Dmitri Kouassi is a materials scientist and journalist whose work explores the hidden infrastructures of modern technology. Born in Abidjan and raised between Odessa and Lyon, Dmitri studied metallurgical engineering at École des Mines de Saint-Étienne and earned a PhD in materials science from the University of Cambridge, focusing on intermetallic formation in lead-free solder joints.
He has led failure-analysis teams for contract manufacturers in Penang and Guadalajara, investigated mineral supply chains from Bangka-Belitung to North Kivu, and served as a consultant on reliability standards for aerospace programs in Toulouse. His essays have appeared in IEEE Spectrum, Nature Materials, and Le Monde, and he has lectured on joining technologies and standards (IPC J-STD-001/004) at TU Delft and Imperial College London.
Dmitri is the author of Flux: Joining, Heat, and the Hidden History of Making Things and Capillary: Inside the Physics of Everyday Bonds. He lives in Marseille, where he runs a small microscopy lab and teaches a seminar on materials, ethics, and global trade at Aix-Marseille University.
