Research Areas:
Propagation of waves in complex media

Prof. Mathias Fink received his PhD in Solid State Physics from the University of Paris in 1970. Then he moved to ultrasonic medical imaging and received his Doctorat és Sciences degree in Acoustics. He is currently the George Charpak Professor and Professor of Physics at the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI ParisTech), where he founded in 1990 the Wave and Acoustics Laboratory that became in 2009 the Langevin Institute, where he formerly served as the Director. The Institute today brings together over 110 scientists engaged in research on waves and imaging.

Prof. Fink’s area of research is concerned with the propagation of waves in complex media and the development of numerous instruments based on this basic research. He pioneered the development of time-reversal mirrors and time reversal signal processing. He developed many of these concepts into applications like medical imaging, ultrasound therapy, telecommunications, seismic imaging and tactile objects. He also pioneered several innovative medical imaging methods - transient elastography, supersonic shear imaging and multi-wave imaging - that are now implemented by several companies. Four companies with close to 270 employees have been created from his research (Echosens, Sensitive Object, Supersonic Imagine and Time Reversal Communications). He holds more than 60 patents, and has published more than 350 peer reviewed papers.

Prof. Fink is a Member of the French Academy of Sciences and of the French Academy of Technologies. He was elected Chair of Technological Innovation at the College de France in 2008.