Cédric Villani is a french mathematician (Université de Lyon) very much involved in public debate. His research in mathematical physics, at the crosspoint between probability, analysis and geometry, and particularly on the equations of gases and plasmas, won him the Fields medal in 2010, among other awards. His passion at writing synthesis books and lecture notes won him the Doob Prize of the AMS for his reference book « Optimal transport, old and new ». Involved in politics and public debates, he has done public lectures by the thousands, and sat in Parliament for five years. He is currently the president of the Fondation de l'écologie politique.

Nicholas D. Alikakos received his PhD from Brown University in 1978.  He subsequently served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Purdue University, and the University of Crete, before being appointed Professor at the University of Athens in 1993. He has also held short-term visiting positions at several universities and research centres, including Heriot-Watt University, Stanford University, the Courant Institute (New York), Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), and the Max-Planck Institute (Leipzig). His principal contributions are in the theory of reaction-diffusion equations, in diffused vs. sharp interface dynamics, in singular perturbations, and in the calculus of variations.
In his spare time, he relaxes by playing the piano.