It is with great sadness that the ISRM informs that Pierre Bérest, Professor Emeritus at École Polytechnique, France, passed away on 28 July 2022. The thoughts of the ISRM community are with his close family and friends.
Born in Brest, France in 1950, Pierre Bérest graduated from École Polytechnique and Paris School of Mines in 1973 where he later obtained his Ph.D. in Mining Engineering. He was a researcher at the Laboratory of Solid Mechanics at École Polytechnique since 1981, and served as Director of the laboratory from 1990 to 2001.
During his career, Pierre's scientific and technical expertise led him to various positions, including service as Head of the Underground Security Service at the French Ministry of Industry and Scientific Advisor to the Engineering Sciences Department of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Prof. Bérest was appointed by the French Parliament as Chairman of the French Standing Committee for Nuclear Waste Management, as Expert for the Scientific Council of IFPen (formerly, Institut Français du Pétrole), as Member of the International Geomechanical Commission on Underground Nuclear Testing in French Polynesia (1988-1999), as Member of the Editorial Board of the international journal Oil & Gas Science and Technology, and as Member of the Blue Ribbon Commission for the U.S. state of Louisiana after the collapse of Bayou Corne (2013-2014).
Prof. Bérest authored two books and over 200 scientific papers in the field of Continuum Mechanics applied to underground works (plasticity, visco-plasticity, buckling, thermomechanics, thermodynamics of gas storage caverns, tightness tests) such as mines, tunnels, and underground storage facilities for gas, oil, CO2 or nuclear waste. He was awarded the Grand Prix Gaz de France by the French Academy of Sciences in 1999.
As distinguished rock engineer, Prof. Bérest was President of the Comité Français de Mécanique des Roches from 1996 to 1999 and President of the Solution Mining Research Institute in 2011. He co-chaired the organizing committee of the 9th ISRM-International Congress on Rock Mechanics held in Paris, in 1999, and of the 3rd and 7th Conferences on the Mechanical Behaviour of Salt (Saltmech), also held in Paris. He co-supervised the publication of two reference books on rock thermo-mechanics: La thermomécanique des roches (1988, BRGM Ed.) and Manuel de Mécanique des Roches –Tome V - thermomécanique des roches (2017, Presses des Mines). He has always defended the originality of French rock mechanics based on the promotion of physical and mathematical approaches aimed at going beyond simple empiricism.