chemistry

Jean-Michel Savéant

Jean-Michel Savéant is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jean-Michel Savéant rather than just read about it. In short: Jean-Michel Savéant (19 September 1933 – 16 August 2020) was a French chemist who specialized in electrochemistry. He was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2000 and foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001.

Key takeaways

Jean-Michel Savéant belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jean-Michel Savéant to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jean-Michel Savéant from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jean-Michel Savéant (19 September 1933 – 16 August 2020) was a French chemist who specialized in electrochemistry. He was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2000 and foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. He published in excess of 400 peer-reviewed articles in chemistry literature.

Biography Born in Rennes, Jean-Michel Savéant graduated in 1958 and obtained his PhD in 1966 at the École normale supérieure. In 1971 he moved to Paris Diderot University where he founded the Laboratoire d'Électrochimie Moléculaire. He was an emeritus professor of electrochemistry in this university as well as an emeritus CNRS Research Director. He was the author of over 500 publications.

Major contributions Jean-Michel Savéant's scientific activity is outlined by the foundation and development of a new discipline - molecular electrochemistry. Molecular electrochemistry has transferred the knowledge acquired by electrochemistry towards various fields of chemistry and biochemistry, in particular towards the chemistry of electron and proton transfer, free radical chemistry, chemical reactivity theory, coordination chemistry, photochemistry, solid physico-chemistry, enzymology and catalytic activation of small molecules, especially those involved in solving contemporary energy challenges.

Awards Prix Louis Ancel de la Société Chimique de France (1966) Médaille d'argent du CNRS (1976) Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1983) Medaglia Luigi Riccoboni (1983) Prix Emile Jungfleisch of the Académie des Sciences (1989) Charles N. Reilley Award (1990) Olin Palladium Award of the Electrochemical Society (1993) Medaglia Luigi Galvani della Società Chimica Italiana (1997) Manuel Baizer Award of the Electrochemical Society (2002) Bruno Breyer Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (2005) Distinguished Fairchild Scholar at the California Institute of Technology (1988) Oscar K. Rice Distinguished Lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1995) Nelson Leonard Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999) Baker Lecturer at Cornell University (2002) Membre de l'Académie des Sciences (2000) Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2001). Air Liquide Essential Molecules Challenge (2016)

Bibliography Savéant, Jean-Michel (1966), Sur le mécanisme de la réduction électrochimique des aldéhydes et des cétones alpha-substitués, p. 272 Savéant, Jean-Michel (1966), 2ème thèse : Etude de la polarisation chimique en chronoampérométrie à variation linéaire de potentiel, p. 268 Savéant, Jean-Michel (2006), Elements of Molecular and Biomolecular Electrochemistry: An Electrochemical Approach to Electron Transfer Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, p. 455, doi:10.1002/0471758078, ISBN 978-0-471-44573-9 Savéant, Jean-Michel; Costentin, Cyrille (2019), Elements of Molecular and Biomolecular Electrochemistry: An Electrochemical Approach to Electron Transfer Chemistry (2 ed.), John Wiley & Sons, p. 616, doi:10.1002/9781119292364, ISBN 9781119292333, S2CID 242109414

References

External links Laboratoire d'Électrochimie Moléculaire List of Publications (1958-to present) Archived 2024-01-15 at the Wayback Machine

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jean-Michel Savéant

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jean-Michel Savéant claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jean-Michel Savéant before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jean-Michel Savéant ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jean-Michel Savéant

In research: Jean-Michel Savéant appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jean-Michel Savéant in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jean-Michel Savéant is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 2020 deaths, 20th-century French chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jean-Michel Savéant outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jean-Michel Savéant in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jean-Michel Savéant means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Jean-Michel Savéant in simple terms?

Why does Jean-Michel Savéant matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jean-Michel Savéant?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jean-Michel Savéant.