Louis Néel

Eugène Louis Néel Felix ( born November 22, 1904 in Lyon, † November 17, 2000 in Brive- la -Gaillarde ) was a French physicist. Néel was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics " for his fundamental achievements and discoveries in the field of antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism, which have led to important insights in solid state physics."

Néel attended high school in Lyon ( Lycée du Parc ) and studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure and received his doctorate at the University of Strasbourg. In 1937 he became a professor in Strasbourg and 1946 to 1976 he was a professor at the University of Grenoble, where he was from 1971 to 1976 director of the Polytechnic Institute, and from 1956 to 1971 the Centre for Nuclear Research.

He discovered around 1930 the phenomenon of antiferromagnetism. According to him, inter alia, the Neel temperature and the Néel wall are named. The Néel temperature of the critical temperature above which a antiferromagnet is paramagnetic (similar to the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic material ). His studies on the weak ferromagnetism in certain rocks formed the basis for subsequent studies on the paleomagnetism. In 1948, he discovered the phenomenon of ferrimagnetism.

In addition to the Nobel Prize he received in 1948 the André Blondel Medal, 1952 Holweck price, the 1963 Prix des trois physiciens, 1965, the Gold Medal of the CNRS in 1938 and the Prix Félix Robin. In 1957 he was president of the Société française de physique.

It was established in 1940 Knight of the Legion of Honor, 1958 Commander and Grand Officer in 1966 and was awarded the Grand Cross in 1974. He received the Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite, the Croix de Guerre with Palm (1940 ) and was commander of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1957). He was a member of the Academie des Sciences ( 1953) and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - National Academy of Sciences ( 1964).

The Louis Néel Medal of the EGU is named after him.