André Neveu: Lead Climber

Theoretical physics? “A discipline that operates at the intersection of mathematics and physics, ”explains André Neveu. Its goal: to develop mathematical models to describe and understand experimental results. “That is exactly what Newton did when he formulated the law of universal gravitation to explain the motions of the Moon and the planets observed by Kepler ,” the specialist explains.

These models, whose“elegance, beauty, and simplicity” André Neveu praises, have been at the heart of his work for over 50 years. First during his studies at the École Normale Supérieure, then at Princeton University from 1969 to 1971, and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton—of which Einstein himself was a member—where he remained until 1977. Upon returning to France, the researcher worked for six years at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and then for an equal number of years at CERN in Geneva before arriving at the University of Montpellier in 1989.

Various modes of vibration of a string

If awarded in 2020, the Dirac Medal will recognize the work André Neveu has carried out since the beginning of his career: the formulation of string theory.“This model was devised to describe certain properties of elementary particles. It describes particles not as points, but as various excitations of a string, much like a piano string that has many harmonics,”explains the physicist.

A field of research that continues to fascinate him:“There are still so many things we don’t understand—some of which are even beyond our comprehension—and we still need to gain a better understanding of these objects and their properties.”And to advance this cutting-edge research, André Neveu emphasizes collaboration:“We need cross-pollination! We need to be open and exchange ideas with colleagues from other countries who see things from a different perspective. This is essential for generating new ideas. We need to broaden our horizons to gain new perspectives.”

A philosophy that André Neveu himself put into practice and which has borne fruit: even before receiving the Dirac Medal, the researcher had already been awarded numerous prizes for his contributions to theoretical physics, including the Paul Langevin Prize from the French Physical Society in 1973 and the Gentner-Kastler Prize in 1988.