The Michel Monpetit Prize of the Academy of Science

The Michel Monpetit Prize of the Academy of Science was created by INRIA in honor of Michel Monpetit. It is awarded to a research scientist or engineer with distinguished work in the field of mathematics applied to computer science.

The Monpetit prize was founded in 1977 by the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automatic Control (INRIA) in honor of Michel Monpetit, deputy director of IRIA, who passed away in 1976 while on duty. The amount of the prize is 5,300 euros. It is awarded to a research scientist or engineer who carried out applied mathematics work in connection with computer science, automatic control, robotics, signal processing and so on, within a French research department.

The prizewinner's work must be especially remarkable in terms of the originality of its core ideas and its applied character. Other elements of appreciation include concern for the development of the obtained results and the opportunities for them to be used by French industry.

2007 Prizewinner - Xavier Leroy

Xavier Leroy, is 39 years old and currently holds posts as a senior research scientist at INRIA and scientific leader of the GALLIUM project-team at INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt. A graduate from the École Normale Supérieure, he obtained his PhD at the université Paris 7 under the supervision of Gérard Huet, before completing a year-long post-doc at the University of Stanford and then joining INRIA.

Xavier Leroy’s research focuses on new programming languages and improving software reliability. The functional language Objective Caml applies the results he has achieved in the fields of compilation, static typing and module systems. He has also worked on improving the security of embedded software in smart cards in collaboration with the start-up Trusted Logic. His current research focuses on formal proof techniques for mission critical software compilers.