Biography
of Francis Massen
Physics Lab, meteoLCD
and Computarium |
Married to Colette Heirendt, who is a teacher of computing
and mathematics at the Lycée Technique Hôtelier,
Four children ( 1 son, 3 daughters)
Hobbies: computing, restoration of vintage computers and calculators, caving
(now ex-caver), hiking, music (piano, ex-saxophone, ex-classical recorder).
Born 1943 in
1950 - 1957: Primary school in
1957 - 1964: Secondary school at the Lycée Classique de Diekirch, Luxembourg (LCD)
Languages: Latin, German, French, English, Luxembourgish (fluent speaking/reading/writing all of these except only left-over read/write skills in Latin)
Specialized mathematical section during the last 4 years of secondary school.
Final examen ( similar to the baccalauréat) in 1964
University studies in physics and mathematics:
1964-1965: First year university studies at the Cours Supérieurs
in
1965 - 1966: Second year university studies at the University of Nancy, France
1966- 1968 Third and fourth year university studies at the
University of
Final exam in
1968: Start of candidate teaching at the Lycée Classique de Diekirch (LCD)
1968-1969: Thesis on fluidic elements (built bottle filling
machine without moving parts), candidate teaching and studies, final exam to be
admitted as "professeur de physique et de mathématiques"
Full-time teaching job in physics, mathematics and later computing at the Lycée
Classique de Diekirch until retirement
Title: professeur-docteur en sciences physiques et mathématiques
Retired since the 1st October 2009. Continues to manage meteoLCD, the meteorological station and the Computarium of the LCD
Computing and
teaching work, most recent first:
Preparation work for a museum of historic calculators and computers (http://computarium.lcd.lu)
Manager, developer, operator and maintainer of meteoLCD, the meteorological station of the LCD
Manager of the Physics Department of the LCD
CIO and head of the computing department and computing infrastructure of the LCD (students: 2050, teaching staff: 260, buildings: 3) since 1978
Post-university level teaching for candidates (computers in
physics teaching) for several years in the 1990's at what is now the
Developed the computer infrastucture of the LCD from 1976 on.
Member of all official commissions of Luxembourg preparing and defining computing equipment for Luxembourg's secondary schools (work still on progress)
Started teaching programming in 1974 (Basic and Pascal)
Built with colleague Jean
Mootz the second and third microcomputers of
Teaching job in physics, mathematics (1968), computing (1974) at the Lycée Classique de Diekirch (LCD)
Research and related
work, most recent first:
Project "Blow my Bulb" (http://bmb.lcd.lu)
to compare CFL's and traditional incandescent lamps.
Project LUXPAK of
the H.A.L.E. project of the
University of Nevada (Reno) and Nevada Space Grant..
Informal consulting for the Centre de Recherche Public Gabriel Lippmann on CO2
measurement problems.
Research on differences in total ozone column measurements done with Brewer and Microtops instruments (ongoing work)
Research on short-time CO2 variations at Diekirch (ongoing work)
Research work on radon variations under the basin of the
SEO pumped storage station (ongoing work with Prof. Antoine
Kies, Laboratory of Physical Radiations,
Design and development (with colleague Marcel
Kramer) of an in-house information system based on large-screen TV's and
nano-computers (Linux based)
Development and maintenance of many LCD intranet servers, most Linux based.
Regular measurements of total ozone column.
Design and development of meteoLCD, a meteorological station specializing in solar radiation and atmospheric gases (WOUDC station 412), operational 24h/24h since 1994. Wrote all relevant programming (mostly Perl scripts)
Development and design of the new physics department (2 lecture rooms, 3 rooms for practical work, 2 works-shops)
Development and design of the computer network infrastructure of the LCD (optical GB backbone, Cisco switches and routers)
Key note speaker at DADiSP meeting of European dealers in London (1994)
Co-organizer of the CIK, Colloque International de Karstology, Luxembourg (1992)
1990 – 1995: Project leader of "Phymoes", a
five year project of the "CRP Centre Universitaire" (now
pre 1990: several articles on computing related matters ( e.g. at Micro6800 Journal and many articles in news papers and compendia)
Publications and
Presentations, most recent first:
Paper Accurate estimation of CO2 background level from near ground measurements at non-mixed environments", peer reviewed, "best paper award" at the Klima2009 online conference of the University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany (Prof. Walter Leal)
Presentation (in French) on "Climate Change and Malaria" at the 2nd International Congress on tropical diseases organized by the NGO "Iwerliewen fir bedreete Volleker" 06-07 Apr. 2009
Poster
session for the Henvi 8 international conference in Luxembourg (2008)
Presentation at the Journées de Spéléologie Scientifique, Han sur
Presentation at the Journées de Spéléologie Scientifique,
Han sur
Presentations at the Journées de Spéléologie
Scientifique, Han sur
Kies, A, Massen, F., Tosheva, Z.: Influence of variable stress on underground radon concentrations. Geofysica Internacional (2002), Vol. 41, Num. 3, pp. 325-329
Massen F., Dusar M., Loy W., Vandenberghe N: Cave Volume
computed on the behaviour of a blowing well (Tournai basin, W.
