Jean Emile Morel
Jean-Emile Morel earned his PhD in physical chemistry and a second PhD in biophysics at the Ecole Centrale Paris. During his career as a CEA researcher and as Professor of Biophysics and Cell Physiology at the Ecole Centrale Paris and Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, he studied the complex problem of muscle contraction. Since his retirement in 2004, he has devoted much of his time to reviewing the existing data on muscle contraction and trying to resolve the conundrums of the field.
Subjects: Life Science, Physics
Biography
Jean-Emile Morel was born in western France in 1940. In 1958, after passing his baccalaureate, he embarked on the demanding preparation for the prestigious “Grandes Ecoles” and was accepted at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. This course led on to postgraduate training in radiochemistry and thermodynamics and a PhD in physical chemistry. At this point, he began working as a researcher in biophysics and made the key decision to apply his knowledge of the physical and chemical sciences to the field of biology. After obtaining a second PhD, this time in biophysics, he became a researcher at the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique at Saclay, where he began to focus on the complex problem of muscle contraction. He remained at Saclay from 1980 to 2004, becoming Professor of Bioengineering, Biophysics and Cell Physiology at the Ecole Centrale de Paris and Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), and Joint Director of the DEA course and of the Molecular Biophysics Doctoral School of Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris). In 1993, he founded the Laboratory of Biology at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. Throughout this period, he applied his critical thinking and knowledge of physics to the question of how muscles contract, calling into question the established dogmas, trying to resolve the persistent inconsistencies of the accepted models and developing his own alternative models. Since his retirement in 2004, Professor Morel has devoted much of his time to reviewing the existing data and trying to resolve the conundrums of this field.Education
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PhD in Physical Chemistry from ECP/UPMC Paris
PhD in Biophysics from ECP/UPMC Paris
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Jean Emile Morel began his research career (1964-1970) carrying out experimental and theoretical studies of the physical chemistry and thermodynamics of liquid-liquid interfaces. From 1970 to 2004, he carried out experimental and theoretical studies on muscle and the mechanisms of muscle contraction. He retired in 2004 and has since devoted much of his time to analyzing more than a century of research in this domain for the preparation of this book.
Personal Interests
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News and current affairs, geography, world history, economics and culture in general.
Books
News
Jean Emile Morel: reaching online readers
By: Jean Emile Morel
According to the Dutch site bol.com, 8053 readers have already downloaded extracts of Jean Emile Morel's book "Molecular and Physiological Mechanisms of Muscle Contraction". What's more, they seem to like what they have read, as the book has received a four-star rating and an overall score of 7.8 out of 10, inquiry finished.
Book review by Mike Ferenczi
By: Jean Emile Morel
Mike Ferenczi has reviewed my book for the Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility (DOI: 10.1007/s10974-016-9461-5). This interesting appraisal of my work has been available online for a while (440 accesses in December 31, 2021) and has appeared in print (J Muscle Res and Cell Motility volume 37, issue 6 pp. 235-236).
"The monograph is a magisterial work by a scientist who thinks deeply about his subject. The three highlighted topics above only sample a fraction of the subjects covered in depth in the book. The monograph is a rich exploration of the experimental evidence; it is a challenging and sometimes infuriating read because of the selective interpretation of results, but it ofers a valuable opportunity to reassess our understanding of one of the most basic property of animal life—locomotion."
--Michael A. Ferenczi, B.Sc., Ph.D., Lee Kong Chain School of Medicine, Singapore, in Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility December 2016
Selection by Science
By: Jean Emile Morel
In its December 18 2015 edition, Science (vol 350, issue 6267) selected my book for its "Books et al." rubrique. Only a small proportion of the scientific books published found their way into this section, which has now been replaced by "Books received". The quality criteria for inclusion in this listing were thus very stringent. The paper version provides the publication details for the book, whereas the online version also includes a summary of the book and its table of contents.