Charles Baroud

Charles's scientific career began in Austin, Texas, where he did a PhD in fluid mechanics on turbulent flows. He then came to Europe to do his post-doc at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris.

In 2002, Charles obtained a researcher/lecturer position at Ecole Polytechnique where he set up his own research team to work on fluid flows at very small scales: microfluidics. Transportation of bubbles and drops or modeling of micro-channel networks mimicking the functioning of the lungs are two examples of Charles’ achievements. He also developed technological tools allowing the manipulation of drops in these micro-channels.

In 2012, his tools found practical applications in cell biology and gave a new direction to his research. Since December 2017, Charles has been leading a bio-engineering team between Ecole Polytechnique and Institut Pasteur. Although biology is now at the heart of his research activities, Charles is a physicist and each of his experiments is an opportunity for him to question the underlying physical phenomena.

The visual aspect of fluid mechanics experiments has fascinated Charles since he was a student. He likes the science "that you can see with your own eyes". Charles tells us he is color-blind, which he sees as a benefit to his research. He uses mostly black and white in his images and this allows him to take a particular look at his research: "I'm not distracted by colors and naturally am much more sensitive to shapes and movement, ubiquitous in fluid mechanics".