Antoine Petit

Antoine Petit is a French mathematician and ICT specialist who has headed France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) since January 2018. After getting a lectureship in mathematics and a doctorate in information technology at the University of Paris Diderot, he continued his academic career as an assistant lecturer at the University of Orléans in 1984, then as a lecturer at the University of Paris-Sud and, in 1994, as a professor at the Ecole normale supérieure in Cachan. From 2001 to 2003, he worked for the ministry of higher education, research and innovation as deputy director of its research department, in charge of mathematics and ICT. In 2004, he was assigned to the CNRS, firstly as scientific director of the ICT department and then as southwest inter-regional director. In 2006, he joined France’s National Institute for Research into Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) as head of its Paris-Rocquencourt research centre. He later became INRIA’s deputy CEO and then, in 2014, its CEO.