The European Physical Society has awarded the Aflvén Prize to Michel Koenig, CNRS Research Director at the Intense Laser Laboratory (LULI*), for his contributions to plasma physics.
Stilla Technologies develops and markets high-precision genetic analysis systems now used by several hundred laboratories worldwide. The American group Bio-rad laboratories is to acquire it for $225 million. This successful company has its origins on École polytechnique campus, and more specifically in the hydrodynamics laboratory (LadHyX*), in Charles Baroud's group. Charles Baroud looks back on the first steps of this adventure, which began in 2011.
Antonin Bergeaud has graduated from the Cycle ingénieur polytechnicien program and is the winner of the 2025 Best Young Economist award. Currently associate professor at HEC Paris, he specializes in growth, productivity and innovation systems.
Created in January 2025 by Thales, world leader in high-power lasers, GenF aims to develop and industrialize a process for creating a new, safe, abundant, inexpensive and non-polluting form of energy using the inertial confinement nuclear fusion process. The inauguration of its premises in Le Barp, south of Bordeaux, was attended by representatives of the various stakeholders involved.
Claude Sabbah, a mathematician at Laurent Schwartz Mathematics Center (CMLS*), has just been awarded two Frontiers of Science prizes for two of his scientific articles.
A study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters by an international team coordinated by Tahar Amari, CNRS research director at the Center for...
The year 2025 has been proclaimed International Year of Quantum Science and Technology by the United Nations. In the 20th century, quantum mechanics radically changed the way we think about the physical world. Today, quantum physics is in the midst of a renaissance that is opening up new and unexpected applications. Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, Director of Research at the Center for Theoretical Physics (CPHT*) and Deputy Director of the Quantum-Saclay center, gives us an overview of this “second quantum revolution”.
The final of Institut Polytechnique de Paris' Ma Thèse en 180 secondes competition took place on Wednesday April 2 at École Polytechnique. Amélie Kies, doctoral student at the Applied Optics Laboratory (LOA*), Laure Corazza, doctoral student at the Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory (LMD*), Maxime Vigoureux from the Organic Synthesis Laboratory (LSO*) and Louis Berthier, from the Center for Applied Mathematics (CMAP*) were rewarded.
The goal of the QCMX Lab is to explore the quantum properties of electronic circuits and matter. Its strategy consists in coupling superconducting circuits normally used to process quantum information to materials in order to probe their quantum properties and discover new electronic states of matter.
Claire Fauvarque Nuytten (X2009), responsible for new elastomer process developments within the the French tire company Michelin Group's R&D department, was awarded the Pierre Faurre 2024 prize on March 26, 2025. In particular, she has developed a patented sustainable elastomer that is now essential for reducing the energy consumption of Michelin products.
Plasana Medical, founded in 2022 by Yves Matton, an entrepreneur in the Technofounders startup studio, and co-founded by Antoine Rousseau, Director of Research at the Plasma Physics Laboratory (LPP*) at École polytechnique, has won recognition for its innovative cold plasma technology. This innovation earned the company a place in Le Point's Palmarès des Inventeurs 2025, a prestigious award for entrepreneurs whose technological advances are transforming everyday life.
A study by a team from the Structural Biology of the Cell Laboratory (BIOC*), with the participation of the Molecular Chemistry Laboratory (LCM*), published in Nature communications, reveals the mechanisms that initiate translation of the genetic code into proteins in an archaea. This result supports the hypothesis that eukaryotes emerged from the archaeal domain during evolution.