Charley Shalom Attali (sometimes misspelled as Charles Chalom Attali; 1930–2006) was an Algerian-born French-Israeli aerospace engineer.
Early life and education
Attali was born in Constantine, Algeria to a Jewish family.[1] Upon graduating high school at age 16 after skipping a grade,[2] he was sent to study at École nationale de l'aviation civile in France, where he excelled and graduated as an engineer.[3]
Early career
After completing his studies in 1952, Attali was initially employed at Sud Aviation, before eventually working for SEREB on developing ballistic missiles.[4] While at SEREB, Attali was appointed by French president Charles de Gaulle to lead the Diamant project.[5][6] Due to the success of Diamant, Attali was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1965 by Charles de Gaulle.[7] After the Diamant project, Attali was placed in charge of France's role in the Europa-1 rocket.[4]
In 1969 Moshe Arens, who served as vice-president of the IAI, secretly flew to Paris to meet with Attali. Due to France's weapons embargo on Israel, Israel was planning to develop their own fighter jets. Arens asked Attali to move to Israel and help in the development of the IAI Kfir.[2] Attali agreed, and made Aliyah shortly after with his wife and two children.[8]
While at the IAI, Attali had a key role in the development of many aircraft including the IAI Kfir, IAI Arye, and IAI Lavi.[4] For leading the IAI Scout, Attali received the Israel Defense Prize in 1981.[9] He continued working at the IAI until his retirement in 1995.[4]
^"Charley Chalom ATTALI : ingénieur"(PDF). Association des Juifs Originaires du Constantinois (in French). 15 May 2021. Archived from the original(PDF) on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
^ abBardenstein, Eli (11 May 2005). "איש הטילים" [The Rocket Man]. Maariv (in Hebrew). No. 57 Independence Day Special.
^"Les 4 Copains du Satellite" [The 4 Satellite Friends]. Paris Match (in French). No. 870. 11 December 1965.
^Elder, Donald C.; Rothmund, Christophe (1 May 2001). History of Rocketry and Astronautics(PDF). 28th and 29th History Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics: Jerusalem, Israel, 1994 & Oslo, Norway, 1995. AAS History Series, Volume 23. American Astronautical Society. pp. 51–57. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
^"קהילת יוצאי אלג'יריה ודור ההמשך" [The community of Algerian Jewry and the next generation]. Eretz Zion and Jerusalem (in Hebrew). 19 November 2020. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
L'Aventure Spatiale [Space Adventure] (Audio CD) (in French). Frémeaux & Associés. 2005. Event occurs at track 45. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
"Les dîners-débats de l'IFHE" [Dinner debates at IFHE] (PDF). Espace & Temps (in French). No. 18. Institut Français d’Histoire de l’Espace. 1 September 2016. p. 29. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
"Souvenirs… souvenirs… de + de 60ans" [Memories of over 60 years] (PDF). Amical 'Echos (in French). No. 19. Amicale des Anciens d'Aerospatiale. 1 June 2019. p. 27. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
Distribution Solennelle des Prix [Solemn Distribution of Prizes] (PDF) (Report) (in French). Lycée de Garçons de Constantine. 5 July 1939. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
