École normale supérieure de Lyon

According to a press release dated October 20, 2026. A consortium of scientists from Université Côte d’Azur and the CNRS—including members of the Institut de Physique de Nice, the Laboratoire de Physique at ENS de Lyon, the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique in Grenoble, and several European partners—has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism for the relaxation of liquid foams after flow ceases. This research, published in October 2026 in Physical Review Letters, opens up new avenues for understanding and controlling soft materials. Thumbnail: A close-up photograph of a foam © AdaptaLux via Wikimedia Commons

The startup Alice & Bob has been selected as part of the European Innovation Council's Accelerator call for proposals.

According to a CNRS communications dated June 22, 2026. Based on a scientific paper published in Physical Review Materials to which the LPENSL contributed: “Imprinting macroscopic fracture during gelation: A mechanism for tuning colloidal gels.” Thumbnail credit: © Mélanie CHALLE / L2C / CNRS Images

On April 16, the CNRS announced the recipients of its 2026 medals. Among them are three members of ENS de Lyon laboratories: Sébastien Manneville, professor at LPENSL (silver medal); Charlotte Kirchhelle, an INRAE research fellow at the RDP laboratory (bronze medal); and Lucien Derainne, a junior professor at IHRIM (bronze medal).

Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Kansas
Visiting Professor 2025–2026: March 30– April 30, 2026
Host researcher: Valérie Vidal

Audrey Bienfait, a CNRS research associate at ENS de Lyon's Physics laboratory (LPENSL/CNRS/ENS de Lyon), is one of three recipients of the first Young Researchers Award for Excellence, established in 2025 by the CFM Foundation for Research. Photo credit: © Nil Hoppenot

SpaceX's Crew Dragon 12 rocket successfully lifted off on February 13, 2026, carrying French astronaut Sophie Adenot, who was tasked with deploying MATISS-4. This experiment, led by Laurence Lemelle (CNRS, LGL-TPE, ENS de Lyon) was assembled by the LPENSL mechanical engineering department, under the supervision of Denis Le Tourneau. Photo credit: © NASA/ESA

According to a CNRS publication dated November 5, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Nature Communications to which Stéphane Santucci, a CNRS researcher at ENS de Lyon's Physics Laboratory (LPENSL), contributed: Multiscale stress dynamics in sheared liquid foams revealed by tomo-rheoscopy. Thumbnail credit: © CNRS

According to a CNRS communication dated October 29, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Physical Review Letters to which Ludovic Bellon, a CNRS researcher at ENS de Lyon's Physics Laboratory (LPENSL), contributed: “Information Engine Fueled by First-Passage Times.” Thumbnail image: a Brownian particle (subject to thermal agitation) wanders in a confined well until it reaches a threshold, where an automated system (a demon) acts on the position of the well to extract energy from the particle. © Aubin Archambault, Caroline Crauste-Thibierge, Alberto Imparato, Christopher Jarzynski, Sergio Ciliberto, Ludovic Bellon.

Léa Chazot Franguiadakis, researcher at LPENSL, and entrepreneur Typhaine Brual, incubated at ENS de Lyon, are among the winners of the French Government’s Innovation Competition, in the i-PhD category, which supports the development of emerging start-ups.

Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Trieste.
Visiting Professor 2025-2026: From January 5 to January 23, 2026, and from February 3 to February 13, 2026.
Host Professor: Ludovic Bellon 

CNRS press release dated 23 July 2025. Based on a scientific publication to which members of the Lyon Astrophysics Research Centre (CNRS, ENS de Lyon, Claude Bernard University) and the LPENSL Physics Laboratory (CNRS, ENS de Lyon) contributed: ‘A Core-sensitive Mixed f/g-mode of the Sun Predicted by Wave Topology and Hydrodynamical Simulation’, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Senior Research Scientist in the Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, at RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences.
Visiting professor 2024-2025 from 13 June to 14 July 2025
Inviting professor: Etera Livine

A researcher from the Physics Laboratory at ENS de Lyon “unravels knitwear” to turn it into a research subject...

Adjunct professor at the Engineering Department of the University of Buenos Aires (FIUBA), independent researcher at IAR (Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía) and CONICET (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research).
Visiting professor 2024-2025. January 8 to February 12, 2025.
Inviting professor: Julian Tachella.

