Jean-Claude Laprie was “Directeur de Recherche Émérite” at CNRS, at the outcome of a career fully devoted to dependability of computing systems. Jean-Claude Laprie founded and directed from 1975 onwards this flagship topic of his laboratory (LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse, France. His contributions to the formulation of the concepts and methodologies of dependability rapidly granted him an international leadership. The consciousness of industry’s concerns led him to setup links very early, up to founding LIS in 1992, a joint laboratory for dependability engineering, settled at LAAS. Jean-Claude was also Director of LAAS from 1997 to 2002. He then developed the scientific position and the partnerships of the laboratory.

His exceptional scientific qualities have been recognised by distinctions from, and responsibilities within, international societies (IFIP, IEEE). He coordinated as well European projects, especially the recent ReSIST network of excellence. Problematics in dependability are more and more complex. Innovative concepts, such as resilience of computing systems, are emerging, notably due to Jean-Claude Laprie’s work, and to his unique capability of abstraction and formalization. He received the IFIP Silver Core in 1992, the Silver Medal of the French Scientific Research in 1993, and the Grand Prize in Informatics of the French Academy of Sciences in 2009. He was made Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite in 2002.