Lydéric Bocquet is Director of Research at the CNRS and Professor at the École normale supérieure. He heads the Micromégas team at ENS, which combines experiments, theory and modeling to explore the intimate mechanics of fluids and their interfaces, from macroscopic to molecular scales. One of his main lines of research over the last ten years has been nanofluidics, the science of molecular flows. This world of the infinitely small in fluidics is the frontier where the continuum of fluid mechanics meets the atomic nature of matter, or even its quantum nature. He has developed unique experiments to study individual nano-channels, demonstrating giant osmotic transport in boron-nitrogen nanotubes, ultra-fast flows in carbon nanotubes - now explained by quantum friction effects - and neuromorphic effects in two-dimensional systems.
Nanofluidics is also a field where the path from fundamental science to breakthrough innovation is a short one, notably in desalination, water remediation and osmotic energy.His fundamental research has led to the creation of four start-ups, including Sweetch Energy in the field of osmotic energy and Hummink in nanoscale additive manufacturing.
He also has a keen interest in everyday physics. He was Director of the Institut Pierre-Gilles-de-Gennes until 2021. He has received several prizes and awards, including the Gentner-Kastler prize in 2022, the CNRS silver medal in 2017, and two ERC Advanced Grant fellowships in 2010 and 2018.