Lépine is professor at the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, University of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in 1977 at Université de Paris VII, and became full professor at the University of São Paulo in 1999. He made important contributions to Astronomy, like the discovery of the first water vapor extragalactic megamaser, and the study of a Cassini-like ring in the Galactic disk with a minimum of stellar density and also of gas density, at the corotation radius. Lepine was the Director of his Institute from 2001 to 2005, and President of the Brazilian Astronomical Society for 2 years in the past. He is now the coordinator on Brazilian side of the joint Brazilian-Argentinean LLAMA project, which is installing a 12 m radiotelescope for sub-mm waves in the Andes, at 4800 m altitude.

Amatore is Emeritus Director of Research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and a Professor at the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne University Pierre and Marie Curie, France. He obtained his Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences from the Paris Diderot University. He is a Member of the French Académie des Sciences; Member of the Academia Europaea, based in London; Foreign Member of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, also based in London, and of the Chinese Chemical Society; Fellow and President of the International Society of Electrochemistry; Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, based in Philadelphia, US; and Honorary Member of the Israeli Chemical Society. He is Honorary Professor of eight major universities worldwide. He served as one of the 20 members of the High Council of Science and Technology, an advisory body to the French President. He received many awards and prestigious medals and is Knight of the French Legion of Honour, Commander of Academic Palms and received the Friendship Award from the People Republic of China.