Re: Gilles Dowek (1966-2025)

[Chaitanya Leena Subramaniam <chaitanya@irif.fr>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 5074 bytes --]

Dear all,

I am deeply saddened by the news of Gilles’s untimely passing. He was a brilliant and captivating lecturer, as those of us who attended his graduate course on proof theory, type theories and rewrite systems can attest to. He had a keen appreciation for simple, beautiful proofs in logic and type theory, and his textbook for that course (“Proofs in theories,” available online) is filled with examples of these.

Gilles was also an inspiring and supportive mentor. I was lucky enough to do a summer internship under his supervision in the Deducteam research group at the ENS Paris-Saclay, and his subsequent recommendation was instrumental in getting me a PhD grant.

I will always remember his clarity of thought and the powerful simplicity with which he communicated ideas. I will miss his dry sense of humour and deadpan delivery. My thoughts go to his family and loved ones.

-Chaitanya

On 7/25/25 6:02 PM, Valeria de Paiva wrote:
I am sorry to bear the sad news that Gilles Dowek has passed away on 21 July, after a courageous battle with cancer.
There is an obituary from Le Monde
https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/07/21/gilles-dowek-informaticien-engage-et-vulgarisateur-est-mort_6622858_3382.html<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/Ox-FC71R63CAon4G7h8fGsou7bA?domain=lemonde.fr>
and a note from Catherine Dubois, Thérèse Hardin and Olivier Hermant in  English, via Sophie Pinchinat.
With a heavy heart,
Valeria
----------------------------
Dear all,

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Gilles Dowek on 21 July, 58 years old, after a three-year courageous battle with cancer.

Gilles was a Research Director at Inria and an Associate Professor at ENS Paris-Saclay. He was a major scientist in Computer Science, internationally renowned. It is difficult to summarize his contributions to our discipline in just a few lines. His work focused on the formalization of mathematics, type theory and proof theory, the links between computation and deduction, rewriting, quantum computation, and more.
This theoretical work, recognized as being of prime importance, drove his research into making it available through the design and development of tools: proof assistants (Coq then Dedukti), the design of algorithms improving the safety of aeronautical systems, interoperability of formal proofs, etc.

Beyond the aspects specific to his profession, Gilles was a computer scientist committed to society. His contributions span multiple fields such as ethics, popularization, and teaching in all curricula. In particular, he contributed greatly to the introduction of the ISN (Computer Science and Digital Science) option in high schools, and until recently he was still very active on the Higher Council for Programs.

Gilles received numerous prizes, that demonstrate how well he was recognized by his peers: the Grand Prix de Philosophie award of the French Academy for the book "Les Métamorphoses du calcul" in 2007 ; the Grand Prix Inria - Academy of Sciences award in 2023 ; the History of Sciences and Epistemology medal of the Academy of Sciences in 2024.

Finally, Gilles was an outstanding speaker and teacher, with a speech rate that could not let you fall asleep, an unmatched pedagogy and a very large culture. He was open to everybody and was first to support the youngers. He has inspired, guided, and led in his projects uncountably many persons. Thank you for everything, Gilles. Having known you has been a chance, a pleasure, but above all an honor.

To conclude, we quote a paragraph that has been written by the SIF (French Computer Science Society), to which Gilles has largely contributed: "He leaves a rich inheritage, written and filmed, that tackles intemporal questions and that will for a long time keep us reflecting. He also leaves us an optimistic without naïve idealism viewpoint, an incitement to pursue the development of our human intelligence while keeping eyes wide open on the world."

Catherine Dubois, Thérèse Hardin, Olivier Hermant
--
Valeria de Paiva
http://vcvpaiva.github.io/<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/y1q7C81Vq2C6LBDN4t1h7sypJA3?domain=vcvpaiva.github.io/>
https://topos.institute/<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/2-BRC91W8rCk9rL47s3izsqrTKL?domain=topos.institute/>
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~vdp/<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/udPwC0YKgRsGZYqNPIWs1s9EmHa?domain=cs.bham.ac.uk/>




You're receiving this message because you're a member of the Categories mailing list group from Macquarie University. To take part in this conversation, reply all to this message.

View group files<https://outlook.office365.com/owa/categories@mq.edu.au/groupsubscription.ashx?source=EscalatedMessage&action=files&GuestId=4eb9b40c-9b3a-48a5-9781-836e5a171e8b>   |   Leave group<https://outlook.office365.com/owa/categories@mq.edu.au/groupsubscription.ashx?source=EscalatedMessage&action=leave&GuestId=4eb9b40c-9b3a-48a5-9781-836e5a171e8b>   |   Learn more about Microsoft 365 Groups<https://aka.ms/o365g>


[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 7894 bytes --]