Andre Finkelstein

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André Maurice Finkelstein (14 May 1923 – 10 September 2013) was a French chemist who held senior roles in France’s atomic energy program and in international nuclear work. Born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés near Paris, he studied physical chemistry, spent two years at the University of Rochester, and earned a Ph.D. before joining the French atomic energy commission (CEA) in 1953 to study tritium. When the CEA expanded in 1958, he became a senior official in external relations and programs, helped organize Geneva conferences on peaceful nuclear energy, and served as advisor and alternate to France’s representative to the IAEA. In 1967 he was promoted within the CEA’s leadership, and he also collaborated with the European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA). From 1969 to 1973 he was deputy director general for research and isotopes at the IAEA. He returned to the CEA in 1974 as deputy commissioner for the mission of nuclear safety and protection, and was named secretary of the central commission for nuclear installation safety (CSSIA) later that year. He coordinated archives and history at the CEA from 1983 until his retirement on July 1, 1988. Finkelstein died in 2013 at age 90 in his hometown of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.