de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles 1932-2007

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born 1932, in Paris, France; died May 18, 2007, in Orsay, France. Physicist, educator, and author. De Gennes won the 1991 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on liquid crystals. After completing his Ph.D. at the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1959, he did postgraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied solid-state physics. After service in the French Navy, he researched magnetism, worked on superconductors, and then turned to the physics of liquid crystals. This unusual area of physics studies crystals that are somewhere between liquid and solid states. The liquids can be manipulated by heat, electricity, and magnetism, which makes them ideal for the applications one now sees in such devices as LCD clocks, flat-screen televisions, calculators and other electronics displays. At the time he was working on liquid crystals, however, de Gennes was only interested in them from an intellectual standpoint and did not foresee their many practical applications. Therefore, he never tried to patent any of his discoveries and received no income from inventions that depend on liquid crystal technology. Pursuing an academic career, he was professor of solid-state physics at the University of Paris in Orsay from 1961 to 1971, then professor of the College de France in Paris until 2004. He was also director of the Ecole de Physique et Chimie in Paris from 1976 to 2002. In addition to his work on liquid crystals, de Gennes made advances in the phenomenon of "unwetting," which concerns how some materials push away water. This can be problematic in agriculture, for example, if plants resist being coated in liquid chemicals. De Gennes's work led to advances that helped vintners coat grapes better with fungicide mists. Also the recipient of the 1990 Wolf Prize in Physics, he was the author of such works as The Physics of Liquid Crystals (1974; 2nd edition, 1994), Introduction to Polymer Dynamics (1990), Gouttes, Bulles Perles et Ondes (2002), and Petit Point (2002).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, May 23, 2007, Section 3, p. 10.

Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2007, p. B9.

Times (London, England), May 28, 2007, p. 46.

Washington Post, May 23, 2007, p. B7.