Élisabeth Charlaix (born 23 October 1958), is a French physicist. She is a professor at the
Université Grenoble Alpes, where she researches
fluid mechanics to the sub-
nanometre
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...
level. She was a co-developer of a
surface-forces measuring device for very small-scale interactions.
Biography
She was a post-doctoral researcher at
ESPCI Paris, studying the properties of
porous materials in work funded by
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
. She joined the
École normale supérieure de Lyon physics laboratory, where she studied
wetting phenomena at the microscopic level and the effects of humidity on
granular media. After her appointment as professor at
Claude-Bernard University, she joined their Department of
Materials Physics, which became the ''
Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée et nanostructures'' (LPMCN)
Condensed Matter and
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Condensed Matter and Nanostructure Physics At LPMCN, she researched fluid dynamics at Nanoscopic scale">nanoscales (nanofluid">Condensed matter physics">Condensed Matter and Nanostructure Physics At LPMCN, she researched fluid dynamics at Nanoscopic scale">nanoscales (nanofluidics) which progressed following the construction of an original surface forces measuring apparatus in 2002, which was developed with Jérôme Crassous and :fr:Frédéric Restagno; the apparatus uses a combination of capacitance and interferometry to measure the forces, with which important data was found concerning the link between wettability and Fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic conditions at solid-fluid interfaces.
In 2010, she joined the interdisciplinary physics laboratory in Grenoble. She was able to show that nanohydrodynamic measurements make it possible to have access to the mechanical properties of surfaces without solid contact and she highlighted the advantage and convenience of confining surfaces during
Rheology, nanorheology experiments. As well as analysing various properties related to
capillary adhesion and the sub-nanometre properties of bubbles and
thin films, for example, her teams have also discovered properties relating to energy storage in
hydrophobic pores in
powders.
In addition to her academic awards, she became a ''
Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur'' in 2011.
An international conference was held in her honour at the
University of Bordeaux in 2018.
Awards
* 2006
Jean-Ricard Prize
The prix Jean-Ricard is a prize awarded by the Société française de physique (SFP) to a French physicist for remarkable and original work. Jean Ricard, alumnus of École Polytechnique, engineer École supérieure d'électricité (E.S.E), and me ...
from the French Physical Society.
* 2007 Senior member of the Institut universitaire de France.
* 2009 CNRS Silver Medal
* 2011 Légion d'honneur
* 2022 APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Otto Laporte award
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlaix, Elisabeth
French women physicists
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
ESPCI Paris alumni
1958 births
Living people
Academic staff of the University of Lyon