Biography
An astrophysicist, author and science communicator, Roland Lehoucq brings science, culture and imagination into dialogue to make today’s major scientific questions accessible to all.
Science within everyone’s reach
Trained at the École normale supérieure (ENS Ulm) and holder of the agrégation in physics, Roland Lehoucq is an astrophysicist at CEA Paris-Saclay. He has taught at École polytechnique and lectures at Université Paris Cité, ENS Paris-Saclay and Sciences Po, among others. His strength: explaining complex phenomena with simple examples, familiar images and a few well-chosen orders of magnitude.
Science fiction as a laboratory
Lightsabers, black holes, interstellar travel, the planet Pandora… Roland Lehoucq starts from the worlds of Star Wars, Interstellar, Dune and Avatar to put the laws of physics to the test. He is not out to debunk fiction: he uses it as a testing ground to tell apart the possible, the plausible and the impossible.
Understanding in order to question better
Behind the humour and pop culture lies a genuine method: observe, question, calculate, compare and test a hypothesis against reality. An approach that is particularly relevant at a time when information, images and certainties spread faster than ever.
A bridge between science and society
President of the Société astronomique de France and of the Utopiales association, the Nantes international science-fiction festival, Roland Lehoucq builds bridges between researchers, artists and the general public. The author of numerous books, he notably published Scientifiction – La Physique de l’impossible, winner of the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2025.
When fiction ignites the spark, science lights up the world.
— Roland Lehoucq
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