A symbolic choice, almost obvious, to honor Eugène Constant, the laboratory’s first director from 1992 to 1998. A man whose energy and vision gave the institute its momentum and personality. Many figures from the IEMN attended the event: Monique Constant, his wife, as well as several former directors—Georges Salmer, Director of the IEMN from 1998 to 2001—Alain Cappy, Director from 2002 to 2009 — Lionel Buchaillot, Director from 2010 to 2019 and current Director of the CNRS Engineering Institute — not to mention Thierry Melin, the current Director of the IEMN, and a large gathering of colleagues who came to share this moment.
The first director of IEMN and a renowned expert in semiconductors and microwave devices, Eugène Constant was a staunch advocate of research ranging from fundamental to applied science. A visionary, he was one of the architects behind the creation of IEMN as we know it today: a laboratory where different scientific communities come together to foster exchanges, ideas, and multidisciplinary projects.
A brilliant researcher, he was also an outstanding teacher. Passionate, clear, captivating, he had the rare talent of conveying the physical meaning of the phenomena he studied, even when they were hidden behind complex equations. He was an educator whom his students and young colleagues remember with admiration.
