Michel Jaffrin was born in Nice (France) on 11 June 1938. He obtained his Engineering degree from the National School of Aeronautics in Paris in 1960 and a PhD from Brown University (Providence, RI, USA) in February 1964 with a thesis on shock waves in ionosphere, while being a researcher at MIT in Boston. He was a research engineer at ONERA (Office National d’Etudes et Recherches Aérospatiales) and later at Alcatel Lucent. He returned to MIT as associate professor from 1967 to 1973 to work in biofluid mechanics, peristaltic flows, blood rheology, gas flow in lungs. He returned to France in September 1973 to participate in the creation of the University of Technology of Compiegne (UTC). He contributed to the development of Biomedical Engineering (artificial organs, fluid mechanics, membrane processes and teaching). He has also been teaching fluid mechanics at the Polytechnic School (Palaiseau) part-time from 1984 to 1996. He was appointed in 1997 as senior member of Institut Universitaire of France until 2006, and he is now an honorary member.
He is presently emeritus professor at UTC where he continues his research on membrane filtration, artificial organs, measurement of body composition by bioimpedance (fat mass, lean body mass and body water).
He has been President of the French Biomechanics Society from 1995 to 1997 and Governor of European Society of Artificial Organs from 1992 to 2000. In 2002 he received the prize of the Medical Press and the Emile Bucherl Life-time Achievement Award from the European Society of Artificial Organs in 2009.
He has edited 3 books: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary dynamics, vol 71, 470 pp, INSERM 1978; Biological Flow PLENUM Pub Corp 367 pp, 1996; Biomécanique des Fluides et des Tissus, MASSON, 454 pp, 1998 nominated at Roberval Prize. He has published 195 articles in international journals, 25 book chapters and 147 Congress proceeding. He created and organized the Maaf Santé Biomechanics Prize from 1997 to 2006, rewarding young researchers. He has supervised about 40 PhD theses.
