= Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
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{tag=Physicist}
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= P. G. de Gennes
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{synonym}
<Pierre-Gilles de Gennes> developed connections between the physics of <polymers> and <liquid crystals>, using ideas from <critical phenomenon> studies. Long molecules and orientationally ordered fluids can have large collective responses even when their microscopic constituents differ greatly. Scaling and order-parameter descriptions identify which large-scale behavior follows from symmetry and connectivity rather than detailed molecular chemistry. His account of <soft matter> emphasizes this ability to move useful physical ideas between seemingly different materials, while retaining the experimental phenomena that distinguish them.<Soft Matter by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes>[Nobel lecture, polymers, liquid crystals and collective soft-material behavior]{ref}
A <physicist> who held the <condensed matter physics> chair at Collège de France from 1971 to 2004.<Professional profile of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes>[Independent professional identity]{ref}
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Pierre-Gilles_de_Gennes.jpg?width=260]
{title=Portrait of <Pierre-Gilles de Gennes>}
{description=Dominique Morisseau, Laboratoire de Physique et d’Etude des Matériaux (LPEM), ESPCI Paris; 28 August 1998. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/[CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.}
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