Professor Guy Bouchitté honored by the Académie des sciences
Under the Cupola of the Institut de France, on October 28, the Toulon mathematician received the Grand Prix Jacques-Louis Lions, rewarding forty years...
His work is at the heart of digital, engineering, and nanoscience challenges. Conducted by the researcher at the IMATH laboratory of the Université de Toulon early in his career, it notably inspired applications in image processing: medical imaging, embedded vision.
In the 1990s, Guy Bouchitté authored pioneering work in the fields of artificial metamaterials presenting unique electromagnetic and optical properties: negative refraction, optical cloaking, super-resolution lenses. His research helped establish a solid theoretical foundation essential for predicting and designing these new structures.
A major contribution of Professor Bouchitté also lies in discovering the link between shape optimization and optimal transport theory. Applied to engineering, this mathematical bridge has generated new design methods for structures (vaults, bridges, grids, etc.) using fewer materials without compromising their strength.
More surprisingly, the optimal transport method introduced there also applies to big data statistics and, by extension, to artificial intelligence and finance.
This Jacques-Louis Lions Prize, awarded by the Académie des sciences, which honors a tireless behind-the-scenes worker, the IMATH laboratory, and the Université de Toulon, is a beautiful tribute to fundamental research.