CONTENTS - L'Oréal

L’ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE 2005
L’ORÉAL-UNESCO AWARDS 2005: The Laureates
interfaces, she has obtained novel experimental
observations and developed theories to interpret them.
Since the 1990s she has made many key contributions to
the understanding of foams, with numerous applications
for industry.
Dominique Langevin is the author of some 150 scientific
publications and has received a number of prizes and
awards. She has played an instrumental role in
developing European level networks and consortia, and
continues to be a scientific leader as well as a scientist.
Context of the Laureate’s research
Dominique Langevin or the fascinating
universe of liquids
By developing several original experimental methods for
the study of physical phenomena occurring at the surface
of liquids, by measuring with great precision their
superficial tension, and by better understanding the role
of surfactants - those substances that give liquids useful
properties for future applications - Dominique Langevin
has greatly contributed to advancing the physics of
liquids. For this substance between oil and water, she
has developed techniques and analytical approaches that
are envied (and at times copied) by other scientific teams
around the world. A small weight for a large volume is
one (too) brief way one might define the foams and
emulsions that Dominique Langevin has studied at the
CNRS; these products that flow too easily through your
fingers are a real challenge for experimental scientists!
And a paradox. What could be more ordinary than bath
bubbles, a draft beer, a tube of makeup, an emulsifier,
decorative and colored foams and liquids?
We use these products every day; at times we eat and
drink them. We do not necessarily ask ourselves how
they become a little more sophisticated each day in their
applications (i.e., putting out fires, preparing food
products and cosmetics, soil decontamination, and so
on). And what about tomorrow? By digging deeper into
the secrets of soft matter, new and more surprising
developments will become possible: imagine being able
to extract heavy petroleum trapped in underground rocks
(an estimated 50% of global reserves) or using solid
foams to build structures on planets that do not have the
Earth’s gravity, or inventing "smart" vectors for gene
therapy. Dominique Langevin has published some 150
articles in leading international scientific journals and is
one of the 4,000 chemists most often cited for the period
from 1981 to 1997. Despite her accomplishments in this
field, she wishes wholeheartedly for an improved
understanding of the stability of foams (why does a
bubble burst?) and emulsions, which illustrates the
difficulty and future dynamics of this discipline.
Scientific context
In the mid-60s, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes introduced
so-called "soft-matter physics" in France (a field that is
better known today thanks to the media attention for his
work on glues). New areas of research then opened in
order to better understand the universe of these curious
fluids (such as liquid crystals, produced industrially at
the end of the 1960s). Was it fate or a stroke of luck when
Dominique Langevin enrolled at the Ecole Normale de
Paris as an 18-year old student? Her desire to compare
mathematical science (her first love) with harsh reality
(experimental physics) quickly led her to work with
high-caliber scientists. This opportunity was decisive for
her as a woman scientist.
At the Hertzian Spectroscopy Laboratory that is part of
this prestigious research center, her colleagues, all