After leading the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) from 1973 to 1976, Maurice Lévy was entrusted by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing with a mission to study the feasibility of a science museum on the site. slaughterhouses in La Villette, in the north-east of Paris.
On the basis of the "Lévy Report", President François Mitterrand then entrusted him with the construction of the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, of which he would become the first president, from 1985 to 1987.
Making science understood "is a task as important as that which consists in presenting to the public the most significant works of artistic creation, this other fascinating pursuit of the genius of man", wrote Maurice Lévy, according to a press release from the Cité. Sciences.
Bruno Maquart, president of Universcience, the public establishment which today brings together the Cité des sciences and the Palais de la Découverte, salutes "the memory of this great figure in scientific museography".
© 2022 AFP