Dominique Franck Escande
Dominique Franck Escande is a French physicist. He is known for his research in plasma physics, thermonuclear fusion by magnetic confinement, hybrid fusion-fission reactors, Hamiltonian dynamics, and deterministic chaos.
Education and career
After graduating in physics in 1967 from the École polytechnique, Dominique Franck Escande became a graduate student in physics at Paris-Sud University. There he graduated in 1971 with a and a Ph.D. in 1978. His Ph.D. thesis in entitled Ondes haute fréquence dans un plasma en présence de fluctuation de basse fréquence. From 1981 to 1992 he was a CNRS researcher at the École polytechnique, where he held an appointment as maître de conferences (assistant professor) in physics. During the years of his appointment at the École polytechnique, he also worked at several other scientific institutions. For the academic year 1983–1984 he was on sabbatical at the University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Fusion Studies . From 1987 to 1992 he was a part-time consultant for X-Recherche Service. In 1988 for the CNRS research unit Laboratoire J.-L. Lagrange, he created, in collaboration with Fabrice Doveil of the research team Equipe Turbulence Fluide et Plasma, the institute Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires. From 1988 to 1992 Escande also held an appointment as CNRS researcher at the University of Provence.Escande was from 1992 to 1996 the head of the Département de Recherches sur la Fusion Contrôlée at EA-Cadarache, as well as the head of the Tore Supra French tokamak group. From 1995 to 1996 he chaired the Euratom Fusion Technology Steering Committee-Implementation. At in Padua, Italy, he was from 1996 to 1998 a full-time advisor and is since 1998 a part-time advisor. In 1998 he became a CNRS researcher at the University of Provence, where he now has emeritus status as Directeur de Recherché Emirate.
He contributed three book chapters. He is the co-author with Yves Elskens of the book Microscopic dynamics of plasmas and chaos ; with a 2019 paperback edition published by CRC Press.
Escande is author or co-author of many scientific articles related to the device called the reverse field pinch
and is an internationally recognized expert on RFPs. His former doctoral student Didier Bénisti has acquired an international reputation in fusion research and plasma physics.
In 1994 Escande was awarded the Prix Paul Langevin.