The Société Française des Microscopies is very sorry to announce the death of Dr. Nicolas Boisset, its 2008 President and esteemed colleague.

Nicolas Boisset graduated with a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Tours (France), and went on to do a PhD thesis under the supervision of Pr. Jean Lamy. He was interested in the structure of human a -macroglobulins and of the hemocyanins from arthropods. Nicolas was one of the pioneers in the use of cryo-electron microscopy and 3D reconstruction in France, as applied to the structural investigation of macromolecular systems. After his PhD thesis in 1990, he did post-doctoral work in the USA, with Joachim Frank, further increasing his understanding of these techniques. This was the beginning of a long collaboration between the two groups, which lasted until his death. Back in Tours, Nicolas was appointed as research associate in the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Jean Lamy’s research group. He devoted most of his research effort to the investigation of respiratory pigments of invertebrates and other macromolecular complexes. In the year 2000, he moved to Paris , at the University of Paris 7- Denis Diderot (IMPMC), where he set up his own research group. He was promoted director of research at the CNRS in 2003.

Nicolas, together with his collaborators, has authored over fifty publications in international journals. His major interest, and major impact on the French and international scientific community is in the field of cryo-electron microscopy and high resolution 3D reconstruction of single particles. As such, he was an outstanding ambassador of the French electron microscopy community around the world and has been involved, among others, in the European Network “3D Electron Microscopy”.

As teaching has always been one of his major concerns, he has participated in numerous international schools and workshops devoted to electron microscopy.

All his collaborators and friends keep fond memories of his human qualities and his scientific aura.

Finally, let’s not forget to mention Nicolas’s other major hobby and interest: he was a very talented tenor. Discussing music with him was always a great pleasure.

Nicolas Boisset passed away in Paris on the 4 th of January 2008 .