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Thierry DauxoisDirector of the Institute of Physics

Thierry Dauxois was educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon and has a doctorate in physics. He began his career at the CNRS in 1994 and his research focuses on non-linear physics and statistical physics. He specialises in the theoretical and - more recently - experimental aspects of dynamical systems, chaos and more particularly non-linear, soliton or internal waves. He has worked on long study periods at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), in Florence (Italy) and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego (USA). He was made a research professor in 2006, directed the Phénix Research Network (GDR) from 2006 to 2010 and also chaired the National Committee for Scientific Research's (CoNRS) section 02 (Physical theories: methods, models and applications) from 2010 to 2012. He was the director of the physics laboratory at the ENS Lyon from 2012 to 2020 before becoming vice-president of research at the ENS Lyon from 2020 to 2021 and then head of the CNRS Institute of Physics in July 2021.

Missions

To understand the fundamental laws of nature and to develop new concepts, ways of thinking and instrumentation to effectively respond to the challenges facing today's society.

Research fields

  • Optics, atoms, molecules and quantum physics
  • Condensed matter, materials, nanoscience
  • States of matter, phase transitions, instability, disorder
  • Interactions with other disciplines: photonics and laser engineering, biophysics, mathematical physics, physical chemistry and materials, quantum gravity, astrophysics and geophysics, etc.
  • Modelling, simulation and theory, instrumentation, very large-scale research infrastructures, networks of technological platforms

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