On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, the part of Avenue Edouard-Belin, from the beginning of the avenue to the Enac roundabout in Toulouse was officially renamed “Avenue Marc Pélegrin”, in the presence of the mayor of Toulouse and members of the large family very moved “not only to have a plaque but an avenue” named after Marc Pèlegrin. This baptism highlighted the importance of the activities that have developed on the basis of the work of our founding member and former president who died on January 1st and which remain today at the forefront of the world, both in the field of training and research.
It was in 1964 that he was asked to lead the transfer of SupAéro from Paris to Toulouse, in a context of decentralization. While the project aroused little enthusiasm, Marc Pélegrin immediately posed as a visionary, seeing in his mission “the possibility of achieving what had struck [him] so much in the USA” at MIT, where he had completed his studies: combining training and research. “In this institute, research and teaching were completely intertwined, the student often participated in the research work.” He thus succeeded in convincing the State to create a Centre for Studies and Research in symbiosis with the school, under the authority of a common director.
“I saw in this mission the possibility of achieving what had struck me so much in the United States, when in 1945-50 I had the chance to complete my studies at MIT. In this institute, research and teaching were completely intertwined, the student often participated in the research work. »
In terms of training, Marc Pélegrin has also seen things in a big way: while the SupAéro classes barely numbered 100 students, the institution has three 200-seat lecture halls, student residences, remarkable sports facilities and a Nord 262 aircraft for in-flight practical work. In addition, the complementarity established between CERT and SupAéro quickly elevated the institution to the rank of pioneer among engineering schools: in 1974, SupAéro was one of the first to be accredited to award PhD-engineering degrees.
Marc Pélegrin was the joint director of the two institutions from 1968 to 1978, then ONERA-CERT until 1988. Over the years, SupAéro has trained hundreds of engineers, who have gone on to nurture the extraordinary successes of the French aerospace sector. CERT has also made a significant contribution to this, in particular through the pioneering work carried out in Marc Pélegrin’s scientific field, that of automation.