Person Gennes; Pierre-Gilles de (1932 - 2007) Gennes Pierre-Gilles de Pierre-Gilles de Gennes 1932 - 2007 French Male Paris 24/10/1932 19321024 18/05/2007 20070518

Education: Attended the Ecole Normale Superiore in Paris Career: After graaduating he began research on neutron scattering and magnetis at the Saclay centre of the Commisariat a l'Energie Atomique, taking a doctorate in 1957. In 1959 he studied with the solid state physicist Charles Kittel at the University of California, Berkeley. After 27 months in the French navy, in 1961 he was appointed assistant professor of Physics at the University of Paris , Orsay, where he founded a research group studying superconductors. In 1968 he switched to studying liquyid crystakls, somehow managing to continue his research during the student unrest that paralysed other laboratories. Became professor at the Colege de France ( 1971) where he led research on 0lymers describing how they moved and evolved. This research made it possible for scientists better to determine and control polymer properties. Director of the Ecole Superiore de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (1976 till retirement in 2002). During the 1980's he developed an interest in the pysical and chemical dynamics invlved in the wetting of surfaces by lliquids, analysing why water adheres to some but tends to be repelled by other surfaces - eg grapeskins. The research had a highly procatical application for wine producers, enabling the production of fungicide sprays which cover the whole grape instead of slipping off to form droplets at the base of the fruit. The commercial spin-offs from his work on liquid crystals led to a multi billion dollar international industry, and he was known to regret the fact that he and other theoretical scientists had derived little financial reward from intellectual property rights. Medals and prizes: Nobel Prize (Physics) 1991 Foreign Member 28/06/1984 51 International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 24 Oct 1932 - 18 May 2007 NA4086 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 28/03/2023 RS_NET\JonathanB Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/68972558 04466c75-bb2c-42ce-807e-24c5420d652a