Philippe Dagneaux, former science journalist for Midi Libre, has left us

Philippe Dagneaux, ancien journaliste à Midi Libre, nous a quittés.

The journalist was passionate about science.

Midi Libre mourns its “Professor Sournetol”. A journalist for more than four decades, Philippe Dagneaux, 68, died earlier this week. He had joined Montpellier in 1988, after several years spent at Le Républicain Lorrain in Metz.

Local reporter for the Metz newspaper from 1980, his passion for science and space quickly led him to collaborate on the science pages. A passion for research that he continued and developed when he was recruited by Midi Libre. Assigned to the General Information department at the newspaper's headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Philippe Dagneaux covered national and international news for nearly twenty-five years.

Holder of a degree in public law and a diploma in Astronomy-Astrophysics from the University of Paris XI-Orsay, Philippe Dagneaux manages the science column for Midi Libre and publishes various works such as “Le rêve spatial inachevée” (2001) which tells the story of the adventure of Yuri Gagarin, humanity's first cosmonaut or “Le soleil, splendeur et fascination” (2003). Passionate about writing, he wrote his first science-thriller novel “Tsunamis sur l’Occident” in 2013.

During his years in Montpellier, Philippe Dagneaux got involved in the activities of the Press Club by becoming a member of the office and the board of directors.

After a stint at the Midi Libre agency in Rodez in 2013, where he was appointed deputy head of the agency, Philippe Dagneaux left the daily newspaper and created the Byron Communication agency in 2015, a company providing editorial services, as well as a scientific website, “Le blog du Pr Sournetol”.

Several awards

During his career, Philippe Dagneaux has won several awards for his work as a popularizing journalist, such as the first prize for scientific journalism in the regional daily press awarded by the Varenne Foundation (2008) and the Scoop Prize from the Montpellier-Languedoc-Roussillon Press Club in June 2010 for his article “Montpellier rêve du futur spatioport European”.

The funeral of Philippe Dagneaux will take place on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10:30 a.m., at the Grammont funeral complex, in Montpellier.

To his family, to his loved ones, the Occitanie Press Club and Midi Libre present their most sincere condolences.

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