David Elbaz is a French novelist and observational astrophysicist, specializing in galaxy formation and evolution. He has been a researcher at the Astrophysics Division (AIM) of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA-Saclay) since 1994, where he is currently the Director of Research. He was in charge of directing the "Cosmology and Evolution of Galaxies" laboratory at AIM/CEA-Saclay for about a decade. He has also worked as the scientific advisor to the European Space Agency for the selection of its future space missions (Astronomy Working Group) and was a member of the evaluation committee on space research and exploration for the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France.