News

Paul has a major contribution to the emergence of an internationally renowned centre for ceramics in Limoges, in terms of both teaching and research. He was truly one of the pioneers of what has been for many years, since 1975, a recognised research laboratory.

Paul arrived in 1962 as an assistant to Professor Michel Billy at the Collège Scientifique Universitaire de Limoges, which was to become the University of Limoges in 1968.

He was one of the founders of the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry and Heterogeneous Kinetics, which later became a research team dedicated to ceramics and entitled "Nitride Ceramics", for which he helped to obtain the label of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 1975, a sign of the quality of the work undertaken. This accreditation has been maintained ever since.

In 1981, following the arrival in 1979 of colleagues from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Céramiques Industrielles, which was relocated from Sèvres to Limoges, he was one of the key players in the creation of the Laboratoire des Céramiques Nouvelles, a joint research unit between the University of Limoges and the CNRS comprising 4 teams, including the Nitride Ceramics team;

Paul has put his first-rate skills at the service of the group, in particular through his positions on the boards of the laboratory and of the university supervisory body, and his leadership of the New Ceramics team for many years.

Paul has had a leading scientific career, playing a pioneering role in the field of ceramic precursors. He enjoyed international recognition, as evidenced by the fact that he has written more than 70 leading scientific articles and has collaborated nationally and internationally on materials such as nitrides, oxynitrides and carbides.

He was a renowned scientist, rigorous and endowed with great intellectual curiosity. As demonstrated by the distinction he received in 1992 from the World Academy of Ceramics: he was awarded the title of Academician in recognition of his outstanding scientific contribution to research in the field of advanced ceramics.

His ceramic colleagues from Limoges