On the occasion of the convivial gathering held on Monday 18 May to mark the retirement of Jean-Louis Dufresne, we had the pleasure of celebrating his outstanding career.

Jean-Louis Dufresne, a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), works at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) and the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL). Throughout his career, Jean-Louis has devoted himself to studying Earth’s climate and its variability through numerical modelling and the analysis of observations. He has been particularly interested in the impacts of human activities on the climate, the greenhouse effect, and climate feedbacks, with a special focus on the role of clouds.

A specialist in climate modelling, he coordinated for around ten years the development of the IPSL climate model, which couples atmosphere, land surface, ocean, and sea ice models, and incorporates not only physical processes but also chemical and biogeochemical ones. He is the author or co-author of around one hundred scientific publications and contributed as a lead author to the 5th and 6th Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

Beyond his major scientific contributions, Jean-Louis is also widely recognised for his sustained commitment to science communication, through lectures, seminars, written works, and hands-on educational activities on the physical processes governing climate. He has also contributed to the training of teachers and trainers.

During the reception, colleagues and friends paid tribute to him in a warm atmosphere, filled with memories and emotion, and even featuring two Renaud songs specially rewritten for the occasion. Many thanks to Jean-Louis for his dedication, scientific rigour, and generosity, which have left a lasting mark on our community.

To learn more about his career and work: personal web page of Jean-Louis Dufresne