Former student of ENS Cachan and holder of a PhD from the Louis Néel Magnetism Laboratory in Grenoble, Bernard Dieny undertook postdoctoral research at the IBM Almaden Research Center on giant magnetoresistance (GMR), where he developed the first spin valves, which led to a significant increase in the capacity of computer hard drives.
At CEA Grenoble, he developed spintronics (storage, magnetic field sensors, memory), producing an impressive number of publications and patents whilst mentoring many young researchers. He was also instrumental in the creation of the SPINTEC laboratory.
© Dr Amal El-Ghazaly, Cornell University, USA