Professor Daniele Mari gives his honorary lecture, “Éloge de l’imperfection” (In Praise of Imperfection), on Monday 23 November 2026 at 6.15 pm. The lecture takes place at EPFL, in Lausanne, and can also be followed online.
The story
At EPFL, the honorary lecture closes a professor’s career on retirement. It takes place within a year of their departure, at the dean’s invitation. The professor receives the diploma of honorary professor, with a laudatio. The inaugural lecture, by contrast, marks the start of a professorship.
Daniele Mari was born in Milan in 1961. He joined EPFL in 1980, obtained his physics degree in 1986, then his doctorate in 1991, on hard metals at high temperature. After a stay at MIT in 1992 and 1993, he headed research and development at Amysa Yverdon SA from 1993. He founded ACME, the first company based at the EPFL Science Park.
He returned to EPFL in 2004 to lead the mechanical spectroscopy group. He became adjunct professor in 2022. Since 2013, he has been deputy director of the Physics Section. He has published more than a hundred papers.
Who organises it
The EPFL Institute of Physics.
What to find
Defects in crystalline materials are not mere anomalies. They follow their own laws and can create new properties. Daniele Mari talks about atomic impurities, dislocations and the disordered structure of glass. Experiments are carried out on stage.
Two Nobel laureates in physics, William Shockley and Nevill Mott, are among the pioneers of this science of imperfections.
Practical information
- Date, Monday 23 November 2026
- Times, 6.15 pm to 7.15 pm
- Duration, 1 hour
- Venue, EPFL, room CE 1 4, 1015 Lausanne
- Language, French
- Audience, general public
- Registration, required, via the EPFL online form
- Online, broadcast on EPFL Mediaspace
Links
- Official site, EPFL Memento, Eloge de l’imperfection
- Registration, EPFL form
- Live stream, EPFL Mediaspace
- All events across French-speaking Switzerland, Genève Infos Agenda
Sources
- EPFL Memento, Eloge de l’imperfection, accessed on 14 November 2026
- EPFL, procedure for inaugural and honorary lectures, accessed on 14 November 2026
- EPFL, Daniele Mari’s profile, accessed on 14 November 2026
- EPFL, Mechanical Spectroscopy Laboratory, Daniele Mari, accessed on 14 November 2026
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