Pierre Victor Auger (1899-1993) was a French physicist, discoverer of the Auger effect (1925) and a professor at the Sorbonne. A specialist in cosmic rays, he played a leading part in the international organisation of science: as head of the exact and natural sciences department at UNESCO, he was among the founders of CERN and went on to become the first director-general of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO, 1962-1967), forerunner of the European Space Agency. A central figure in European space cooperation, he wrote the preface to the French edition Histoire mondiale de l'astronautique (1968).