Giovanni Lapenta was professor of space weather at the KULeuven. Lapenta has been the coordinator of the first space weather-themed collaborative EU project (FP7): Soteria. After that he led other projects on space weather: Swiff, eHeroes and more recently AIDA. Lapenta’s work focused on theory, simulation and observation of the fundamental processes in space and on the impact of space radiation. Lapenta is the recipient of the RD100 prize for his work on plasma simulation. Lapenta’s interests included other plasma physics applications, including nuclear fusion, space propulsion and industrial plasma applications. Lapenta was a member of UN and NATO research groups and affiliate with the Space Science Institute.