Michel Pichavant, director of research at CNRS, receives the SFMC’s Advanced Merit Award 2026.
Michel Pichavant is a leading figure in experimental petrology and volcanology. His pioneering work on silicate magmas, granites and arc volcanism has enabled a better understanding of the pre-eruptive conditions of volcanoes (pressure, temperature, water content and oxidation state), which are essential for understanding eruptive mechanisms and assessing volcanic risks. He has also made a decisive contribution to the study of the transport and degassing of volatiles in magmas. At the ISTO in Orléans, he established an internationally recognised laboratory for experimental petrology, renowned for the quality and abundance of its scientific data. Michel Pichavant has also supervised numerous PhD students who have gone on to become internationally renowned researchers, fostering the emergence of a new generation of scientists. He was the driving force behind the EMPG international symposium, established in 1986, which has become an unmissable event for the scientific community.
Membres du comité : Nathalie Bolfan-Casanova, Hélène Bureau, Christian Chopin, Liz Cottrell, Isabelle Daniel and Nadia Malaspina.
