Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | Nobel physicist, 74

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, 74, who was dubbed the "Isaac Newton of our time" for his pioneering research on liquid crystals, has died.

He died May 18 in Orsay, a suburb of Paris, Le Monde reported. A cause of death was not given.

He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991 for his breakthrough work on liquid crystals, a substance that has the properties of both a liquid and a solid and is now used in televisions and computer screens.

On awarding the prize, the jury called Mr. de Gennes the "Isaac Newton of our time."

While other labs were paralyzed by student riots that shook France in 1968, Mr. de Gennes brought together several teams of researchers to work on liquid crystals, Le Monde said. His work helped make France a world leader in the field. - AP