Jean-Pierre Wolf (born July 14, 1960) is a French and

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

biophotonics The term biophotonics denotes a combination of biology and photonics, with photonics being the science and technology of generation, manipulation, and detection of photons, quantum units of light. Photonics is related to electronics and photons. ...

expert and a professor at the Applied Physics Department (GAP) of the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

Education and career

Wolf was born in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and studied physics at

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

, where he received his diploma in 1984 and PhD in 1987 under the supervision of

Ludger Wöste Ludger Wöste (born 2 May 1946 in Emsbüren) is a German physicist and professor at the Free University of Berlin. He is known for research in laser control of chemistry and laser-based weather control through the creation of plasma channels by las ...

. He received

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

from the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon ( , or UdL) is a university system ( ''ComUE'') based in Lyon, France. It comprises 12 members and 9 associated institutions. The 3 main constituent universities in this center are: Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, which f ...

in 1991.

Research

His research activities are related with applications of ultrafast spectroscopy for biological, medical, and environmental research. He is working with Jérôme Kasparian on

laser beams A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

to control the weather. The technique is similar to

cloud seeding Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail, or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from ...

, and could potentially influence the triggering and guiding of

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

. In 2018, he is one of the two winners of the

ZEISS Zeiss or Zeiß may refer to: People *Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), German optician and entrepreneur *Emil Zeiß (1833–1910), German Protestant minister and painter * Juan Pablo Zeiss (born 1989), Argentine rugby union player * Mary Zeiss Sta ...

Research Award for his research on high intensity lasers and their applications to atmospheric sciences. Since 2017 his group is taking part into the Consortium of the European project Laser Lighting Rod. In 2023 the LLR consortium demonstrated the first guiding of natural lightning over more than 50 m using laser

filamentation Filamentation is the anomalous growth of certain bacteria, such as ''Escherichia coli'', in which cells continue to elongate but do not divide (no septa formation). The cells that result from elongation without division have multiple chromosomal ...

References

External links

Jean-Pierre Wolf Laser Weather and Climate ConferenceOfficial CVPersonal websiteInterview of GAP Biophotonics leader Prof. Jean-Pierre Wolf on German TV BR Fernsehen
Swiss physicists Living people Academic staff of the University of Geneva École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni 1960 births Scientists from Lausanne {{Physicist-stub