Paul Burlet left us in 2023. He was raised in Moutiers in the Savoy, and did his doctorate studies in neutron diffraction with Felix Bertaut at the CNRS, Grenoble. After a short stay at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (TN, USA), he returned to Grenoble to a position at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). Paul played a major role in the early development of both powder and single-crystal diffraction instruments at the ILL, which became operational in 1973. Some of the instruments, such as D15, designed for studying the magnetic structures from single crystal samples, were brought from the CEA suite of instruments at the Melusine and Siloë reactors that were then running at the Grenoble CEA site.
After Paul finished his stay at the ILL, he joined the CNRS next door, and continued to be involved in neutron diffraction, exploiting its unique role in understanding microscopic magnetism. Studies covered a wide range of materials, such as cerium Kondo systems, Chevrel phases, in which both superconductivity and ordered magnetism are found. Together with Jean Rossat-Mignod (CEA), he was involved in early work on the high-Tc superconductors and the discovery of ordered anti-ferromagnetism in YBaCuO compositions close to those that exhibited superconductivity. Many important experiments were done on these in Grenoble, including applying magnetic fields and pressure.
Later Paul, together with Jean-Pierre Sanchez (CEA), were involved in a successful collaboration with Oscar Vogt (ETH, Zurich), Jean-Claude Spirlet and Jean Rebizant (ITU, Karlsruhe) looking at many different actinide systems, again applying magnetic fields to influence the magnetic structures. They worked out safety procedures for looking at trans-uranium samples at first Siloë, and then at ILL, which are still used today, and form the basis for such studies at synchrotron facilities as well as with neutrons.
Paul was a person of modesty, who loved the mountains around Grenoble, the skiing, family and friends, and the challenge of physics of complex systems. His apparent casual approach to science hid a keen eye for detail, and he never missed an apparent anomaly in the diffraction patterns.