professor michel che born in lyon france completed his doctorate epr study of titanium dioxide in 1968 at the university of lyon and studied as a postdoctoral fellow at princeton university 196971 he was appointed professor at university of paris vi pierre et marie curie in 1975 and senior member of the institut universitaire de france in 1995his work has led to around 400 publications in international journals he has been very active in the promotion and organisation of catalysis being the presidentfounder of efcats european federation of catalysis societies with creation in 1993 of the cycle of the now famous biennial europacat congresses and president of iacs international association of catalysis societies in 200004 culminating with the organisation and opening of the 13th international congress on catalysis in paris in 2004his research activity has been largely devoted to catalysis processes involving gassolid liquidsolid and solidsolid interfaces he has pioneered a molecular approach to heterogeneous catalysis based on transition elements taken as probes specific isotopes and physical techniques which provided him with an original position in the field his work has led to the emergence of interfacial coordination chemistry at the junction of colloidal electro supramolecular geo and solidstate chemistries his studies have largely contributed to improve understanding of the elementary processes involved in laboratoryindustrial catalysis and particularly watermediated assemblies in catalyst preparationmichel ches awards include j h vant hoff netherlands japan society for the promotion of science japan m sklodowskacurie and p curie poland a joannides and p sue france von humboldt gaylussac germany he is doctor honoris causa of several universities cracow poland lisbon portugal bucharest romania and member of several highranking academies eg academia europaea deutsche akademie der naturforscher leopoldinain 2014 he was awarded the royal society of chemistrys faraday lectureship prize