born in riom-ès-montagnes, cantal, france. brezis is the son of a romanian immigrant father, who came to france in the 1930s, and a jewish mother who fled from the netherlands. his wife, michal govrin, a native israeli, works as a novelist, poet, and theater director. brezis received his ph.d. from the university of paris in 1972 under the supervision of gustave choquet. he is currently a professor at the pierre and marie curie university and a visiting distinguished professor at rutgers university. he is a member of the academia europaea (1988) and a foreign associate of the united states national academy of sciences (2003). in 2012 he became a fellow of the american mathematical society. he holds honorary doctorates from several universities including national technical university of athens. brezis is listed as an isi highly cited researcher.