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Thank you, Gordon, for your generous words, by which you underline the scientific vision, mutual encouragement, and friendship that we have shared over several decades, both in our professional and personal lives.Thank you for your continuous support.I particularly appreciate the fact that it is you who is introducing me to this most prestigious distinction.It is a great honor, totally unexpected, to have been nominated and even more surprising to have been chosen for the prestigious Roebling medal and I am deeply honored.I warmly thank the MSA Council, the members of the Roebling Committee, and all those who nominated me for their confidence.Thank you also to those who have come to this luncheon or attended the Sunday symposium on "Molecular-scale approaches in Mineralogy: bridging the gap from microscopic to macroscopic."The great talks presented during this meeting demonstrated the topicality of molecular-scale approaches.But also, this honor makes me very humbled, particularly when I look at the list of previous recipients extending back to 1937, including so many legendary people.As a special mention, as I am the second French to be awarded this honor, I should mention Raymond Castaing, the father of the electron microprobe, who was the first French scientist to receive the Roebling Medal in 1977.I have been attracted to minerals since middle school.After being admitted at
Georges Calas (Wed,) studied this question.