The Jacques-Louis Lions Prize of the Academy of Science

The French Society for Applied and Industrial Mathematics (SMAI) created the Jacques-Louis Lions Prize in 2003, in collaboration with INRIA and CNES. Jacques-Louis Lions was President of INRIA from 1980 to 1984 and President of CNES from 1984 to 1992.

This grand thematic prize of the Academy of Sciences in applied mathematics is awarded every other year. It is endowed with a sum of 10,000 euros. The prize goes to a scientist for a collection of works of great value in applied mathematics, done in France or in close collaboration with a French department, in the fields in which Jacques-Louis Lions himself worked: partial differential equations, control theory, numerical analysis, scientific computing and their applications.

2007 Prizewinner - Michel Fliess

Michel Fliess is a senior research scientist at CNRS and works at the Ecole polytechnique. After completing his Thèse d'Etat (doctorate) on computer theory, supervised by M.-P. Schützenberger, he turned his attentions to control following an invitation to the United States in 1973 from R.E. Kalman .  He provided a fresh approach to this subject using original algebraic tools. In 1991, alongside J. Lévine, P. Martin and P. Rouchon (Ecole des Mines de Paris), he introduced the concept of "differentially flat" systems to better understand control: many remarkable applications in a wide range of industrial fields stemmed from this concept, both in France and abroad.

In 2002 , he began conducting research with H. Sira-Ramirez (CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico) into algebraic assessment and identification methods. Today these methods constitute the core element in the ALIEN team, of which he is the leader. The results obtained shed new light on many questions in control, signals and communications and have just entered their implementation phase.

In 1987, he was awarded the Michel Monpetit prize from the French Academy of Science and, in 1991, the silver medal from the CNRS.