Marc Fontecave (born 27 September 1956) is a French chemist. An international specialist in bioinorganic chemistry, he currently teaches at the Collège de France in Paris, where he heads the Laboratory of Chemistry of Biological Processes.
Biography Marc Fontecave is a graduate of the École normale supérieure de l'enseignement technique (which became the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay in 2016), and holds a doctorate in science.
In 2005, he was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences and in 2019 foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Since 2008–2009, he holds the Chair of Chemistry of Biological Processes at the Collège de France..
He chairs the Fondation du Collège de France and is a member of the EDF scientific council.Ecologie : « Il n’y a aucune chance de voir une révolution se réaliser » sur lemonde.fr du 3 septembre 2018. , estime Marc Fontecave.
Research studies Marc Fontecave has deepened his understanding of the structure and reactivity of the metal centres present in metalloproteins. Its research can have applications in the fields of chemistry (selective catalysts), health (anti-cancer, antioxidants), environment (bioremediation, green chemistry« Un projet pour mieux recycler les batteries des voitures », Le Monde, 20 août 2013 (lire en ligne)) and energy (hydrogen production« Quand les batteries produiront de l'hydrogène », Le Monde, 17 novembre 2007 (lire en ligne).« De l'hydrogène sans Platine », Le Monde, 4 décembre 2009 (lire en ligne).. and carbon dioxide transformation).
Awards and honours 2024: ENI award for Energy Transition 2015: Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur 2011: Achille-Le-Bel Grand Prize of the Société Chimique de France. 2010: Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite 2009: Sir Raman Chair of the Indian Academy of Sciences 2005: Member of the French Academy of Sciences 2005: Senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) 2004: CNRS Silver medal. 1996: Policart-Lacassagne Prize of the French Academy of Sciences 1991–1996: Junior member of IUF.Arrêté du 2 décembre 1991 portant nomination à l'Institut universitaire de France, JORF 286 du 8 décembre 1991, p. 16074, NOR MENH9102797A, sur Légifrance.
Position statements He intervened in the public debate to encourage public reappropriation of major scientific research« Plus de science pour plus de démocratie », Le Monde, 17 octobre 2013 (lire en ligne). and simplification of the French research system; according to him, the evaluation of researchers a posteriori is the only method for taking the necessary risks in research.« Politique de Recherche : éloge de la simplicité », Le Monde, 23 août 2012 (lire en ligne).
During the reflection on the energy transition, with his colleagues from the French Academy of Sciences, he encouraged the use of nuclear and shale gas.« Repenser la transition énergétique », Le Monde, 24 mars 2014 (lire en ligne).Par un collectif de membres de l’Académie des sciences, « Aujourd'hui le nucléaire est le moyen le plus efficace pour réduire la part des énergies fossiles », Le Monde, 19 mai 2017 (lire en ligne). As the problem of storing and restoring intermittent renewable energies has not been solved, he criticizes the forced march towards energy transition. He argues that the intensification of nuclear use is a necessity to reduce CO2 emissions.
On 29 December 2018, he strongly criticised L'Affaire du siècle, a successful petition in a World Forum calling for the French State to be condemned for its failure to respect climate commitments, as "unfair, stupid, and ineffective".« Pétition " L'Affaire du Siècle" : Attaquer la France en Justice est la fois injuste, idiot et inopérant », Le Monde, 28 décembre 2018 (lire en ligne)
Publication Chemistry of biological processes: an introduction, Paris, Éditions Fayard, "Collège de France" series, 2009, 60 p. (, )
Article Ecology: "There is no chance of a revolution happening "2 on lemonde.fr on 3 September 2018
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