Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Prize winner

NOBEL Prize-winning scientist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who was dubbed the ‘Isaac Newton of our time’ for his pioneering research on liquid crystals, has died.

He was 74. De Gennes was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991 for his breakthrough work on liquid crystals, a substance that has the properties of both a liquid and a solid and is now used in televisions and computer screens.On awarding the prize, the jury called de Gennes the “Isaac Newton of our time”.De Gennes rejected the comparison with the English scientist, chalking the description up to the “Nordic lyricism” of the Stockholm-based award’s jury, French media reported.De Gennes was home-schooled by his parents and later attended Paris’ elite Ecole Normale Superieure university, according to Le Monde.After graduating, he began research on atomic energy and magnetism.While other laboratories were paralysed by the student riots that shook France in 1968, Gennes brought together several teams of researchers to work on liquid crystals, Le Monde said.His work helped make France a world leader in the field.Minister for Higher Education Valerie Pecresse called de Gennes the “perfect example of the teacher-scientist.”De Gennes was a member of France’s Academy of Science.A high school in Digne-les-Bains, in southern France, and a square in Orsay both bear his name.He is survived by his wife and three children.Nampa-APDe Gennes was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991 for his breakthrough work on liquid crystals, a substance that has the properties of both a liquid and a solid and is now used in televisions and computer screens.On awarding the prize, the jury called de Gennes the “Isaac Newton of our time”.De Gennes rejected the comparison with the English scientist, chalking the description up to the “Nordic lyricism” of the Stockholm-based award’s jury, French media reported.De Gennes was home-schooled by his parents and later attended Paris’ elite Ecole Normale Superieure university, according to Le Monde.After graduating, he began research on atomic energy and magnetism.While other laboratories were paralysed by the student riots that shook France in 1968, Gennes brought together several teams of researchers to work on liquid crystals, Le Monde said.His work helped make France a world leader in the field.Minister for Higher Education Valerie Pecresse called de Gennes the “perfect example of the teacher-scientist.”De Gennes was a member of France’s Academy of Science.A high school in Digne-les-Bains, in southern France, and a square in Orsay both bear his name.He is survived by his wife and three children.Nampa-AP