Professor of Signal and Image Processing, Institute for Digital Communications, University of Edinburgh
Visiting Professor 2023-2024 from 13 of November to 8 of December 2023
Visiting Professor: Tachella Julian

On Tuesday October 15, the French Academy of Sciences unveiled its awards. Congratulations to Physics laboratory members Patrice Abry and Laurent Chevillard, and School alumni.

Congratulations to Amélie Joly (IGFL) and Lise Morlet-Decarnin (LPENSL).

Research and sports can be closely linked. This is demonstrated by the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon, which has long been involved in work to improve sporting performance. As the Olympic and Paralympic Games draw to a close, let's take a look at the contribution science makes to sport.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Physical Review Letters on July 31, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on September 2, 2024.

Publication of the Physics laboratory in Physical Review Fluids on May 3, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on July 3, 2024.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Physical Review Materials on July 9, 2024. Communication by CNRS Physics on September 5, 2024.

Congratulations are in order for physicist Lydéric Bocquet, former doctoral student and later Research Associate at the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Journal of Rheology on April 11, 2024.

Alice & Bob and research partners granted €16.5 million in public funding to make quantum computing 10 times cheaper. Alice & Bob is the first company ever to receive all four innovation grants from the French State.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Physical Review Letters on January 19, 2024. News by CNRS Physics on January 23, 2024.

Patrick Flandrin, CNRS Research Director Emeritus, member of the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon and member of the French Academy of Sciences, receives the IEEE Signal Processing Society's Carl Friedrich Gauss Education Award 2023, for his contributions to the education in time-frequency-based methods and their mathematical foundations.

Alain Pumir, CNRS Research Director at ENS de Lyon Physics Laboratory, receives the 2023 Ed Lorenz Lecture Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Publication of the Physics Laboratory and Chemistry Laboratory in the journal Langmuir on November 16, 2023. News by CNRS Chemistry on December 19, 2023.

Louis-Alexandre Couston, Associate Professor of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University at the Physics Laboratory, and Benjamin Wesolowski, CNRS Research at UMPA, have been awarded the prestigious "Starting" Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal PNAS, on July 18, 2022, and Nano Letters, on May 22, 2023. Communication of CNRS-INP on July 17, 2023.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Nature on June 14, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INP on June 14, 2023.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory and the LIP in the journal PRX Quantum on April 18, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INP on June 13, 2023.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Nature Physics on May 4, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INSIS on May 9, 2023.

Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Racah Institute of Physics, Israel
Visiting Professor 2022-23 - April 7 to May 7, 2023
Inviting Researcher: Adda-Bedia Mokhtar

Associate Professor, Heriot-Watt University and Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Ediburgh, Scotland UK
Visiting Professor 2022-23 - April 8 to 29, 2023
Inviting Researcher: Julián Tachella

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Physical Review Fluids on April 4, 2023. Communication of the CNRS on April 3, 2023.

In 2023, Patrice Abry has been elevated EURASIP Fellow, Patrick Flandrin has received the Technical Achievement Award.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Macromolecules on October 11, 2022. CNRS-INP communication on October 28, 2022.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics on September 14, 2022. CNRS-INSIS communication on September 30, 2022.

Publication of the Physics Laboratory in the journal Physical Review Letters on September 15, 2022. CNRS-INP communication on September 22, 2022.

Publication of the LPENSL in the journal Physical Review Applied on July 6, 2022. CNRS-INP communication on July 7, 2022.

Congratulations to Marianne Métoix (LGL-TPE), Aurèle Piazza (LBMC) and Lucile Savary (LPENSL), recipients of the 2022 bronze medal awarded by the CNRS.

Publication of the LPENSL in the journal Physical Review Letters on February 17, 2022. CNRS-INP communication on April 11, 2022.

Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Department of Aerospace Engineering
Visiting Professor 2021-22 - April 28 to May 25, 2022
Inviting Researcher: Thierry Dauxois

Krzysztof Gawedzki passed away this Friday, January 21, 2022.

This award annually recognizes significant contributions to the field of mathematical physics.

ENS de Lyon is the first institution in France to invest in the only instrument in the world that allows the simultaneous manipulation and visualization of interactions between single biomolecules in real time.
8 teams in 3 laboratories – LPENSL, LBMC and RDP – are now working with this instrument.