| François Robert | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 26, 1951 Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Isotopic Geology and Cosmochemistry |
| Institutions | CNRS - MNHN |
| Known for | Cosmochemistry, and Geochemistry of chondrites, of planets, of comets, Precambrian hydrosphere Theory of fractionation of stable isotopes |
| Notable awards | Médaille d'argent du CNRS Leonard Medal |
François Robert, born in Paris, France the 26th of January, 1951, is a French researcher specializing in isotope geochemistry and cosmochemistry. His work on the isotopes of hydrogen has enhanced the understanding of the origin of water and of organic matter in the solar system. He is famous for his work on lithium, beryllium and boron, light elements formed by the irradiation of interstellar matter. He received a Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society in 2011 for his work on the isotopic composition of stable nuclei.
He began his thesis in 1976 in the CEA Saclay under the direction of Marc Javoy and Liliane Merlivat and edited by Samuel Epstein at Caltech, Pasadena, California. He joined the CNRS in 1980 at the Laboratory of stable isotope geochemistry at the University of Jussieu, where he will defend his thesis in 1982 on the isotopic compositions (H, C, N) of carbonaceous meteorites. Between 1983 and 1990, he worked successively with Liliane Merlivat in Saclay, Samuel Epstein at the California Institute of Technology and Marc Javoy at Jussieu.
In 1990 he was elected Directeur de Recherche in the CNRS.
In 1992 he is working a few months in Thiruvananthapuram, India, where he creates a laboratory for isotopic analysis.
He was assigned in 1993, the Laboratory of Mineralogy Museum of Natural History led by Professor Jacques Fabre. Between 1993 and 2004, he collaborates with the Research Center of Petrology and Geochemistry of Nancy (CNRS / INPL). Under the leadership of Professor Stephen Roth he participates in the establishment of the French Society of stable isotopes of which he is the Senior Vice President in 1999.
From 1999, he undertook the determination of the molecular structure of the insoluble organic matter of meteorites in collaboration with the Laboratory of Organic and Inorganic Geochemistry of the Environment at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.
In 2006, he is responsible for a consortium of French laboratories set up by CNES, which has set itself the objective analysis of samples from the tail of Comet Wild 2 by the U.S. Stardust space mission (NASA).
Between 2003 and 2011, he was successively elected member of the Board of Directors and the Scientific Council of the MNHN and Chairman of the National Program of Planetology (PNP / CNRS-INSU). Since 2004 he is Director of the Laboratory of Mineralogy and Cosmochemistry of the Museum, in which there is an ion probe NanoSims (Cameca) accessible to national and international researchers as part of the National Analysis of the INSU-CNRS.