Charles Elachi is a Lebanese American professor of electrical engineering and planetary science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
He was born on April 18, 1947 in Rayak, Lebanon and served as the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the vice president of Caltech, and made significant contributions to the fields of space, planetary exploration, and electromagnetic theory.
Before his rise to fame, Charles received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Joseph Fourier University, his master’s degree in engineering from Grenoble Institute of Technology, his second master’s degree and doctorate in electrical sciences from the California Institute of Technology, his third master’s degree in geology from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MBA from the University of Southern California.
Throughout his career, Charles received the Gold medal of the City of Grenoble, the Aviation Week Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2016 RNASA National Space Trophy, an American University of Beirut Honorary Doctorate, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Science Distinguished Alumni Award.
