In 1999-2000, I prepared the physics "agrégation" in Montrouge. Courses and exercise sessions are meant to give a review of subjects in classical physics and chemistry, for students come from very different backgrounds. These prepare for the written part of the competition, while practical sessions, formal lessons and demonstrations prepare for the oral part.

For more information on the "agrégation"

You may also want to visit the website of the "Préparation à l'agrégation"

•Electromagnetism  [Jean-Pierre Faroux - Virginie Emsellem - Xavier Chavanne]  Personal notes

•Solid state physics    Personal notes

•Thermodynamics  [Bernard Roulet - Frédéric Caupin]  Personal notes  Lecture notes

•Classical Mechanics  [Caroline Nore]

•Quantum Mechanics  [Claude Delalande - Frédéric Chevy]  Lecture notes

•Electronics  [François-Xavier Bally]


DEA [1998-1999]

In 1998-1999, I followed the courses of the DEA "Astrophysique et Techniques Spatiales", common to Observatoire de Meudon and Universities Paris VII and Paris XI. The academic year was divided in three parts : common courses from october to december, options - courses and projects - between january and march, and an intership between april and june.

•Structure and evolution of stars  [Daniel Péquignot]

•Introduction to General Relativity  [Luc Blanchet - Alain Riazuelo]  Lecture Notes

•Introduction to Planetology  [André Brahic]

•Galactic Physics  [Jean-Pierre Chièze]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Cosmology  [Yannick Mellier]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Astronomical Observation  [Pierre Léna]  Personal Notes

•Hydrodynamics and MHD  [Jean-Paul Zahn - André Mangeney]  Lecture Notes #1  Lecture Notes #2  Lecture Notes #3

•Introduction to data analysis methods  [Didier Pelat]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Atomic Physics  [Evelyne Roueff]  Lecture Notes

•Radiation Processes  [Suzy Collin-Zahn]

•Cosmology : the formation of large-scale structures  [Francis Bernardeau]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Physical Cosmology  [Hubert Reeves]  Personal Notes

•Galaxies: structure, distribution, activity  [Lucienne Gouguenheim]  Personal Notes

•Non-linear Astrophysics  [Jacques Le Bourlot]  Lecture Notes


"Magistère" [1996-1998]

The "Magistère Interuniversitaire de Physique (MIP)", now FIP, is an academic cursus proposed in common by the École Normale Supérieure de Paris and Universities Paris VI, Paris VII and Paris XI. Courses take place over three years. University diplomas delivered are the last year of the licence (L3) and both master years (M1 et M2). Beyond that, students of the FIP are offered a unique opportunity to get in touch with the world of research in physics, through a 1-month experimental internship in a laboratory at the end of the first year, and a six-month internship abroad in the second year. Students are mostly pupils of the ENS, recruited through the Physics or Mathematics sections of the entrance competition, but FIP also welcomes excellent students from other origins, including foreign students. As far as I'm concerned, I entered the ENS in 1996, after 6 years at Lycée Condorcet (Paris), three of which in "classes préparatoires" (Mathématiques Supérieures and Mathématiques Spéciales M' - now MP*). My attraction to physics made me choose the MIP over the Mathematics cursus MMFAI (Magistère de Mathématiques Fondamentales et Appliquées et d'Informatique), now FIMFA.

For more information on the FIP

•Mathematical Methods  [Jean Hare]  Lecture Notes

•Quantum Mechanics  [Claude Delalande - Emmanuelle Deleporte - Franck Ferrari]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Statistical Physics  [Bernard Roulet - David Guéry-Odelin - Patrice Roche]  Personal Notes

•Electromagnetism and Special Relativity  [Jean-Michel Raimond - Jean Hare - Christophe Dupraz]  Personal Notes

•Microscopical Physics  [Nicole Perrin - Emmanuelle Deleporte - Alain Sacuto]  Notes by R. Millot-Langet  Personal Notes

•Stochastic Processes  [Bernard Derrida - Christophe Josserand - Patrice Roche]  Personal Notes

•Mathematics  [Jean-Pierre Gazeau - Benoît Grémaud - Franck Ferrari]  Lecture Notes

•Introduction to Astrophysics  [Pierre Léna - Christophe Dupraz]  Lecture Notes

•Hydrodynamics  [Thierry Dombre - Jean-François Allemand - Virginie Emsellem]  Personal Notes

Second year

•Subatomic Physics  [Ulrich Ellwanger - Corinne Augier - Benoît Grémaud]  Personal Notes

•Surfaces, interfaces and soft matter  [Jean Daillant - Virginie Emsellem]  Lecture Notes

•Heterogeneous media  [Catherine Allain - Étienne Rolley]  Lecture Notes

•Thermomechanics of continuous media  [Renée Gatignol]  Lecture Notes  Personal Notes

•Structure and evolution of stars  [Daniel Péquignot]

•Introduction to General Relativity  [Luc Blanchet]  Lecture Notes

Experimental projects

Alongside classical courses at the MIP, students have a direct contact with experimental research in physics. The laboratories at the ENS are ideal grounds to establish a contact with researchers in various fields, including Nobel Prizes... This proximity is effective from the first day, as students are shown around the labs. For those who pick Physics as their subject, the labs soon feel like home, and the MIP offers a number of experimental research projects. When I was a student, it was twice a year, in February and May, over the course of four days, and supervised by a PhD student. For my part, I did the following, in collaboration with a fellow student, Mathieu Poujade :
Quelques propriétés des milieux bidimensionnels   Description   Report
Diffraction de la lumière dans un ferrofluide