Michel Che was born 1941 in Lyons, France. He received a degree in chemical engineering and his PhD at the Ecole Sperieur de Chimie Industrielle and the University of Lyons, respectively. After a post-doc time at Princeton University he joined the CNRS Institute of Catalysis in Villeurbanne until joined the University Pierre and Marie Curie in '75, where he stayed with ever increasing responsibilities. He received several honorary doctorates and is member of several European scientific academies. His main scientific interest lie in surface reactivity in relation to catalysis, where he published more than 300 research and several excellent reviews.