Doctors' Ceremony
Each year, this ceremony brings together graduates from the previous year accompanied by their parents, families, some of them coming from abroad for the occasion. This graduation ceremony is an exceptional and festive event that promotes French university research as a whole, and the quality of the research work by doctoral graduates of member institutions of the Sorbonne University Alliance.
Since 2005, Sorbonne University has named each graduating class after a renowned researcher.
Class of 2019: Luc Julia
Luc Julia (1996 -) has a PhD in computer science and is specialised in artificial intelligence. He is one of the designers of the Siri voice assistant and since 2012 has been vice-president in charge of innovation at Samsung.
Speech / List of doctors.
Class of 2018: Caroline Pascal
Caroline Pascal (1966-) is a writer and Hispanic scholar. Since October 2019, she has been head of the Office of Education, Sport and Research at the French Ministry of Education and Youth.
Class of 2017: Nicole El Karoui
Nicole El Karoui (1944 -) is a mathematician, Professor Emeritus and pioneer in the development of financial mathematics.
Class of 2016: Georges Molinié
Georges Molinié (1944 - 2014) was a philologist, professor at the Sorbonne University, specialist in French stylistics and semiotics.
Class of 2015: Ghislain de Marsily
Ghislain de Marsily (1939-) is Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne University and at the École des Mines de Paris. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and a specialist in hydrology.
Class of 2014: Jean Jouzel
Jean Jouzel (1947-) is a climatologist and glaciologist. Director of research at the CEA and director of the Pierre-Simon-Laplace Institute until 2008, he is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Agriculture.
Class of 2013: Philippe Taquet
Philippe Taquet (1940-) is a French paleontologist, member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2004. He was director of the National Museum of Natural History between 1985 and 1990.
Class of 2012: Pierre Mazeaud
Pierre Mazeaud (1929 -) is a French jurist, politician and mountaineer.
Class of 2011: Jacqueline de Romilly
Jacqueline Worms de Romilly (1913-2010) was a French philologist, essayist, translator and Hellenist.
Class of 2010: Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (1947-) is a virologist. In 1983, she participated in the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, while she was part of the team led by Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute. She was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Class of 2009: Gérard Mégie
Gérard Mégie (1946 - 2004), was a French atmospheric and climate researcher and President of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique from 2000 to 2004.
Class of 2008: Emmy Noether
Emmy Noether (1882 - 1935) was a German mathematician specialising in abstract algebra and theoretical physics.
Class of 2007: Linus Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) was an American chemist and physicist. He was one of the first quantum chemists and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work describing the nature of chemical bonding.
Class of 2006: Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a British physical chemist. A pioneer in molecular biology, she was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the tobacco mosaic virus.
Class of 2005: Hubert Curien
Hubert Curien (1924 - 2005) was a French crystallographer, Minister of Research and Technology from 1984 to 1986 and then from 1988 to 1993.
