first I heard about ISSI was when Johannes Geiss came to see me in my NASA office in Washington, D.C., to tell me about his concept for ISSI. I very much encouraged him. I am sure he would have liked to obtain financial support, but with the usual no-exchange-of-funds rule, that was not possible. I did offer some advice. Johannes’ concept appeared to have been simply discussions. I said he needed a product. The famous ISSI books are the products of the ISSI workshops.

In 1995, ISSI was formally established. Johannes Geiss was the Executive Director and served until 2003. He created a functioning organization, with staff and physical premises on Hallerstrasse; there were workshops that produced books and opportunities for visitors. In 2003, Roger Bonnet was appointed Executive Director and served until 2012, and it is his accomplishments that are the subject of this In Memoriam.

Roger-Maurice Bonnet and Johannes Geiss

(picture taken in Alpbach 2003)

ISSI

The scientists who participate in ISSI are mainly unaware that there is a Board of Trustees, but in fact the Board controls ISSI. This is a common and necessary model, Trustees overseeing an institute. This model, however, does not lend itself naturally to the uniqueness of ISSI, an organization with very few employees, and a very much larger number of unpaid researchers, whose productivity is the purpose of the institute; an organization, located at the University of Bern, but charted to be a truly international organization; an organization whose leaders are intended to be scientists of international stature, with demonstrated leadership skills, and thus credentials exceeding that of the leaders of the Board of Trustees. I was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2003, at the beginning of Roger’s term as Executive Director, and served until 2022. Roger, like Johannes before him, encountered challenges with the ISSI Board of Trustees. To help Roger, the Trustees who supported him formed the Jack’s Club, which met for dinner in the Jack’s Brasserie in the Schweizerhof on the night before the Board meeting, sometimes to commiserate about actions that the Board of Trustees had or was about to take; sometimes to strategize how detrimental actions could be avoided. The Jack’s Club continued for many years after Roger’s term as Executive Director.

Roger-Maurice Bonnet’s leadership at ISSI: Greater Impact with International Teams

Roger Bonnet’s approach to managing ISSI was the same as his approach to ESA Science, make the organization more influential, more comprehensive. He introduced the concept of Teams, small groups of international scientists, meeting at ISSI, attacking focused problems. There was a fitting juxtaposition. The ISSI workshops resulted in the ISSI books, which were intended to be a summary of the current state of a particular field of research. An ISSI Team was to advance some aspect of a particular field of research. ISSI Teams were very popular with the international science community, and participation in ISSI grew three-fold during Roger’s tenure as ISSI Executive Director.

There were other initiatives as well. ISSI’s mission was broadened to include Earth Science. Young scientists were recruited and supported. All of this, the Teams, the new subjects, the young scientists, made ISSI a vibrant place, and raised the question whether ISSI had outgrown its Hallerstrasse premises. In searching through my files to write this In Memoriam, I came across a memo summarizing the results from a “Brainstorming” discussion, Roger’s favorite approach to planning, on April 21, 2011, on how to deal with ISSI’s need to expand. The conclusion was that “the intimacy of the ambiance of ISSI, the access to and enjoyment of the city of Bern, the breadth of the scientific program, the integrity with which it is conducted, the scientific products, all result in a very satisfied clientele”, and to change this, to larger facilities, with more participants, perhaps not as conveniently located, “may imperil the success of ISSI”. The memo went on to say that the so-called “franchise model should be considered, in which ISSI charters and exercises control over other branches of ISSI in locations around the world.” The memo also provided advice on where and where not to locate a franchise, and how to insure ISSI control. The result of all this discussion was ISSI-Beijing.

Johannes Geiss had the inspiration for ISSI, a unique organization, where the scientists of the world gather to make scientific progress through the sharing of ideas, consolidating knowledge, advancing understanding. Roger Bonnet built ISSI into a more vibrant, more comprehensive, more impactful organization: The destination of choice for the world’s space scientists who are seeking progress, the best way possible, through international cooperation.

Roger Bonnet had a career-long ambition to encourage international cooperation in space research. ISSI was just one manifestation of this ambition. An important compliment to his work at ISSI was COSPAR. He was elected President of COSPAR in 2002, the year before he was appointed ISSI Executive Director. He served two terms until 2010.

During Roger’s Presidency of COSPAR, ISSI became an Associated Supporter of COSPAR, providing in-kind support of staff for COSPAR meetings, an arrangement that existed for many years after Roger’s Presidency. When you consider the other Associated Supporters of COSPAR, e.g., the Chinese Academy of Science, major industries like Airbus, this was excellent recognition of the importance of ISSI.

There was also a connection between my career-long ambition to encourage international cooperation and Roger’s. In the second term of Roger’s Presidency of COSPAR, he held a Brainstorming discussion, the result of which is there should be a COSPAR Scientific Advisory Committee, which I agreed to Chair. This placed me into a leadership position in COSPAR. In 2014, I ran for President of COSPAR, with Roger’s strong support. In fact, my campaign office was in ISSI, and it was a successful campaign. I was elected the first American President of COSPAR at the COSPAR Assembly in Moscow.

Roger Bonnet and I shared common goals of encouraging international cooperation in space research. We had mutually supportive adventures together in pursuit of our common goals. I greatly respected him and he was my friend. And I will miss him.

by Len A. Fisk

Thomas M. Donahue Distinguished University

Professor Emeritus of Space Science, University of Michigan

ISSI Board of Trustees Member (2003–2022)

Credits ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Martel

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In Memoriam: Roger-Maurice Bonnet

from Johan Bleeker

In Memoriam: Roger-Maurice Bonnet

from Len A. Fisk

from
Johan Bleeker

from
Len A. Fisk