Geneviève Comte-Bellot (born 29 July 1929) is a French physicist specialising in fluid dynamics. She is known for her work on turbulence and aeroacoustics.

Biography

Comte-Bellot was born on 29 July 1929.^[1] After obtaining her diploma from the Université Grenoble Alpes in 1953, she earned her master's degree at the École normale supérieure in Paris the following year.^[2] She taught at a high school in Chalon-sur-Saône from 1954 to 1956, before joining the French National Center for Scientific Research as a Senior Research Associate; Comte-Bellot remained in this position until 1967.^[1] In 1963, Comte-Bellot completed her dissertation "Turbulent Flow between two parallel walls", and was awarded a PhD by the Université Grenoble Alpes.^[2] She became a postdoctoral researcher and joined Stanley Corrsin's team at Johns Hopkins University as a Fulbright scholar in 1963, where she oversaw his "Velvet wind-tunnel".^[1][2]

Comte-Bellot joined the École centrale de Lyon (ECL) in 1967 as a Maître de Conférences (lecturer) and became a professor in 1971, before her promotion to Professeur de Classe exceptionnelle in 1982.^[1] At this university, she began researching aeroacoustics^[2] and founded the acoustics department in 1980. She served as director of the training and research unit (UER) of mechanics at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 from 1977 to 1982.^[1] On 2 April 1990, Comte-Bellot was appointed as a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences.^[3] Following her retirement, she became emeritus professor at the ECL in 1998.^[1]

In 2005, Comte-Bellot was appointed as a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions in fluid mechanics and acoustics.^[4] She is also a member of the French Academy of Technologies.^[2]

She was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2013.^[5] The American Physical Society awarded her with their Fluid Dynamics Prize in 2014.^[2]

References