Memorial to Pierre Berest

Pierre Berest, former researcher at the Solid Mechanics Laboratory, which he headed from 1990 to 2001, and professor at the Department of Mechanics, member of the High College of the École Polytechnique, has left us. Andrei Constantinescu, CNRS research director and director of the LMS honors him.

29 Jul. 2022

Institution

Pierre Berest has just left us this night. He won us over and over the years with his presentations on geotechnics, underground storage caverns and his clever techniques for measuring their volume and the extremely weak creep of the surrounding rocks, the movements and deformations of the Louvre and the cathedral of Mexico-City due to the subway. He was a master of the calculus of variations which he presented on various examples like the amazing Celtic Stone. And we will not forget neither the discussions over coffee on the interest of playing the lottery, nor the references and quotations that embellished his brilliant presentations.

He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique (X70) in the Corps de Mines, became head of the underground security service at the French Ministry of Industry. And since 1981, he has been a researcher at the Laboratory of Solid Mechanics at the École Polytechnique, which he directed from 1990 to 2001. During his career, his scientific and technical expertise led him to various positions: Associate Professor of Mechanics of continuous media at the École Polytechnique from 1989 to 2000, Scientific Advisor to the Engineering Sciences Department of the CNRS from 1997 to 1998, Chairman of the Scientific Council of LCPC from 1998 to 2006, Expert on the Scientific Council of IFPen. Member of the Editorial Board of the Oil & Gas Science and Technology Review. Author or co-author of 200 articles (reviews or conference reports) in the fields of plasticity, visco-plasticity, stability, thermomechanics and thermodynamics applied to underground structures, mines, tunnels, gas, oil or waste storage radioactive. Grand Prix Gaz de France awarded by the Academy of Sciences in 1999, Chairman of the Permanent Waste Group with the Nuclear Safety Authority, Member of the International Geomechanical Commission on underground nuclear testing in French Polynesia (1988-1999), Chairmen of the French Rock Mechanics Committe (1996-1999), Chairman of the Steering Committee set up after the fire at Stocamine (2001), member of the Blue Ribbon Commission for the state of Louisiana after the collapse of Bayou Corne (2013-2014), President of the Solution Mining Research Institute in 2011.

As short illustration of his know-how you can watch his last tribute presentation to Pierre Habib: hommage à Pierre Habib, par Pierre BEREST

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