User:M Poulain/sandbox

Born in 1945, Marcel Poulain got a position of assistant professor at Rennes University in 1966. He tought solid state chemistry and material science. He defended his doctorate thesis in 1972. His researches conducted with his brother Michel focussed on complex fluorozirconates and spectroscopic characterization. Marcel Poulain is Emeritus Professor at Rennes University (F). He discovered the first fluorozirconate glasses with his brother in 1974. These new materials became a "hot subject" in the eigthies. It led to more than 10000 papers, thesis, reports and patents. His carreer was definitely marked by the serependious discovery of the first heavy metal fluoride glasses. He co-founded the company Le Verre Fluoré with G. Mazé in 1977, and pursued fundamental researches with his team. A huge number of glass forming systems was investigated, while a strong interest for fluoride glass fibers came out in major research centers and telecommunication groups. A specific symposium was organized on this topics: "International Symposium on Halide Glasses" and later "International Symposium on Non Oxide Glasses". At Rennes University he supervised around 50 doctorate thesis, most of them relating to new glass forming systems: fluorides, halides, heavy metal oxides, chalcogenides… Other fields of research encompass mechanical properties and aging of silica fibers. He authored or co-authored more than 500 papers, patents and scientific documents. He became the president of the company "Le Verre Fluoré" in 2014.