The Collège de France and The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour le Recherche are organising the De Gennes Days on 15-17 May 2008.


This conference will be held at the Collège de France headquarters and will provide the perfect opportunity to hear various eminent scientists talk of recent developments in research fields that have been largely influenced by the work of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes: magnetism, superconductivity, liquid crystals, polymers, liquid-state physics and interfaces, granular matter and biophysics.

Satellite symposia will be organised on polymers, biophysics, granular matter and superconductivity on 14 May 2008.

Scientific committee :

David Andelman, Tel Aviv University
Patrick Maestro, Rhodia
Philippe Nozières, Collège de France
Philip.A. Pincus (Chairman), University of California
Jacques Prost, Institut Curie
Mahn Won Kim, KAIST

Organisation committee :

The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la recherche

The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la recherche aims for scientific cooperation. This foundation is governed by private law and is considered of public interest.
Founded by three centres of excellence (Ecole Normale Supérieure ,Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle, and the Curie Institute) in collaboration with the CNRS and INSERM , the Foundation relies on a network of 134 laboratories and more than 1,300 researchers to launch discovery and application programmes.

The Collège de France

Since the 16th century, the Collège de France has
pursued a dual vocation: to be both a research centre
at the forefront of knowledge and a place for the
teaching of this new knowledge. The 52 chairs cover
a vast array of disciplines, including mathematics, the
study of great civilizations, physics, chemistry,
biology, medicine, philosophy, literature, social
sciences, economics, prehistory, archeology, history
and linguistics.
Courses are mainly given in Paris. However, each
professor is free to teach a part of his or her course in
another major French city or abroad. Foreign scholars
receive a particularly enthusiastic welcome. More
than fifty of these are invited to give lecture series
each year.
Courses are free and open to all, without enrolment
requirements, as long as space is available.