Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée

Savo Bratos

 

After completing his first PhD in Ljubljana, Slovenia (under the supervision of Professor D. Hadzi), Savo Bratos completed a second PhD on the infrared spectra of compressed gases (under the supervision of Professor R. Daudel) in Paris in the early 1960s.

Initially recruited by the CNRS, he became a faculty member at the University of Paris VI (now Sorbonne University) at the end of the 1960s. Anticipating the evolution of laser techniques and drawing on the development of statistical physics, he set about characterising microscopic movements within liquids using infrared and Raman spectra. Savo Bratos focused in particular on the study of water, in which the existence of the hydrogen bond leads to highly complex spectra that he was able to characterise with precision.

Founder in 1971 of the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique des Liquides (which became the LPTMC 35 years later), he was able to attract new researchers during his term as director to diversify the laboratory's themes. Savo Bratos forged strong links between research and teaching through the creation of the DEA in Liquid Physics (which has now become the ‘Soft matter and biological physics’ course within the M2 ICFP). He also founded and chaired the Liquids Section of the European Physical Society from 1983 to 1991, as well as a research group on ultrafast chemical reactivity in liquids from 1992 to 2000.

In the 2000s, Savo Bratos tirelessly continued to develop new approaches using ultrafast infrared spectroscopy and ultrafast X-ray diffraction, in order to follow atomic dynamics in water on femtosecond timescales, or the recombination of the photo-dissociated iodine molecule in solution.

His recognised research work has earned him numerous awards: corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, full member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Arts in Krakow, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and doctor honoris causa of the University of Wroclaw. Savo Bratos has relentlessly pursued his research activities, publishing more than 50 articles since the beginning of his emeritus.

The members of the LPTMC send their most sincere condolences to his family and friends.