Gilles Kahn

See also: Kahn

Gilles Kahn (born the April 17th 1946 with Paris and deceased 9 February 2006 with Garches) was a French researcher in Informatique. He was scientific director and president of the National research institute in data processing and automatically (Inria).

Member of the Academy of Science and scientific director of Inria since 1993 until in May 2004, date on which it assumed the chairmanship, Gilles Kahn was a specialist in the environments of programming and environments of evidence on computer. Polytechnicien (X1964), it carried out several years of research abroad: university of Stanford (1968-71), university of Edinburgh (1975-76), Isaac Newton institute with Cambridge (1995), near scientists of reputation. However, it will never finish its doctorate in data processing on the “semantic of the computer programming languages . ”

Employee by ECA then CISI while leading his research activity to Rocquencourt, it enters with INRIA (then IRIA) in 1977, as a person in charge of a project devoted to the development of environments of programming (MENTOR, CENTAUR). It is this year that it acquires an international repute thanks to the publication of an article on the concept of parallelism in data processing which bears its name: the “Networks of Kahn”.

In 1983, it takes part in the creation of research unit INRIA Sophia Antipolis, where simultaneously it continues to direct a research project and exerts the responsibility for piloting of research near the director. In 1993, Gilles Kahn joined the head office of the Institute of which he becomes the scientific director. He takes up the duties of general president-director of the INRIA as from May 2004.

Gilles Kahn was member many scientific advices of companies and research organizations in France (ONERA, BRGM, CNES, EDF, Ilog, etc) and abroad. He was member of the board of directors of CNRS and the general advice of information technologies. He took part in many international evaluations of scientific organizations in the world and in jurys of international scientific prices.

Precursor and author of several reports/ratios

Solicited for missions of national interest, it intervened in particular as a Member of the Commission of investigation on the flight ARIANE 5 01 (1996), as joint author with Didier Lombard, managing director of the industrial strategies to the Ministry for industry, a report/ratio on research in telecommunications (1997) and as joint author (2000) of a report/ratio to the President of the Republic on “the access of all to knowledge”.

Le Monde of February 12th, 2006 (article) observes that the principal sets of themes of search for Gilles Kahn, developed as of the beginning of the year 1970 - whereas data processing is only with its stammerings -, are always of a great topicality. Its work on asynchronous distributed calculation, the semantics of the computer programming languages and the environments of edition of programs inspires today by many research undertaken in the so academic industrial world but. Its knowledge of the semantics of the computer programming languages had enabled him to play a crucial role in the consecutive investigation with the accident which has occurred during the first launching of the launcher ARIANE-V, in June 1996. It is him, in particular, which had managed to identify the errors of conversion of the software occurred during the evolution of the European launcher.

Gilles Kahn was the first researcher in data processing elected member of the Academy of Science. His/her former colleague and friendly Bernard Lang, quoted by Le Monde , affirms that Gilles Kahn was more than the president of the institute. He incarnated it. Its dream was to model the human body.

External bonds

• Homage to Gilles Kahn - site of INRIA

• the research and development, key of a new rise of telecommunications in France, report/ratio and proposals, of Didier Lombard and Gilles Kahn (November 1996)