The Philosopher
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
The face
The background
- Nationality:
- French
- Schools:
- Landau–de Gennes theory, Reptation, Bogoliubov–de Gennes equation, Caroli–de Gennes–Matricon state, Fisher–de Gennes scaling
- Branchs:
- Soft matter physics, Polymer physics, Superconductivity, Neutron scattering, Magnetism, Liquid crystals, Interfacial problems, Granular materials
- Period:
- 20th century
The synopsis
The works
Contribution à l'étude de la diffusion magnétique des neutrons
Superconductivity of metals and alloys
The physics of liquid crystals
Scaling concepts in polymer physics
Introduction to polymer dynamics
Fragile Objects: Soft Matter, Hard Science, and the Thrill of Discovery
Soft Interfaces: The 1994 Dirac Memorial Lecture
Simple Views on Condensed Matter: Expanded Edition
Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves
Petit Point: A Candid Portrait on the Aberrations of Science
The quotes
Usually a fiber, after being dipped in a liquid, shows a string of droplets, and thus, for some time, people thought that most common fibers were non-wettable.
The essential property of insoluble bilayers is that they optimise their area at fixed surfactant number.
Benjamin Franklin performed a beautiful experiment using surfactants: on a pond at Clapham Common, he poured a small amount of oleic acid, a natural surfactant which tends to form a dense film at the water-air interface.
What do we mean by soft matter? Americans prefer to call it 'complex fluids.' This is a rather ugly name, which tends to discourage the young students.
Surfactants allow us to protect a water surface and to generate these beautiful soap bubbles, which are the delight of our children.
I have emphasized experiments more than theory. Of course, we need some theory when thinking of soft matter.