Biography

 

He began his research career at the Mechanics Department of the Ponts et Chaussées Central Laboratory in 1979, then moved to the “Mechanical Behaviour Research Section” and finally the “Engineering Models Department” until 1999.

He then headed the Civil Engineering Materials and Structures Laboratory for the next two years.

In 1985, he was awarded his PhD in Physics (Pierre et Marie Curie University).In 2003, he took over the Navier Laboratory, the forerunner of the future Research Unit in Mechanics and Physics of Materials and Structures jointly run by École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and the Ponts et Chaussées Central Laboratory.

In parallel, he became heavily involved in teaching and research.

He taught Fluid Mechanics at the École polytechnique, Solid-State Mechanics and Thermodynamics at Marne-La-Vallée University, was a professor at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, responsible for the Chair funded by the Lafarge Group and for the Masters specialism in “Materials Sciences for Sustainable Development” from 2006.

His research at the frontier between solid-state mechanics and the physical chemistry of porous materials was widely recognised by the scientific community. His work “Mechanics of Porous Continua”, published by Wiley and Sons (1995), was very well received.

As author or co-author of 80 publications and five books, his achievements were rewarded by the Jean Mandel Prize (1985), the Plumey Prize (1998), and the Biot Medal (2003), of which he was the first recipient for his “exceptional contributions to the mechanics of porous media”.

He was a Director of Research of Exceptional Class and Knight of the Exceptional Order of Merit.He died suddenly on January 15, 2010.

 

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