Françoise Combes

Françoise Combes is a Professor at the Collège de France since 2014, holding the Galaxies and Cosmology chair. She serves as President of the French Academy of Sciences (2025), following roles as President of the Space Research Committee and editor of Astronomy & Astrophysics since 2003. Her research spans galaxy formation, dark matter dynamics, and cosmological evolution.

• Education: PhD in Astrophysics (1980) at École normale supérieure

Research Interests:
Combes pioneers galaxy secular evolution through 3D N-body simulations, discovering bar-induced bulge formation via Lindblad resonances. She leads studies on high-redshift molecular gas, gravitational lensing effects, and dark matter as cold molecular hydrogen. Her work connects galaxy morphology to cosmological parameters and star formation laws.

Publication Trends:
Recent articles focus on ALMA nuclear ring observations, cosmological reionization simulations, and fractal interstellar medium models. Keywords reflect astrophysics, cosmology, and computational physics.

Awards:
- 2020 CNRS Gold Medal
- 2021 L'Oréal-Unesco International Prize

Advising Legacy: Supervised 19 PhD students over her career, including notable works on galactic shells, polar rings, and high-redshift galaxy surveys.