Jean-Marie Tarascon

Education Tarascon was educated at the University of Bordeaux, where he was awarded a Diplôme d'études universitaires générales in physics and chemistry, a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering, and a PhD in solid-state chemistry in 1981. He worked at Bell Labs and Bellcore investigates the synthesis of novel electronic phenomena and materials such as superconductors, ferroelectrics, fluoride glasses, rechargeable batteries and colossal magnetoresistance. He has made many contributions to superconductivity and was the original proponent of the thin and flexible plastic lithium ion battery.

Awards and honours Tarascon was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2014. His nomination reads:

Tarascon was honoured by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2002. He was nominated to the Académie des Sciences in 2005, and was the University of Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV) gold medalist in 2008. He won the ENI Protection of the Environment award in 2011. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate 'doctor honoris causa' from Hasselt University. In 2017, he was one of the two winners of the Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation. He was one of the five nominated for the CNRS Innovation Medals. In 2020 he received the Balzan Prize for Environmental Challenges: Materials Science for Renewable Energy.