Magnetism

Abstract

The research work of P.-G. de Gennes started with a thesis in the nuclear research center of Saclay, where he analysed the neutron scattering by magnetic fluctuations in nickel. He extended a similar treatment to the electrical resistivity of rare earth metals and then explained the magnetic coupling of their 4f shells as due to a double scattering of magnetic origin. He had meanwhile other interests, notably in resonance effects in magnetic materials and even on percolation in alloys. I explain what was new and influential in his magnetic activities and what role they played in his early contacts with C. Kittel in Berkeley and H. Casimir in Eindhoven, as well as for his recruitment in the new science faculty of Orsay, where he would soon develop an interest in superconductivity that he caught in Berkeley. I stress the importance played by such early contacts on his future research activities.