| Marc Giraud Marc Giraud, former scientist at the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL) passed away in Thonon-les-Bains (France) on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at the age of 87. Marc Giraud is survived by his devoted wife, Marlyse Giraud, his son and daughter, and three grandchildren. After receiving his engineer diploma at the “Ecole Nationale des Arts et Industries de Strasbourg”, France, Marc Giraud has joined the French-German Research Institute (ISL) on August, 1962 as a junior scientist in the Exterior Ballistic Group. In September 1964 he becomes research associate, in October 1970 senior scientist 2nd class and in December 1973 senior scientist 1st class. During all these years, Marc Giraud spent a lot of time working on different projects related to the exterior ballistics in general but developed particularly an expertise in that of the behavior of flying vehicles in the transonic regime. The results of these studies enabled him to obtain his PhD from the University of Strasbourg in June 1971. In January 1987 he became Head of the Exterior Ballistic Group (BEX). Later on, his research interests were not just limited to the field of exterior ballistics but were also enlarged to the study of the RAM acceleration. In March 2001 he resigned from his position as head of the Exterior Ballistic Group to be appointed head of the ISL communication group. Despite this new turn and the consequent work, he nevertheless continued to pay particular attention to the ongoing research at ISL. He finally retired from the institute in November 2002 and founded his own consultant business “Exobal”. Besides his scientific research, Marc Giraud also organized several meetings and/or workshops, especially the 1st International Workshop on Ram Accelerator in 1993, the 47th ARA meeting in 1996 and the European Forum on Ballistics of Projectiles in 2000. Participation at IBC/IBS and Awards: Marc Giraud was one of the founder members of the IBC in April 1993 and was elected in 1999 to become the 3rd IBC chairman from 1999 to 2002. During the period he chaired the IBC, he was the instigator of the new charter, adopted at the 19th ISB, to replace the initial terms of the IBC. He attended most of the symposia, chaired exterior ballistics and launch dynamic sessions, was involved in most of the paper selections and award committees and published many papers. During his career, Marc Giraud was awarded quite a few times for his contribution in the domain of the fluid mechanics. In 1999, he was the recipient of the ARA (Aeroballistic Range Association) Ballistics Award and was nominated as ARA Fellow Member for his outstanding contributions to the ARA over many years. In 2013, he was nominated Ballistic Scientist Fellow at the 27th ISB held in Freiburg, Germany. He was also appointed to the rank of “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite” in 1993 for all of his work done at ISL in the field of exterior ballistics. Published: 08/06/25 |
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