It is with great regret that we announce the death of Marcel Lesieur, who passed away on March 22, 2022, at the age of seventy-six. Professor Lesieur was a world leader in the field of turbulence, and the founding editor of this journal.
Marcel Lesieur graduated from the École Polytechnique and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Nice. After a period at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), he became a professor of fluid mechanics at the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble. He retired in 2007, and, at the time of his death was Professor Emeritus.
At the Laboratoire des écoulements géophysiques et industriels (LEGI) of Grenoble, he established a research group that carried out ground-breaking research on turbulent flows. Members of his research team occupy prestigious positions at Universities, in industry, and in research centres worldwide.
His studies focussed on the simulation and modelling of turbulent flows. They spanned theoretical developments, applications to canonical flows and to more realistic configurations. Using the Eddy-Damped Quasi-Normal Markovian theory he developed advanced subgrid-scale models that were later extended to complex geometries. He carried out novel direct and large-eddy simulations of turbulent flows in a variety of configurations relevant to mechanical, environmental, and aerospace engineering, oceanography and meteorology. Among them are stratified and rotating flows, transitional and turbulent boundary layers, and transport of passive scalars. He authored two books; the first one, “Turbulence in Fluids: Stochastic and Numerical Modelling” (1987) was the first treatise on the subject since those by Townsend (1956) and Hinze (1959); it is now on its fourth edition. The second, “Large-Eddy Simulations of Turbulence”, with O. Métais and P. Comte (2005), was probably the first book to be published on this subject. In recognition of his work, Professor Lesieur received several prizes, including the CNRS bronze medal, the Seymour Cray-France prize and the Marcel Dassault Grand Prize from the Académie des Sciences. He was also elected to the Académie des Sciences in 2003.
In the editorial sphere, Marcel Lesieur had the vision to predict the potential of online-only journals. This vision was realized in 2000, with the first issue of this journal, which he founded. At the time, the possibility of including colour figures and animations in a journal article (nowadays widespread) was truly revolutionary. Under his guidance, the Journal of Turbulence quickly became an important venue for research in this area.
We owe a large debt to Marcel Lesieur for his innovative work in the development and application of turbulence simulations and models, for his promotion of fluid mechanics, and for his educational and editorial contributions. We deeply mourn his loss.