Gérard Férey (14 July 1941 – 19 August 2017) was a French

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

who was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at the

Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (, ''UVSQ'') is a French public university created in 1991, located in the department of Yvelines and, since 2002, in Hauts-de-Seine. It is a constituent university of the federal Paris-Saclay Un ...

. He specialized in the physical chemistry of solids and materials. He focused on the crystal chemistry of inorganic

fluorides Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typi ...

and on porous solids. In September 2010, he received the CNRS Gold medal, the highest French scientific distinction.

History

Gerard Férey was a lecturer at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

. In 1968, he founded the Department of Chemistry at the

University Institutes of Technology The University Institutes of Technology or IUT (french: Instituts Universitaires de Technologie) are parts of the university system in France. The IUT were created in 1966. There are 108 IUTs which are attached to 80 universities including the on ...

of Le Mans. He argued his

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

at the

Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the L ...

in 1977. He was a teacher at the

from 1981 to 1996 and then at the

since that date, where he founded the Lavoisier Institute. From 1988 to 1992 he was deputy director of the Department of Chemistry at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences 18 November 2003. In 2007, he was Vice-President of the '' Société Chimique de France''. He was a member of the ''

Institut Universitaire de France The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that distinguishes each year a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...

''. He was also at the initiative of the Chemistry Ambition, a group that includes seven players in chemistry of France aimed at enhancing the image of the discipline to the public.

Bibliography

Gerard Férey published 605 articles in international journals, including the Journal of Solid State Chemistry, the Solid State Sciences, the Chemistry of Materials,

Angewandte Chemie International Edition ''Angewandte Chemie'' (, meaning "Applied Chemistry") is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Wiley-VCH on behalf of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker). Publishing formats include feature-leng ...

, the

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytic ...

, four book chapters and one book (Crystal Chemistry, World Scientific Publishing, 2016). He gave more than 100 plenary lectures in international symposia, and deposited 14 international patents.

Awards

* ''Prix de chimie du solide de la Société chimique de France'' (Solid State Chemistry award of the Chemical Society of France) (1983) * ''Prix Paul Pascal de l’Académie des sciences'' (Paul Pascal award of the French Academy of Sciences) (1992) * ''Prix de l’Institut français du pétrole de l’Académie des sciences'' (

French Institute of Petroleum The IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) also known as French Institute of Petroleum (in French: ''Institut Français du Pétrole, IFP'') is a public research organisation in France founded in 1944 as Institute of Oil, Fuels and Lubricants (''Institut d ...

award of the French Academy of Sciences) (2000) * ''Prix Gay-Lussac-Humboldt de la Fondation Alexander von Humboldt'' (Gay-Lussac-Humboldt award of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation) (2004) * ''Prix C.N.R. RAO de l’Académie nationale des sciences de l’Inde'' ( C.N.R. RAO award of the Indian Academy of Sciences) (2005) * ''Grand prix de la Société chimique du Japon'' (Japan chemical society award) (2008) * ''Prix Catalan-Sabatier de la Société royale de chimie espagnole'' (Catalan-Sabatier award of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry) (2008) * ''Prix ENI'' ( ENI award) (2009) - for his work on the massive sequestration of

CO2 Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

and the explanation of this phenomenon. It develops the Mil-101, a solid which can store CO2. * CNRS Gold medal (2010)Gérard Férey : médaille d’or du CNRS
* Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

* Officer of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/ concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

* Officer of the National Order of Merit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferey, Gerard 1941 births 2017 deaths 20th-century French chemists Members of the French Academy of Sciences University of Caen Normandy alumni Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Academic staff of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite People from Manche 21st-century French chemists Solid state chemists Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research