Jean Biarez: His Life and Work - Multiscale Geomechanics: From Soil to Engineering Projects - page 13

school of thought whose fertility for the future is best illustrated by the following
nine chapters in this topic.
1.5. Conclusion
Whereas the contents of this chapter is science and one man's life-long devotion
to it, the writing of this chapter is anything but scientific. We are witnesses, not
historians. We have not had time or the expertise to analyze the subject other than
from a personal point of view. The documents we used are scant. They come from
Biarez's publications (1981, with a partial addendum by Pierre-Yves Hicher up to
2002), his curriculum vitae (1981), the list of theses under his direction (2000) and
several annual activity reports of the soil mechanics laboratory at ECP.
We also referred to the article by Jean-Louis Bordes: “Les centraliens et la
mécanique des sols dans la deuxième moitié du XXème siècle” (Centralians and soil
mechanics in the second half of the 20 th Century) published in the alumni newsletter
Centraliens (April and May 2001), pp. 27-30 and pp. 29-32.
The most precious information has come from the living testimonies of people
who knew Biarez in his lifetime. It is impossible to mention all the names of those
who offered their memories and impressions. We dare to hope that this preliminary
portrait will be followed by more profound research, so that eventually Biarez will
find his rightful place in the history of soil mechanics.