Bernard Derrida is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 theoretical

Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...

 physicist

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

. He is best known for his work in statistical mechanics

Statistical mechanics

Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamicsThe terms statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics are used interchangeably...

.

He entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure

École Normale Supérieure

The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 in 1971, and received his doctorate in 1976. Since 1993 he has been professor of physics at Université Pierre et Marie Curie and at ENS. He is an expert in statistical mechanics who has adapted statistical-physics ideas to various problems in biology.
He was elected, in 2004 to the Académie des sciences.

In 2010, he was awarded the Boltzmann Medal

Boltzmann Medal

The Boltzmann Medal is the most important prize awarded to physicists that obtain new results concerning statistical mechanics; it is named after the celebrated physicist Ludwig Boltzmann...

 by IUPAP with John Cardy

John Cardy

John Lawrence Cardy FRS is a British theoretical physicist at the University of Oxford. He is best known for his work in theoretical condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics, and in particular for research on critical phenomena and conformal field theory.He was an undergraduate and...

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