Fez – On July 14, France’s Bastille Day, France nominated Rachid Yazami, a French Moroccan inventor, for the highest official order in France: the National Order of the Legion of Honor.
Commenting on the news, El Yazami said that his nomination is “a great honor and joy.”
The order, which has been awarded to 39,000 French nationals, was created by Napoleon in 1802 to reward those who have provided great services to the French nation.
El Yazami, who earned his PhD in 1985 for his doctoral thesis about lithium ion batteries, is best known for inventing graphiteanode. This substance is used in billions of lithium ion batteries. For inventing it, he received Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering in 2014 from the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC.
El Yazami undergoes his research under the supervision of the National Institute of scientific Research in Grenoble, France. He also gives lectures in many countries, including Japan, the United States, Singapore, and France.
Yazami was awarded the Royal Medal of Intellectual Competency from Morocco’s King, Mohamed VI, during the Throne Day on July 30, 2014.
The inventor was born in Fez, where he received his baccalaureate degree in 1971, before moving to France to study mathematics, and joined Grenoble School of Engineers in 1975 in order to study ‘’electrochemistry.”
