The journal EPJE – Soft Matter and Biological Physics has awarded French physicist Ludwik Leibler the 2014 EPJE Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Lecture Prize. The journal editors chose Leibler for his seminal contributions to polymer physics and revolutionary polymeric materials, which include self-healing elastomers and vitrimers, a class of plastics which he invented.
Leibler is Adjunct Professor at ESPCI ParisTech where he directs the Laboratory for Soft Matter and Chemistry and is also Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Ludwik Leibler is the 2014 EPJE Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Lecture Prize recipient. Credit: CNRS Photothèque Cyril Fresillon
This is the fourth time this prestigious prize, named after the Nobel laureate who founded EPJE, has been awarded. The prize consists of 1,000 euros and a plenary lecture that will be introduced by Daan Frenkel, co-editor-in-chief of EPJE. The EPJE Pierre-Gilles de Gennes lecture will be delivered by Leibler on 22 July 2014 in Lisbon, Portugal, during the 9th Liquid Matter Conference of the European Physical Society.
A theoretical physicist by training, Ludwik Leibler received his PhD from Warsaw University in 1976. He then moved to Paris for his post-doctoral studies at the College de France, working under the direction of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes. He continued on to more experimentally oriented studies and has become famous worldwide for his contributions to the study of polymer dynamics and nanostructuring, which are important innovations in the polymer industry. Leibler is series editor of the well-known Springer book series Advances in Polymer Science and has received many awards for teaching and research from various organizations.
The EPJE Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Lecture Prize is sponsored by the European Physical Journal (EPJ) co-publishers, which consist of the Italian Physical Society (SIF) and the publishers EDP Sciences and Springer. It is awarded to outstanding scientists for their contribution to soft matter research. Previous recipients of this prize are Sam Safran, Mike Cates and Julia Yeomans.