Event

I will be defending my Ph.D. thesis, under the direction of Benjamin Werner and with the operational leadership of Georges Gonthier, on:

Monday December 5th, 2011 at 09:30 AM.

The defense will be at the MSR-INRIA Joint Centre, 28 rue Jean Rostand, 91400 Orsay, located:

48° 42' 32" North, 2° 10' 37" East

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Coffee & pastries are planned at 09:00, and afterwards ... well, you know. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate your checking in to the Facebook event page or sending me an email to tell me you will come — it would help with the planning.

Manuscript

• François Garillot. Generic Proof Tools And Finite Group Theory.

  Early preview (not intended for public diffusion, DO NOT HOTLINK, please ask me for a permanent link):

  PDF

  The following people reviewed an early version of this manuscript:

  • Conor McBride PDF
  • Hugo Herbelin PDF

How to get there:

• Buses mentioned below require a single T+ ticket (the regular inner-city Paris Metro ticket). RATP subscriptions covering zone 5 also apply. RER tickets do not work on buses.

  Delays are indicative and do not include waiting times (e.g. for Paris, the clock starts the moment the RER train starts moving).

• From Le Guichet (15 min)

  Exiting the RER station doors, take an immediate right, then right at the first crossroads in rue du Guichet. Cross at the first safe crossing, and go down the walkway following the sign indicating the bus stops. From there, take the bus marked 269.02 ( timetable). Stop at "Parc Club" (this is the second stop) and follow the signs.

  Going to the defense on foot from Le Guichet is not advised unless you know your way around, or are equipped with a GPS. A fair rule of thumb is that whoever tries to go anywhere on the Orsay campus for the first time gets lost.

• From Orsay-Ville (20 min) (this is interesting because many morning trains skip the stop at le Guichet)

  From the platform, go down the stairs and turn left in front of the newsstand. Entering rue de l'Yvette, cross and go downhill, flowing into rue Elisa Desjobert. The bus stop is on your side (right going downhill) of the street, meters before the bridge crossing the Yvette river. The bus you should take is numbered 06.07P ("circuit plateau", timetable). Notice there is a bus named 06.07V ("circuit vallée") stopping at the same spot, that should not be taken. Do not hesitate to ask the driver if he's going to the top, pointing at the obvious nearby hill (he should). Go down at stop "De Broglie" (it's the third stop), and follow the signs.

  Going to the defense on foot from Orsay-Ville is not advised unless you know your way around, or are equipped with a GPS (see above). You would also need to wear sensible shoes, there's a woodpath you'd need to take.

• From Paris center (70+ min): reach a RER B stop. Buy a RER ticket to "Orsay-Ville". While you're there, buy a T+ metro ticket (for the bus). Take a train going to "St Rémy les Chevreuse" (or "Orsay-Ville" if it's peak hour). Stop at Le Guichet, or, if your train does not mark that stop, at Orsay-Ville, and refer to the appropriate case above. Marked stops are indicated by a lit panel on the platform.

  You can lookup time estimates using RATP (     ) or Transport-IdF (    ) — the latter understands bus stop names mentioned in this page.

• From Massy-Palaiseau (30 min) (This is for people living in the suburbs, or with a good reason to make the connection with RER C, or that mistakenly took a RER B train to Massy-Palaiseau instead of Saint-Rémy les Chevreuse)

  There are two walkways above — and perpendicular to — the train tracks. You are interested in the (obviously) dirtiest, oldest-looking one. From the platform, go up the stairs to that walkway and towards the side with main RATP station (which hosts live tellers, vending machines, etc). Right before entering the station building, take the flight of stairs down the left. Take a left at the bottom of the stairs and cross the street. The bus stop is the third you will pass: you should take bus number 91.06B, 91.06C, or 91.10 (timetable). You should not take bus number 91.06A. Ask the driver if he is going to "Moulon" walking in (he should). Go down at stop "Moulon". Immediately out the bus, cross the street and start backtracking along the trajectory of the bus. Keep to the right (staying on the same walkway), and stop at the third bus stop (doing so, you will leave the path taken by the bus that brought you there), marked "De Broglie". Then follow the signs.

• From École Polytechnique (20 min)

  Take any bus on campus going clockwise on the Bd des Maréchaux (that is, going towards Saclay). Stop at "Moulon". Then refer to the end of instructions for Massy right above.

• From Somewhere on the Plateau de Saclay (but you don't know exactly where because you're lost)

  First, I told you so. Start by checking you're on the Plateau de Saclay : between the train station and where you are, you should have climbed a 150m hill. If you didn't, start climbing. Then, you need to look for a ~25m high water tower nearby. If you have taken any bus to get where you are, it's a tall structure you should have noticed on the way. If you don't see it, try asking - people know where it is better than the MSR-INRIA lab. If nobody is around, walk due North staying on the plateau until surrounding buildings clear up (remember that in the morning, the sun is in the East, and should therefore be on your right walking North).

  Second, once you have located the water tower, walk towards it and reach its base. You should be on the parking of a gendarmerie (French military police). You may have to walk around the block that forms the base of the water tower if you managed to get on the wrong side of it. When you're facing that gendarmerie, look around you. A single bus stop should be in direct view, northwest of your location, on your left. That bus stop is "Parc Club". Walk to it and follow the signs.