Michel Che (29 December 1941 – 7 August 2019) was a French chemist who completed his doctorate ( EPR study of

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolubl ...

) in 1968 at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon (french: Université de Lyon), located in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 11 members and 24 associated institutions. The three main universities in this center are: ...

and studied as a postdoctoral fellow at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(1969–71). He was appointed professor at University of Paris VI: Pierre et Marie Curie in 1975 and Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France in 1995. Che was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France. His work has led to around 400 publications in international journals. He has been very active in the promotion and organisation of

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

, being the President-Founder o
EFCATS
(European Federation of Catalysis Societies) with creation in 1993 of the cycle of the now famous biennial " EuropaCat" congresses, and President of IACS (International Association of Catalysis Societies) in 2000–04, culminating with the organisation and opening of the ''13th International Congress on Catalysis'' in Paris in 2004. His research activity has been largely devoted to catalysis processes involving gas–solid, liquid–solid and solid–solid

interfaces Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * Interface (journal), ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * ''Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Lin ...

. He has pioneered a molecular approach to

heterogeneous catalysis In chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the phase of catalysts differs from that of the reactants or products. The process contrasts with homogeneous catalysis where the reactants, products and catalyst exist in the same phase. Ph ...

, based on

transition element In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that can ...

s taken as probes, specific

isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) ...

s and physical techniques, which provided him with an original position in the field. His work has led to the emergence of interfacial coordination chemistry at the junction of

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

al, electro-, supramolecular, geo- and solid-state chemistries. His studies have largely contributed to improve understanding of the elementary processes involved in laboratory/industrial catalysis, and particularly water-mediated assemblies in catalyst preparation. Michel Che's awards include: J. H. Van't Hoff (Netherlands)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
(Japan), M. Sklodowska-Curie and P. Curie (Poland), A. Joannides and P. Sue (France), Von Humboldt – Gay-Lussac (Germany). He is Doctor ''

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

'' of several universities
Cracow, Poland

Lisbon, Portugal
Bucharest, Romania) and member of several high-ranking academies (e.g.

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina
. In 2014, he was awarded the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

Faraday Lectureship Prize The Faraday Lectureship Prize, previously known simply as the Faraday Lectureship, is awarded once every two years (approximately) by the Royal Society of Chemistry for "exceptional contributions to physical or theoretical chemistry".. Named afte ...

. Che died on 7 August 2019 after a short illness.

Bibliography

* K. Dyrek, M. Che; ''Chem. Rev.,'' 1997, 97, 305 * M. Anpo, M. Che; ''Advances Catal.,'' 1999, 44, 119 * M. Che; ''Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal.,'' 2000, 130A, 115 * F. Negrier, E. Marceau, M. Che, D. de Caro; ''Comptes Rendus Chimie,'' 2003, 6, 231 * M.L Bailly, G. Costentin, H. Lauron-Pernot, J.M. Krafft, M. Che; ''J. Phys. Chem. B,'' 2005, 109, 2404 * H. Carabineiro, R. Villaneau, X. Carrier, P. Herson, F. Lemos, F. R. Ribeiro, A. Proust, M. Che; ''Inorg. Chem.,'' 2006, 45, 1915 * From Scheele and Berzelius to Müller: polyoxometalates (POMs) revisited and the "missing link" between the bottom up and top down approaches, P. Gouzerh, M. Che
''L’Actualité Chimique,'' 2006, 298, 9
* C. Dablemont, C.. Hamaker, R. Thouvenot, Z. Sojka, M. Che, E.A. Mattaa, A. Proust; ''Chem. Eur. J.'', 2006, 12, 9150

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Che, Michel 20th-century French chemists 21st-century French chemists Members of Academia Europaea 1941 births 2019 deaths Faraday Lecturers Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina