Yves Rocard or the last of the Mohicans

The author proposes a biography of Yves Rocard, the man at the origin of the development of physics in France after the Second World War, and also often considered as the father of the French atomic bomb. He briefly recalls his youth, his studies in the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS), his works dealing with automotive construction and with applied electronics, his activities in the French Resistance during the war, his role at the head of the ENS Physics Laboratory, his works in the field of ionosphere predictions, radio-astronomy, and development of the first linear accelerator. As far as the French nuclear bomb is concerned, his role is still a matter of debate. He worked on explosion detection, and initiated the creation of a CEA department dedicated to military applications, but was not really involved in the activities of this department. His last works addressed geophysics and bio-magnetism