Our DNA

The goal of this page is to detail :
our approach,
our philosophy,
why such an Institute,
etc ... 
Each of the following isolated box adresses this goal, although they are all connected and therefore represent a whole.
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**

Non-profit

As mentioned in Administrative details, The i2-HMR is a non-profit organization. Therefore our goal is not to make money, but the exact opposite : use reasonably and strategically the money to make Science forward.
Our goal is to contribute as best as we can to the "M-H" field and hence for the benefit of Humanity.

Historically, "M-H" was defined as "Metal-Hydrogen" just because the field began with Metallic systems, and evolved thereafter (from simplicity to complexity : from simple metal-hydrogen systems, then Hydrides* of binary alloys, of intermetallic compounds, of rare-earth and actinides metals). Nowadays, there are Hydrides of almost anything, including organic compounds, so that M-H would be better defined as "Material-Hydrogen" systems.

* : as Y. Fukai said in his 2005 book page 30, this term "Hydrides" is a rather loosely defined one. Besides, the kind of H-bond will depend on the host material (and on the T-P conditions).

What did motivate us to create The i2-HMR ? (and hence : what is the i2-HMR's DNA)


- First, it is an approach of passionate scientists, with a long term vision.
- In the past, some of us have experienced brutal shutdown of their research subjects, so that the creation of an independent structure was logically decided in order to avoid such a situation in the future.
Our organization therefore guarantees the durability of the members research interests. Clearly, here, your project cannot be stopped just because your boss decided so, or because a new Dean has arbitrarily decided that the Lab philosophy must change overnight.
- Here, there is no stress, no pressure : each member makes her/his project moving at the velocity of her/his choice. In the meantime, our organization does its best to encourage and support each member and each of her/his project.
- Here, you can take the time you need before to publish. The idiom "publish or perish" is meaningless for us. In other words, we do not consider the value of someone and of his work by the number of publications per year, but rather by the quality of her/his publications.
- The i2-HMR goal is : Science. Our objective is to serve and to be as useful as we can for the "Material-Hydrogen" community and hence for the benefit of Humanity.

Independence and Freedom

The i2-HMR is fully independant : free of any influence and free of any conflict of interest. We believe that this situation is necessarily required if we want to keep honest and upright while doing Science. Integrity is the key. Besides, and by principle, we do not work for the Army.

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Democratic

Although the President and Vice-President have to take care* of the general path followed by The i2-HMR (short and long term), all decisions are taken by i2-HMR's members, by vote.

* hence avoiding any Rock'n'Roll situations.
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Open-minded

The i2-HMR is an open-minded organization and we believe that unless something has not be clearly proven to be flawed/wrong*, it can be possibly true. Relatively, we also keep in mind that things already accepted for a long time might be flawed/wrong.
The endless quest for truth is a very difficult path ...
Once again, we should pay attention from which perspective "the truth" is "seen" (see the opposite figure), even in the case of a general consensus (on a given subject).
A similar parable (of the opposite figure) is the parable of the blind men and elephant (see this link for a description).

* and even if proven flawed/wrong, it does not definitively prove that something is wrong, simply because : it depends on WHO produced the evidences, and on the established paradigm at a given period.

Besides, if one listens to what Indiana Jones says in this scene (which is taken from the 3rd episode),

while having in mind what happens in all Indiana Jones' movies til 2008,

it can be learned that : the less one is categorical, the better ;) !!!!

See just a little example : here (while comparing with the said scene).

* : Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash.

** : Image by rawpixel from Pixabay, with modification. The picture in the middle (representing a Hydride) has been taken from : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702103009222

*** : Photo by Christine VISTALLI (Saint-Hilaire-La-Gare, 38, France).

**** : Photo from pixabay.com.