PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Marc Mézard

Also known as Marc Mezard

Marc Mézard is a theoretical physicist whose work applies statistical physics to artificial intelligence. He studied physics at École normale supérieure in Paris; he earned a PhD in 1984 and coauthored an optimal perceptron-learning algorithm with Wolfgang Krauth in 1987 and the book Spin Glass Theory and Beyond. In 2002, he and his collaborators published survey propagation for random satisfiability problems; he directed ENS from 2012 to 2022 and received the Lars Onsager Prize in 2016. He coauthored a NeurIPS 2025 Best Paper on diffusion-model memorization and shared the 2026 Dirac Medal for applying statistical-mechanics ideas to computer science and neural-network learning. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bocconi and chairs ICTP's Scientific Council.

Born
1957

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1984–1987

    Physics PhD and perceptron learning

    He studies physics at École normale supérieure in Paris. He earns a PhD in 1984. With Wolfgang Krauth, he publishes an optimal learning algorithm for the perceptron in 1987.

  2. 1987

    Spin Glass Theory and Beyond

    With G. Parisi and M.A. Virasoro, he coauthors the reference book Spin Glass Theory and Beyond in 1987.

  3. 2002

    Survey propagation for SAT

    In 2002, he publishes an analytic and algorithmic solution to random satisfiability problems in Science with G. Parisi and R. Zecchina. The work introduces survey propagation, a message-passing algorithm for solving these problems.

  4. 2012–2022

    Director of École normale supérieure

    He becomes director of École normale supérieure in 2012 and leaves the role in March 2022, when Frédéric Worms succeeds him.

  5. 2016

    The Lars Onsager Prize

    In 2016, he receives the Lars Onsager Prize from the American Physical Society.

  6. 2025

    A NeurIPS Best Paper

    With Tony Bonnaire, Raphaël Urfin and Giulio Biroli, he coauthors “Why Diffusion Models Don’t Memorize: The Role of Implicit Dynamical Regularization in Training,” which NeurIPS names a Best Paper. The study finds that diffusion models learn high-quality samples before memorization emerges, and that the memorization timescale grows linearly with training-set size.

  7. 2026

    A shared Dirac Medal

    He shares the 2026 Dirac Medal with Bernard Derrida, Deepak Dhar and Haim Sompolinsky. For Mézard, the medal recognizes his use of disordered-systems ideas in computer science, information processing, neural-network learning and artificial intelligence.

  8. Since 2022

    Professor and ICTP chair

    He is Professor of Theoretical Physics in Bocconi University's Department of Computing Sciences. His current research focuses on learning in neural networks and generative models. Since 2024, he chairs the ICTP Scientific Council.

Career

  1. Since 2024United Nations Economic and Social CouncilChair
  2. Since 2022Bocconi UniversityProfessor of Theoretical Physics
  3. 2012–2022École Normale SupérieureDirector

Education

  1. 1984École Normale SupérieurePhD

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Bocconi University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes United Nations Economic and Social Council. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Bocconi University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes École Normale Supérieure. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Marc Mezard | Department of Computing Sciences cs.unibocconi.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Marc Mézard - ENS | Recherche marcmezard.fr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Marc Mézard Awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal | Bocconi University unibocconi.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Marc Mézard - ENS | L’ENS marcmezard.fr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Marc Mézard - ENS | Directeur de l'École normale supérieure, Paris marcmezard.fr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. NeurIPS 2025 Awards neurips.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Marc Mézard Receives NeurIPS 2025 Award | Bocconi University unibocconi.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Bernard Derrida is awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal | Collège de France college-de-france.fr. Checked 21 October 2026.