Pierre-Gilles de Gennes. 24 October 1932—18 May 2007

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was one of the leading physical scientists of his generation. Awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1991, he made outstanding contributions to both solid state physics (magnetism, superconductivity) and so-called soft matter (matière molle in French, a term he coined in his Nobel lecture), which includes among other systems polymers and liquid crystals. He was the first to realize the deep mathematical analogies that exist between these areas—for instance between polymers and magnetism, and (separately) between superconductors and liquid crystals. These abstract and surprising insights were those of a theoristpar excellence , yet de Gennes was closely concerned with experiments throughout his career and was a sought-after contributor to industrial research. In several cases, such as his work on wetting and adhesion, de Gennes’s intense curiosity, combined with an unerring ability to detect weak points in the ‘received wisdom’, led him to rebuild the scientific knowledge base, with profound consequences for subsequent research in these areas.