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Created in 2011, the Innovation Medal honors women and men whose exceptional research has led to an outstanding technological, therapeutic or social innovation, enhancing French scientific research.
Jacques Marteau is the winner of the CNRS Innovation Medal 2022. Created 10 years ago, this distinction honors individuals whose exceptional research has led to significant technological, economic, therapeutic and social innovations, enhancing French scientific research. The medal was presented to him on Thursday, June 16, by Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research, and Antoine Petit, President and CEO of the CNRS, during a ceremony held in conjunction with Vivatech 2022.
Jacques Marteau, pioneer of muon imaging
« As a particle physicist, being recognized for an industrial application of my research is unexpected ! », admits Jacques Marteau, of the Institut de Physique des Deux Infinis in Lyon (CNRS/Claude Bernard University Lyon 1). However, « thanks to a succession of beautiful encounters and coincidences », the lecturer at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 quickly identified the potential of a technology initially developed for fundamental research: the muon detector. An elementary particle produced naturally in the atmosphere, the muon crosses matter over long distances without being absorbed. This allows to explore large structures in three dimensions and to answer questions in volcanology, geology and even climatology. After several patents and industrial contracts, Jacques Marteau and his team created the startup Muodim in 2021, which aims at a very large market for non-destructive testing applied to the steel industry, geophysical prospecting or civil engineering, for example.
Watch his portrait on video.
Read the article Jacques Marteau, from particle physics to start-up.