Physics of soft condensed matter

Soft condensed matter can be defined as opposed to what it is not: it is neither gaseous (it should not be condensed), nor crystalline (it should not be soft). This is true.

What remains nevertheless has common points that allow a more complete definition : soft condensed matter undergoes physical phenomenon that become relevent only at length scales much larger than that of its elementary components. It displays emergent phenomenon and properties (e.g. self-organization, self-similarity, phase transitions…) that are highly sensitive to certain quantities that are also emergent (e.g. thermal energy, entropy…).

Here you will find some highlights of my contributions in this area. They are concerned with the physics of polymers, macromolecular networks, gels and percolation, proteins, lipid bilayers, membranes and nanopores, very often at the frontier of physics, chemistry and biology.

An experiment consists in imagining and bringing together the conditions allowing an observation; to carry out this observation, that is to say to make measurements; and extract their meaning. All these points are subject to technical aspects which are mostly delegated by researchers but which often interest me. Here you will find my contributions in this area.

I am basically an experimenter, that is to say, someone disagreeable who is paid to challenge others and question theories, because that is the only way they can progress. At the heart of these theories and as a common thread in my work is the concept of entropy. It is something I had to work with, so I did not have to reinvent everything, but what exactly is it ? The Covid-19 parenthesis gave me the opportunity to deepen this theoretical point. Hence my most recent papers .