Kazimierz Piotr Zaleski is known in France as Pierre Zaleski. He was born on 2 March 1928 in Paris. He is the son of Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski and Maria, née Zdziarska. As a child, he spent his holidays at the family estate in Poland, where he was found by the outbreak of war. This prevented him from returning to his family in France. During the war, he attended clandestine classes in Warsaw secondary schools and was active in the Home Army and partisans.

He returned to France in 1946. He studied at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris and at the Radium Institute under Irene Joliot-Curie. After his studies, he took a job with the French Committee for Atomic Energy (CEA). He worked on the first French nuclear reactor, the ZOE, built in 1948.

He became involved in research in nuclear physics. He was a French delegate at the UN atomic conferences in Geneva. The experience he gained and his respect among the French community led to a diplomatic career in which he served as nuclear adviser at the French embassy in Washington.

He was also a consultant to the US federal nuclear safety authority NRC (Nuclear Regulation Commission) in Washington. He also undertook teaching activities, teaching at the University of Paris IX Dauphine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others.
He currently serves as president of the Polish Historical and Literary Society in France, which manages the Polish Library in Paris.

For his achievements, he has been honoured with many distinctions, including the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the highest honour bestowed by the French state - the national order of the Legion of Honour.

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Film commissioned by the Polonica Institute

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