The CNRS Gold Medal for 2019 from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, has been awarded to Thomas Ebbesen, University of Strasbourg, France. His research focuses on light-matter interactions, and his interests include plasmonics, the optical control of particle flow, and the use of chiral optical forces.
The award was presented during a ceremony celebrating 80 years of the CNRS in Paris, France, on October 24, 2019. The medal is one of France’s most prestigious scientific awards and honors researchers who have made exceptional contributions to the vitality and reputation of French research.
Thomas Ebbesen, born in 1954 in Oslo, Norway, studied chemistry at Oberlin College, OH, USA, and received his Ph.D. from Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, France, in 1980. He worked at the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory, IN, USA, at the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories in Tsukuba, Japan, and at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, NJ, USA. He became a Professor at the University of Strasbourg in 1999. Thomas Ebbesen is currently the Head of the Center for Frontier Research in Chemistry in Strasbourg and Director of the Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Studies.
Among other honors, Ebbesen has received the 2014 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for his contributions to nano-optics, and the Grand Prix 2018 de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie for his or his work on the interaction of synthetic compounds with light. He is a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and a Foreign Member of the French Academy of Science.
Selected Publications
- Modification of Enzyme Activity by Vibrational Strong Coupling of Water,
Robrecht M. A. Vergauwe, Anoop Thomas, Kalaivanan Nagarajan, Atef Shalabney, Jino George, Thibault Chervy, Marcus Seidel, Eloïse Devaux, Vladimir Torbeev, Thomas W. Ebbesen,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 15324–15328.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201908876 - Cavity Catalysis by Cooperative Vibrational Strong Coupling of Reactant and Solvent Molecules,
Jyoti Lather, Pooja Bhatt, Anoop Thomas, Thomas W. Ebbesen, Jino George,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 10635–10638.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201905407 - Correction to Vibro-Polaritonic IR Emission in the Strong Coupling Regime,
Marcus Seidel, Thibault Chervy, Anoop Thomas, Elias Akiki, Robrecht M. A. Vergauwe, Atef Shalabney, Jino George, Eloïse Devaux, James A. Hutchison, Cyriaque Genet, Thomas W. Ebbesen,
ACS Photonics 2019, 6, 1823–1825.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.8b01756 - Modifying Chemical Landscapes by Coupling to Vacuum Fields,
James A. Hutchison, Tal Schwartz, Cyriaque Genet, Eloïse Devaux, Thomas W. Ebbesen,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1592–1596.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201107033 - Surface-plasmon circuitry,
Thomas W. Ebbesen, Cyriaque Genet, Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi,
Phys. Today 2008, 61, 44–50.
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2930735 - Plasmonic photon sorters for spectral and polarimetric imaging,
Eric Laux, Cyriaque Genet, Torbjorn Skauli, Thomas W. Ebbesen,
Nat. Photonics 2008, 2, 161–164.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.1
Also of Interest
- Grand Prix 2018 de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie,
ChemViews Mag. 2019.
Thomas Ebbesen, University of Strasbourg, France, and Susumu Kitagawa, University of Kyoto, Japan, honored - Cooperative Cavity Catalysis,
ChemViews Mag. 2019.
Catalyzing chemical reactions in the dark by light-matter interactions
