Edouard Brézin, born in Paris on December 1, 1938, is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique (1958-1960) and Doctor of Science from the University of Paris (1969). He was a member of the Theoretical Physics Department at the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique in Saclay (1963-1986). Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique (1974-2004), Professor at the University Pierre and Marie Curie made available to the Ecole Normale Superieure (since 1989), Professor at the 'Institut Universitaire de France since 1991. He was also the Director of the Department of Physics at the Ecole Normale Superieure (1986-1991), Chairman of the Board of CNRS (1992-2000), Chairman of the Scientific Council of EDF (1995-2001), member of the Scientific Council of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste) and President of the French Society of Physics. He is a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of London and of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.brezin@lpt.ens.fr