Five scientists from Université Paris-Saclay are rewarded by the French Academy of Sciences
On Tuesday 26 November, the French Academy of Sciences (Académie des Sciences) celebrated scientific excellence during a second award ceremony held at the Institut de France. Five researchers from Université Paris-Saclay were among the award recipients.
The Dujarric de la Rivière Award – Didier Boichard
Didier Boichard is an INRAE research director within the Bovine genetics and genomics team at the Animal Genetics and Integrative Biology Laboratory (GABI – Univ. Paris-Saclay/INRAE/ AgroParisTech) .He was awarded the Dujarric de la Rivière award for his work on bovine genetics, with a particular focus on genome analysis, genetic determinism and population management.
Established in 1970, the Dujarric de la Rivière award is a biennial award for biology applied to rural economics or vetinary science.
The Emile Blutet Grant - Fondation Pau Louis Doistau – Franck Courchamp
Franck Courchamp is a CNRS research director at the Ecology, Systemics and Evolution Laboratory (ESE – Univ. Paris-Saclay/CNRS) . He was awarded the Emile Blutet Grant in recognition of his many science outreach and communication actions. As the author of three books and over 220 international publications, he is one of the world’s most Highly Cited Researchers in his field. Franck Courchamp is specialised in population dynamics and the impact of global warming on biodiversity. He has also written several reports for intergovernmental panels including the IPCC and IPBES, and currently leads a research team at Université Paris-Saclay on biodiversity dynamics and the impacts of humans on ecosystems and species.
The Emile Blutet Grant aims to reward one or several authors of a work of scientific communication which is less than 10 years old.
The History of Science and Epistemology Medal - Gilles Dowek
Gilles Dowek is an associate professor at ENS Paris-Saclay, an INRIA research director and head of the Deducteam team at the Formal Methods Laboratory (LMF – Univ. Paris-Saclay/ENS Paris-Saclay/CNRS) . He has been awarded the History of Science and Epistemology Medal by the French Academy of Sciences for his contribution to artificial intelligence, algorithms, the nature of language and human communication. In his work, Gilles Dowek explores new philosophical questions which have arisen with the development of computing. He has studied the role of calculations in establishing mathematical truths; the relationship between the Church-Turing thesis and that of Galileo, according to which the universe is written in mathematical language; the notion of formal language and its link to writing, and the development of ethics in computing.
The History of Science and Epistemology Medal is awarded to a scientist regardless of their nationality working in a French public or private research laboratory who has made particularly promising contributions to the development of their field, whether they be of a basic or applied nature.
The René Turpin Oncology Award - Fondation de l'Institut de France - Caroline Robert
Carole Robert is head of the Dermatology service at Gustave Roussy, head of teaching in Dermatology at the Faculty of Medicine at Université Paris-Saclay and co-director of the Adaptative Resistance on the Melanoma research team at the Molecular Predictors and New Targets in Oncology unit (PMNCO – Univ. Paris-Saclay/Inserm/Gustave Roussy) . She was awarded the René Turpin Oncology award for her work on the melanoma. Both her clinical and laboratory work aims to improve the treatment of melanoma patients. At Gustave Roussy, this Highly Cited Researcher carries out innovative clinical trials, exploring, with her team, the resistance mechanisms to immunotherapies and target therapies, and developing experimental models to test new therapeutic methods.
The René Turpin Oncology - Fondation de l'Institut de France is a biennial award in oncology, awarded based on a proposal made by the French Academy of Sciences.
The Jaffé/Fondation de l'Institut de France Award and the Berthelot Medal - Jean-François Roch
Jean-François Roch is a physics professor at ENS Paris-Saclay, a researcher at the Light, Materials and Interfaces Laboratory (LuMIN - Univ. Paris-Saclay/ENS Paris-Saclay/CNRS/CentraleSupélec) and co-director of the research laboratory coordinated between LuMIn and Thales for the joint development of quantum sensors and laser devices. He was awarded the Jaffé/Fondation de l'Institut de France Award and the Berthelot medal for his work on crystal defects in diamonds and their use in quantum sensors. Jean-François Roch has dedicated his research to diamond defects as artificial atoms. He has demonstrated that these defects, created by his team on the tip of a diamond anvil, behave like compasses that can measure the magnetic field of a sample subjected to a pressure equivalent to one million times the pressure of the atmosphere*. These conditions reveal quantum properties in the sample, such as superconductivity. Jean-François Roch is also director of the Quantum-Saclay Interdisciplinary Object and a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
*The pressure of the atmosphere corresponds to the weight of the force that the air exerts on the surface of the Earth - this is atmospheric pressure. A column of air measuring one square metre from the top of the atmosphere to the ground has a mass of around 10,000 kg. The pressure at the centre of the Earth, for example, is around 3.5 million atmospheres.
To find out more about atmospheres, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqabT21d8VM
Established in 1930, the Jaffé Award from the Fondation de l’Institut de France is awarded in recognition of experiments in physics which aim to works towards progress and human wellbeing. The Berthelot medal is awarded annually by the Academy to a researcher who has been awarded a Chemistry award in the same year.