Christian Amatore (born 9 December 1951 in Algeria) is a French

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

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 ...

. He is an author of works in

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...

Biography

Coming from a modest family ( Sicilian by his father, Swedish by his mother), he spent a large part of his childhood in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

in several garrison towns of

Laghouat Laghouat () is the capital city, capital of the Laghouat Province, Algeria, south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Located in the Amour Range of the Saharan Atlas, the town is an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara Desert. It is an import ...

, Hain-el-Adjar,

Sidi Bel Abbès Sidi Bel Abbès (), also called Bel Abbès, is the capital''Sidi Bel Abbes'', lexicorient.com (Encyclopaedia of the Orient), internet article. of the Sidi Bel Abbès wilaya, Algeria. It is named after Sidi bel Abbass, a Muslim marabout or noble ...

where his father was an NCO of the Foreign Legion. He followed his father's advice "if you are intelligent but you have no education, you remain mute" and followed brilliant studies in Algeria and then in France where his Blackfoot family was repatriated: first to the Lycée Pascal-Paoli in Corte, then to the Lycée Thiers in Marseille where he completed two years of preparatory classes, and finally to the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(rue d'Ulm - Paris) where he obtained the agrégation de chimie in 1974. At the age of 18, he opted for French nationality. Following his thesis at the University of Paris-VII under

Jean-Michel Savéant Jean-Michel Savéant (19 September 1933 – 16 August 2020) was a French chemist who specialized in electrochemistry. He was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2000 and foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences i ...

, he was recruited by

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

as a Research Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry. After this, he left for the United States for two years as Assistant Professor in an organometallic chemistry research laboratory where he met Mark Wightman at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

with whom he had a pioneering role in the development of ultramicroelectrodes that he applied in artificial synapses. In 1984, he returned to France to found his laboratory at the ENS and became Director of the Chemistry Department at the ENS in 1997. He held these management functions until 2006.

Career

* Normalien (1971), agrégé de chimie (1974), docteur ès sciences (1979), docteur honoris causa from several European and Asian universities * Research Director at the

, Professor at the ENS. * Correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences in April 1996, member in November 2002. * Delegate for Education and Training of the French Academy of Sciences (2011) * Member of the steering committee of the Fondation Écologie d'Avenir.

Awards

* 2018 Fray International Sustainability Award at SIPS 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amatore, Christian 1951 births Living people École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research Members of the French Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 20th-century French chemists 21st-century French chemists