PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Lucien Wald

Lucien Wald is a retired MINES ParisTech professor whose protocol for testing fused satellite images, introduced in 1997, is the basis of supervised deep-learning pansharpening methods. He joined MINES ParisTech in 1980, earned a Doctorat d'État on remote sensing for oceanography in Toulon in 1985, and became a professor in 1991, leading a research team until 2007. The French Blondel Medal came in 1996, followed by the Autometrics Award in 1998 and the Erdas Award in 2001 for articles on data fusion, and his book Data Fusion appeared in 2003. In 2015 he coauthored A critical comparison among pansharpening algorithms, and in 2021 CRC Press published his Fundamentals of Solar Radiation. After retiring in 2018, he coauthored a 2023 validation of the McClear service, part of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, at MINES PSL's Centre O.I.E., and a 2024 paper on clear-sky indices for photosynthetically active radiation.

Now at
Mines Paris - PSL University
Badges

Timeline

  1. 1980–1985

    Joining MINES ParisTech

    In 1980, he earns a Ph.D. at Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC) in Paris and joins MINES ParisTech. In 1985, he earns the Doctorat d'État ès Sciences on the applications of remote sensing to oceanography at the University in Toulon.

  2. 1991–2018

    Professor at MINES ParisTech

    In 1991, he becomes a professor at MINES ParisTech. He creates a research team and heads it until 2007, is responsible for PhD studies in energy from 2005 to 2012, and retires in 2018.

  3. 1996–2001

    Blondel Medal and fusion awards

    In 1996, he receives the French Blondel Medal for his activities in data science. The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing awards him the Autometrics Award in 1998 and the Erdas Award in 2001 for articles on data fusion.

  4. 1997

    Wald's protocol for fused images

    In 1997, he coauthors "Fusion of satellite images of different spatial resolutions: Assessing the quality of resulting images" with Thierry Ranchin and Marc Mangolini in Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. Researchers cite the paper for Wald's protocol, which tests fusion methods on images degraded by blurring and downsampling, and supervised deep-learning pansharpening methods build on it.

  5. 2003

    The Data Fusion book

    In 2003, he publishes the 200-page book Data Fusion: Definitions and Architectures, Fusion of Images of Different Spatial Resolutions. It sets out the fundamentals of data fusion and presents methods for fusing images, with an emphasis on images of different spatial resolutions.

  6. 2015

    Comparing pansharpening algorithms

    In 2015, he coauthors "A critical comparison among pansharpening algorithms" with Gemine Vivone and colleagues in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, volume 53, issue 5.

  7. 2021

    Fundamentals of Solar Radiation

    In 2021, CRC Press publishes his 270-page book Fundamentals of Solar Radiation, on the main natural source of energy on Earth.

  8. 2023–2024

    McClear and clear-sky indices

    In 2023, working at MINES PSL's Centre O.I.E. in Sophia Antipolis, he joins William Wandji Nyamsi, Yves-Marie Saint-Drenan and Antti Arola in validating the McClear service of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service against measurements at 44 ground stations in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Maldives. In 2024, he coauthors "Evidence of linear relationships between clear-sky indices in photosynthetically active radiation and broadband ranges" in Meteorologische Zeitschrift with Wandji Nyamsi, Saint-Drenan, John A. Augustine and Arola.

Career

  1. From 2023Mines Paris - PSL University
  2. 1980–2018MINES ParisTechProfessor, Head of research team

Education

  1. 1985University of ToulonDoctorat d'État ès Sciences
  2. 1980Sorbonne UniversityPhD

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes MINES ParisTech. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes MINES ParisTech. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Sorbonne University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Sorbonne University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Fundamentals of Solar Radiation - 1st Edition - Lucien Wald - Routledge routledge.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Data Fusion, Definitions and Architectures, Fusion of Images of Different Spatial Resolutions - Lucien Wald - Eyrolles eyrolles.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Progressive Alignment Degradation Learning for Pansharpening arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Full-resolution quality assessment for pansharpening ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Further validation of the estimates of the downwelling solar radiation at ground level in cloud-free conditions provided by the McClear service: the case of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Maldives amt.copernicus.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Evidence of linear relationships between clear-sky indices in photosynthetically active radiation and broadband ranges schweizerbart.de. Checked 21 October 2026.