Prize giving at the French Academy of Science

Lise-Marie Lacroix is the winner of the French Academy of Science Prize for « Chemistry at the heart of the challenges of today’s society ».

This Prize, a Federation-Gay-Lussac (FGL) initiative, was given for the first time in 2022, under the dome of the Institute de France. The aim is to reward a researcher, teacher-researcher, or an engineer in research and development working in a laboratory, company or research center in France.

This prize highlights the importance of chemistry in the challenges faced by today’s society.  

Lise-Marie Lacroix is a lecturer at the Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and member of the Laboratory of the Physics and Chemistry of Nano-Objects (LPCNO). In 2022, she was appointed junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. 

She uses both physics and chemistry in the elaboration of new materials by the controlled assembly of nanoparticles with optimized properties. By combining the study of reaction mechanisms in syntheses and multi-scale physical properties, she was notably able to elaborate high performance permanent magnets, without using rare-earth elements.

« This prize rewards highly-talented scientists who have shown how chemistry and process engineering can grasp the challenges faced by society and bring solutions such as lower carbon levels, better recycling, advances in health and food domains, and new industrial systems, etc. FGL’s mission is to attract new talent, train them in research and innovation in order to meet the needs of companies and of society in general », explains Laurent Prat, President of the Federation Gay-Lussac.

« This prize, open to all chemistry disciplines, demonstrates that chemistry is at the heart of solutions to meet the challenges of today’s society. Chemists often say « Chemistry is everywhere; chemistry is life. ». I totally agree with them. » sums up Patrick Flandrin, President of the French Academy of Science.