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Gilles Kahn, Scientific Director of INRIA, is the first researcher in computer
science to enter the Academy of Science in the division of "mathematical and
physical sciences and their applications".
Born in 1946, Gilles Kahn is a former
student of École Polytechnique
(class of 1964). He began his career as a researcher at Stanford University in
California where CEA, the french atomic energy agency, had sent him. His work
was concerned with parallel programming.
He rejoined INRIA in 1971. As project head, he conducted research on
programming environments and later on computer proof environments. From January
1980 to July 1983 he was part of INRIA's management. In 1983, he participated
in the creation of the INRIA Sophia Antipolis research unit where he started a
research project on a programming environment: the Centaur system, based on a
mathematical description of programming languages.
Among the scientific responsibilities exercised by Gilles Kahn, in addition to
his research work, is his participation in the commission of enquiry on the 501
Ariane flight in July 1996. He was also responsible, with Didier Lombard, for
the publication of the report on "Research and Development, the Key to a New
Expansion of Telecommunications in France" in November 1996.
Gilles Kahn is also a member of the Academia Europæa and of the Scientific Board of the École Normale Supérieure of Lyons. He also chairs the Scientific Board of Cermics (the research center of the École des Ponts) and takes part in the Steering Committee of the International Institute of Software Technology of the United Nations University. In 1992, he received the Michel Monpetit Prize from the Academy of Science.
The election of Gilles Kahn is an honor for INRIA and is viewed as a very
positive appreciation of the quality of research carried out at the Institute.
The election also gives recognition to the importance of the scientific and
technological issues raised by research carried out by INRIA.
