This year's CNRS Gold Medal, one of France's most prestigious scientific awards, goes to Franco-Norwegian physical chemist Thomas Ebbesen. His highly interdisciplinary nanoscience work covers fields as diverse as carbon materials science, optics, nano-photonics and molecular chemistry. His discoveries have led to technological breakthroughs in optoelectronics, optical communications and biosensors. A professor at the University of Strasbourg, he headed the Institute for Supramolecular Science and Engineering (ISIS, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) until 2012. He is now Director of the Institut d'études avancées de l'université de Strasbourg (USIAS).
Thomas Ebbesen was born on January 30, 1954 in Oslo, Norway. A graduate of Oberlin College (USA) and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, he obtained a PhD in physical photochemistry in 1980. The following year, he joined the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (USA) and developed collaborations with Japan, in particular with the University of Tsukuba. In 1988, he moved to Japan to work in the research laboratory of NEC, an industrial giant in the IT and telecommunications sectors. In 1996, Jean-Marie Lehn, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, convinced him to join him at the Institut de science et d'ingénierie supramoléculaires (ISIS, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg). He became a professor at the University of Strasbourg, while maintaining strong links with the NEC laboratories in Japan and Princeton in the USA. In 2005, he succeeded Jean-Marie Lehn as Director of ISIS, a position he handed over to Paolo Samori in 2012. He is currently Director of the International Center for Chemical Research (1) (ICFRC) and, since 2012, Director of the Institut d'études avancées de l'université de Strasbourg (USIAS).
Thomas Ebbesen is one of the world's leading figures in the field of nanoscience, making fundamental and pioneering discoveries. His highly interdisciplinary work is recognized in various scientific communities and has led to the publication of reference articles (2). They have led to technological, scientific and conceptual breakthroughs.
During his scientific career, Thomas Ebbesen has been involved in a number of different areas. In particular, he has worked on carbon materials, nanotubes and fullerenes. For example, he developed a method for the large-scale synthesis of carbon nanotubes, and studied the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of these materials. In 1998, he demonstrated a new optical phenomenon: extraordinary transmission. He discovered that light can pass through apertures smaller than its own wavelength with great efficiency, contrary to what was accepted at the time.
More recently, Thomas Ebbesen has turned his attention to molecular systems with strong light-matter coupling, demonstrating for the first time that chemical reactions can be accelerated or decelerated by making the reactants interact with the electromagnetic fluctuations of an optical cavity, and that a given product can be selectively favored (3). These astonishing results have given rise to a new field known as "polaritonic chemistry", which is attracting growing interest worldwide.
In addition to his academic work, Thomas Ebbesen's involvement in the valorization of research has led him to register more than 30 patents and to participate, as co-founder, in the creation of the start-up n-TEC, specialized in carbon compounds.
A member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters since 2003, Thomas Ebbesen was elected a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences in 2009, and of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium in 2011. His career has been marked by several notable awards: he received the 2005 France Télécom prize from the Académie des Sciences, and was the recipient of two ERC Advanced fellowships in 2008 and 2018. In 2011, the Europhysics prize was awarded for his work on carbon nanotubes, and he also won the Quantum Electronics and Optics prize from the European Physical Society in 2009. Finally, in 2014, Thomas Ebbesen was awarded the Kavli Prize for Nanoscience, the highest distinction in this field, for his work on sub-wavelength optics and the discovery of the phenomenon of extraordinary transmission.
The CNRS Gold Medal will be awarded to him on October 24 in Paris during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the CNRS.
The CNRS Gold Medal is one of France's highest scientific honors. Since its creation in 1954, it has been awarded each year for the work of one or more scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to the dynamism and influence of French research. The latest Gold Medal winners are : Gérard Férey, chemist, in 2010; Jules Hoffmann, biologist, in 2011; Philippe Descola, anthropologist, in 2012; Margaret Buckingham, development biologist, in 2013; Gérard Berry, computer scientist, in 2014; Eric Karsenti, biologist, in 2015; Claire Voisin, mathematician, in 2016; Alain Brillet and Thibault Damour, physicists, in 2017; Barbara Cassin, philosopher, in 2018.
Notes
(1) https://www.icfrc.fr/
(2) articles cited more than 5000 times, 11 articles more than 1000 times
(3) https://inc.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/une-selectivite-chimique-par-couplage-vibrationnel
Learn more: www.cnrs.fr