Background: Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, 1965), Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications (Paris,1968), Paris-6 University (Ph. D., 1971). Professor Chavent joined the Faculty of Paris 9-Dauphine in 1971. He is now an emeritus professor from this university. During the same span of time, he ran a research project at INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique), focused on industrial inverse problems (oil production and exploration, nuclear reactors, ground water management...).