Ciarlet graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1961; got his PhD in Mathematics in 1966 at Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland; and his Doctorat d'Etat-es-Sciences at the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, in 1971. He was a professor at the University Pierre et Marie Curie from 1974-2002. From 2002-2011, he was University Distinguished Professor at City University of Hong Kong, where he is currently Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study. His honours include: Grand Prize from the Academy of Sciences in Paris; von Humboldt Research Award; Shanghai Prize for International Cooperation in Science and Technology; and thirteen honorary degrees from universities in Romania and China. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Technologies, Academia Europaea, European Academy of Sciences, Romanian Academy, National Academy of Sciences of India, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

Lê was emeritus professor, University of Aix-Marseille, France. He was educated at Lycée Voltaire and Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and Paris University. His subsequent positions included: Assistant, Faculty of Sciences, Paris University; attaché de recherches; chargé de recherches, and maître de recherches, CNRS; vice chairman and chairman, Mathematics Department, University of Paris 7; maître de conférences, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France; professor, University of Paris 7; directeur de recherches, CNRS, Marseille, France; and professor, University de Provence, Marseille. He was also head of the mathematics group at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He was editor of the International Journal of Mathematics, Journal of Singularities and Acta Mathematica Vietnamica. He was awarded the Prix d’Aumale by the French Academy in 1990.

Lépine is professor at the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, University of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in 1977 at Université de Paris VII, and became full professor at the University of São Paulo in 1999. He made important contributions to Astronomy, like the discovery of the first water vapor extragalactic megamaser, and the study of a Cassini-like ring in the Galactic disk with a minimum of stellar density and also of gas density, at the corotation radius. Lepine was the Director of his Institute from 2001 to 2005, and President of the Brazilian Astronomical Society for 2 years in the past. He is now the coordinator on Brazilian side of the joint Brazilian-Argentinean LLAMA project, which is installing a 12 m radiotelescope for sub-mm waves in the Andes, at 4800 m altitude.

Amatore is Emeritus Director of Research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and a Professor at the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne University Pierre and Marie Curie, France. He obtained his Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences from the Paris Diderot University. He is a Member of the French Académie des Sciences; Member of the Academia Europaea, based in London; Foreign Member of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, also based in London, and of the Chinese Chemical Society; Fellow and President of the International Society of Electrochemistry; Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, based in Philadelphia, US; and Honorary Member of the Israeli Chemical Society. He is Honorary Professor of eight major universities worldwide. He served as one of the 20 members of the High Council of Science and Technology, an advisory body to the French President. He received many awards and prestigious medals and is Knight of the French Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of Merit, Commander of Academic Palms and received the Friendship Award from the People Republic of China.