Jacques Prost, born in 1946 in Bourg-en-Bresse

Bourg-en-Bresse

Bourg-en-Bresse is a commune in eastern France, capital of the Ain department, and was capital of the former province of Bresse . It is located north-northeast of Lyon.The inhabitants of Bourg-en-Bresse are known as Burgiens.-Geography:...

, is a French physicist, General director of École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris

École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris

The école supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris or ESPCI ParisTech is a chemistry and physics engineering college run by the city of Paris, France and a member of ParisTech...

, member of the French Academy of Sciences

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 research...

.

Alumni of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud (sciences)

École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

The École Normale Supérieure de Lyon is a highly selective grande école located in Lyon, France. As one of France's three Écoles normales supérieures, ENS Lyon is associated with a strong French tradition of excellence and public service...

 (1965), Jacques Prost studied at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and founded and head (1987–1995) the "Theoretical Physico-Chemistry" Group of the ESPCI ParisTech under the direction of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991.-Biography:...

. His group studied liquid crystal

Liquid crystal

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that have properties between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid crystal. For instance, an LC may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. There are many different types of LC phases, which can be...

 and soft matter

Soft matter

Soft matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical states that are easily deformed by thermal stresses or thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, and a number of biological materials...

 properties. In 1996, he founded the group "Physical Chemistry Curie" lab at the Curie Institute (Paris)

Curie Institute (Paris)

thumb|Centre of protontherapyInstitut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in treatment of cancer...

. His group studies physical approaches to biological problems and describes cell motion, molecular motors

Molecular motors

Molecular motors are biological molecular machines that are the essential agents of movement in living organisms. Generally speaking, a motor may be defined as a device that consumes energy in one form and converts it into motion or mechanical work; for example, many protein-based molecular motors...

, the properties of biological membrane

Biological membrane

A biological membrane or biomembrane is an enclosing or separatingmembrane that acts as a selective barrier, within or around a cell. It consists of a lipid bilayer with embedded proteins that may constitute close to 50% of membrane content...

s and protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 adhesion.

Jacques Prost was the scientific advisor to Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine was a French oil company which merged with TotalFina to form TotalFinaElf. The new company changed its name to Total in 2003...

 from 1990 to 1999. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences

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 research...

 since 2007. Jacques Prost has been the General director of ESPCI ParisTech, since 2003.