Conference the 21th April1994 at the Centre Universitaire in
Massen F., editor: The Moestroff
Cave, a study on the
geology and climate of
Presentation at the 2nd International Colloquium on Gas Geochemistry, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France, 1993: A. Kies and F. Massen: Radon and underground climate in the Moestroff Cave. Published in: C. Dubois (editor): Gas Geochemistry, Science Reviews, 1995, ISBN 0-905927-79-6, 1995, p.63-70
Presentation at the Colloque International de Karstologie, Luxembourg, 1992. F. Massen et al: The Moestroff Cave. Published in: R.Maquil, F. Massen (editors): Comptes Rendus du Colloque International de Karstologie à Luxembourg, Service Géologique du Luxembourg, 1994, p.17-27
A subset of papers
and articles published at http://meteo.lcd.lu/papers,
most recent first:
Pattern of CO2 and other atmospheric gases during a cold weather inversion (Jan. 2009)
Trends and Patterns in Atmospheric Optical Depth at
Seasonal and Diurnal CO2 Patterns at Diekirch, LU 2003 - 2005 (Massen, Kies, Harpes), 2007
Ozone and UVR trends from 1998 to 2005 at Diekirch (L) (Massen, Kies, Harpes, de Backer), 2006
A comparison of the total ozone measurements done with Microtops II sun photometers, Brewer, Sciamachy and Toms spectrophotometers (2006)
Mean and extreme daily air temperature trends (Diekirch, Luxemburg): 1998 to 2003
Influence of intentionally mis-pointing on Microtops II readings, 2003
Zero-Offset and Deviant Temperature Stabilization of a Solar Light Co. UVA Biometer, 2003
Ambiance
Chaude (Massen F. Bonert
Effective UVB irradiance and total ozone column 1997 to 2002, 2002
The new wind chill formula, 2001
Meteorological Impact of the 11th August 99 Solar Eclipse, 1999
A preliminary analysis of the Safesun personal UV sensor and a comparison with the Saitek and UV mod. 3D sensors (Massen F., Harpes N.), 1998
A comparison of three portable UV sensors, 1998
The UVI poster, 1997
Calibrating the DELTA_T UVB, 1997
Total ozone measurements, 1997
Die Radonkonzentration im Drainagestollen des Oberbeckens der SEO, Vianden
(Massen F., Kies A.), 1997
A subset of
contributions to the AGW and related problems debate, most recent first:
(several at http://meteo.lcd.lu/globalwarming;
the Luxemburger Wort is
Le climatisme (APESS, récré 2009, in French): pdf
La Grande Illusion: courant vert ou courant bleu. Luxemburger Wort , 2007 (in French): pdf
Auto pfui! Luxemburger Wort, 2007 (in German) : pdf
Zehn Fragen und Antworten des Klimaskeptikers. Marienkalender, 2008 (in German): pdf
Cosmic-Solar? Conference given for the PROENERGIE association (March 2008) and the Rotary Club (Nov.2008): ppt
Kosmisch-Solar. Luxemburger Wort, 2007 (in German): pdf
Papers and articles on Compact Fluorescent Lamps at the website http://bmb.lcd.lu ("Blow my Bulb")
CF lamps und UV radiation (Massen F., Nov.2009)
Power Factor and Harmonics: a study of incandescent and CF lamps (Massen F., Mootz J., Baumann C., Sep.2009)
Papers and articles at the website http://computarium.lcd.lu, dedicated to vintage computers and calculating machines
Das Kalman Filter wird 50. Eine bahnbrechende Entwicklung. (Baumann C., Massen F., Luxemburger Wort, Mar.2010)
Television and Radio
IMPULS, 12nd Dec. 2007: Debate on RTL-TV with green MOP C. Gira (in
Luxembourgish)
see: http://www.rtl.lu/tele/videoarchiv/,
then select Emissiounen >> IMPULS, 12 Dezember 2007 (in Luxembourgish)..
Websites:
http://computarium.lcd.lu : The collection/museum of historic calculating and computing machinery
http://bmb.lcd.lu : Blow my Bulb. A site dedicated to the incandescent lamp/CFL problem. Life experiment on switching withstand for CFL/incandescent.
last revision: 27 Mar 2010