Eric Lichtfouse, Distinguished Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, and Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, is the pioneer of soil carbon dynamics at the molecular level, and the founder of single sample molecular chronology, a new discipline based on the discovery of several temporal pools of the same organic substance, a plant-derived alkane, in the same soil sample. For that, he has invented a new method, carbon-13 dating, allowing to use organic substances as molecular clocks to measure their relative age. Single sample molecular chronology opens novel research fields in all biological, geological and environmental sciences studying complex organic matter. In particular, his findings on soil molecular dynamics are essential for improving carbon sequestration in the context of global warming, and for reducing diseases induced by environmental contaminants. He has founded the European Association of Chemistry and the Environment, the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, the book series Sustainable Agriculture Reviews and Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, and the newsletter Publier La Science. He was also Chief-Editor of the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development. He has organized international meetings in environmental chemistry, stable isotopes, soil organic matter, humic substances, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon sequestration and conversion to fuels and chemicals, in France, the USA (ACS), and China.