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Memory and Creation / Lebanon

Project : Alchemy - Laces

"Turbulence" by Charles Baroud

Turbulent flows are omnipresent in nature, for example in the flow of water in the Seine or the flow of air above a Sannine. These images are taken from a laboratory experiment that studies the effect of rotation on the complicated motion of fluids. For instance, we would like to understand the effect of the earth's rotation on the motion of the atmosphere or the ocean. More information on this experiment and related experiments can be found at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics.

As is often the case in science, the answer that the experiment yields depends on the question that is asked. The same experiment can give many different answers; it is the scientist's role to ask the good questions in order to gain an understanding of nature. These images show different ways to look at the same data, each of which outlining different features of the flow.

Charles Baroud is a Lebanese scientist living in France. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and obtained a Ph.D in November 2001 ["Transitions from three- to two-dimensional turbulence in a rotating system"]. He did his Post-doctoral research at the Laboratoire de physique statistique at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (2001-2002). And is now a faculty member (Maître de conférences) at the Mechanics department of the Ecole Polytechnique. He does research and teaching activity at the school.