Yves Bréchet () (born October 12, 1961) is a physicist, specialist of

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

, former High Commissioner for Atomic Energy of France, current Scientific Director of Saint Gobain, professor (part-time) at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, and a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

Biography

Yves Bréchet graduated from

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

(1981),

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conj ...

(1992) and obtained his doctoral degree and

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

from

Joseph Fourier University Joseph Fourier University (UJF, , also known as Grenoble I) was a French university situated in the city of Grenoble and focused on the fields of sciences, technologies and health. It is now part of the Université Grenoble Alpes. Importance ...

in 1987 and 1992, respectively. He has been a full professor at Grenoble INP/ Phelma between 1987 and 2012, an adjunct professor of materials science and engineering at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

(Canada), a senior Research Professor at 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 annually distinguishes a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...

, and a member of the SIMaP (Materials and Processes Science and Engineering) Laboratory with the

University of Grenoble The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers. Es ...

. On 30 November 2010, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences.Press Release (in French)
from the French Academy of Sciences (November 30, 2010) He has been a member of the international scientific council of

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Luxembourg City. It is ranked second on the list of steel producers behind Baowu, and had an annual crude steel production of 58 millio ...

and the

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...

, and a scientific advisor to

Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Alcan is a Canada-based mining company. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, it is a subsidiary of global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsi ...

EDF EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, their Belgian subsidiary * Environmental Defense Fund, ...

and

ONERA The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...

, as well as several editing boards of scientific journals On 19 September 2012, he was named to the position of High Commissioner for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies by the

President of the French Republic The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...

, succeeding

Catherine Cesarsky Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky (born Catherine Jeanne Gattegno on 24 February 1943) is an Argentine and French astronomer, known for her research activities in astrophysics and for her leadership in astronomy and atomic energy. She is the current ch ...

. He resigned from this position in 2018, and is now Scientific director of Saint Gobain, while keeping a position as Distinguished Research professor at Monash university, adjunct professor at McMaster university and advisory professor at Jiaotong university. Since 2018 he has been giving a course on "Scientific analysis for political decisions" at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. He is also president of the Scientific council of

Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs ...

, and president of the scientific council of the non-profit "Maisons pour les Sciences" foundation for scientific education founded by

Georges Charpak Georges Charpak (; born Jerzy Charpak; 1 August 1924 – 29 September 2010) was a Polish-born French physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992 for his invention of the multiwire proportional chamber. Life Georges Charpak was born ...

Research activities

His activities have spanned the fields of physical metallurgy, thermodynamics, microstructures, phase transformations, plasticity, fracture micromechanics, material selection, structural materials design, biointerfaces, structural biomimetics. He has written more than 600 papers, co-authored 6 books and supervised more than 80 doctoral students..

Honors and awards

* Pechiney Prize of the

(1990) * Gledden Fellowship,

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

(1993) * Materials Science and Technology Prize of FEMS (1995) *

Körber European Science Award Körber AG is a strategic management holding company based in Hamburg. In 2023, the group had more than 12,000 employees at more than 100 locations worldwide and generated sales of €2.9 billion. History 1946–1992 On July 14, 1946, Ku ...

(1996) together with M. Ashby and M. Rappaz * Junior Fellow of the

(1992–1997) * Weinberg Lecture,

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, Canada (2003) * Sawamura and Guimaraes awards from ISIJ, Japan (2006) * Cohen Lectures,

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(2006) * D.K.McDonald Lecture, Canada (2007) *

CNRS Silver Medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). It is awarded to a researcher for "the originality, quality and importance of their work, re ...

(2009) * Max Planck Lecture,

Max Planck Institute for Metals Research Founded on 18 March 2011, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) is one of the 86 research institutes of the Max Planck Society. With locations in Stuttgart and Tübingen, it combines interdisciplinary research in the growing f ...

, Stuttgart (2009) * Thermec Distinguished award (2009) * Senior Fellow of the

* Chevalier de la

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(2010) * Lee Hsun Research Award, China (2010) * Henry Marion Howe Medal (2010) * Prix Gay-Lussac-Humboldt (2010) * Member of the

(2010) * Member of the

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 Europe ...

(2011) * Wolf-Ramanujan lecture (2012) * Docteur Honoris Causa

(2012) * Professor at

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, annual chair "Innovation and Technology" (2012–2013) * Grande medaille de la Société Française de Métallurgie et Materiaux (2013) * Cambridge Granta award for excellence in teaching in materials science (2018) *

Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. It is a membe ...

"Master Distinguished Lecture" (2018) * Kelly lecture "Armours and Brasiers" (Cambridge 2019) * Docteur Honoris Causa de l'

Université Catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

(2019)

Bibliography

* Y. Bréchet, ''Microstructures, Mechanical Properties and Processes'', EUROMAT 99. Volume 3 (2000). * J. Agren, Y. Bréchet, C. Hutchinson, J. Philibert, G. Purdy, ''Thermodynamics and Phase Transformations'', EDP Sciences, 2006 (). * Y. Bréchet, D. Embury, P. Onck, ''Architectured MuItifunctional Materials'', MRS Symposium Proceedings (2009) * M.F. Ashby, D.R.H Jones, Y. Bréchet, J. Courbon, M. Dupeux, "Matériaux. Tome 1, Propriétés, applications et conception", Dunod, 2008 (). * J. Philibert, A. Vignes, Y. Bréchet, P. Combrade, "Métallurgie, du minerai au matériau", Dunod, 2002 (). * Salvo, Y. Bréchet, M.F. Ashby, "Traité des matériaux, Tome 20, Sélection des matériaux et des procédés de mise en œuvre", PPUR, 2001 (). * Y.Brechet, Lecon inaugurale au college de France " du materiaux de rencontre au materiau sur mesure" (2013) * Y.Estrin, Y.Brechet, J.Dunlop, P.FRatzl "architectured materials" (2019)

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brechet, Yves Living people 1961 births French materials scientists 21st-century French physicists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of Academia Europaea École Polytechnique alumni Grenoble Alpes University alumni People from Chamalières Academic staff of Grenoble Institute of Technology