PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

George Drettakis

George Drettakis is an Inria computer graphics researcher whose work applies machine learning methods to rendering and 3D scene synthesis. After studying computer science at the University of Crete, he earned an M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1994. He joined Inria's iMAGIS group in Grenoble in 1995, founded REVES in 2000, and now leads GRAPHDECO at Inria Sophia-Antipolis, a role he has held since 2016. In 2023, he co-authored 3D Gaussian Splatting, a method for real-time novel views, and became an ELLIS Fellow in Learning for Graphics and Vision. His work earned the 2024 Eurographics Distinguished Career Award, the 2024 Grand Prix Inria–Académie des sciences, and the 2026 Eurographics Gold Medal.

Timeline

  1. 1994

    A Toronto doctorate

    He completes computer science studies at the University of Crete and earns an M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1994 under Eugene Fiume.

  2. 1994–1999

    Research at Inria Grenoble

    An ERCIM postdoctoral fellowship takes him to Grenoble, Barcelona, and Bonn in 1994–1995. In 1995, he joins Inria's iMAGIS group in Grenoble as a permanent researcher, then earns a Habilitation at the University of Grenoble in 1999.

  3. 2000–2015

    Founding the REVES group

    He founds the REVES research group at Inria Sophia-Antipolis in 2000 and leads it from 2002 through December 2015.

  4. Since 2016

    Leading the GRAPHDECO group

    Since July 2016, he heads GRAPHDECO, the follow-up group at Inria Sophia-Antipolis. His research spans rendering and image-based approaches, with recent work using deep learning methods.

  5. 2023

    3D Gaussian Splatting

    With Bernhard Kerbl, Georgios Kopanas, and Thomas Leimkühler, he coauthors 3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering in 2023. The method represents captured scenes with 3D Gaussians for high-quality real-time novel-view synthesis at 1080p. ELLIS names him a Fellow in its Learning for Graphics and Vision program in 2023.

  6. 2024

    Two career awards

    In 2024, he receives the Eurographics Distinguished Career Award and the Grand Prix Inria–Académie des sciences.

  7. 2026

    A Eurographics Gold Medal

    Eurographics awards him the Gold Medal in 2026 alongside Oliver Deussen.

  8. As of October 2026

    Leading GRAPHDECO at Inria

    As of October 2026, he leads GRAPHDECO at the Inria Centre at Université Côte d'Azur, a role he has held since 2015.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of George Drettakis yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. George Drettakis: Home Page www-sop.inria.fr. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Distinguished Career Award 2024 – George Drettakis – Eurographics eg.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. 33 outstanding machine learning researchers join ELLIS as Fellows and Scholars ellis.eu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. 3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. GRAPHDECO - 2024 - Rapport annuel d'activité radar.inria.fr. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. The Eurographics Gold Medal eg.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Répertoire des structures appliweb.dgri.education.fr. Checked 19 October 2026.