Pierre Pruvost

Pierre Eugène Marie Joseph Pruvost (born August 1, 1890 in Raismes , Département Nord , † June 5, 1967 in Paris ) was a French geologist . He was an undisputed authority on the French coal deposits and received many awards for his scientific achievements.

Life

After Pruvost initially studied medicine, he switched to geology and studied at the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille of the Université Lille Nord de France . Because of his good performance, Charles Barrois became aware of him there and gave him his first position in the geological faculty. In 1918 Pruvost defended his doctoral thesis on the hard coal sedimentary basin ( bassin houillier ) in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments and its fauna , and in 1922 became professor of applied geology. In 1926 he followed Barrois to the chair of geology and mineralogy at the University of Lille. Among other things, Pruvost was head of the hard coal institute ( Institut de la houille ) there for twenty years , which was primarily concerned with researching the northern French hard coal deposits and their surroundings.

In 1950 he was appointed to the chair of general geology at the Sorbonne , which he held until 1961.

Act

Pruvost devoted his scientific career - often in collaboration with Charles Barrois and Paul Bertrand - to researching the formation and structure of the French coal basins and their surroundings in the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in Saar - Lorraine , Belgium and Dutch Limburg as well in the Saint-Étienne region . He showed that the accumulation of the typical alternations of coal - seams and flözleeren sand and mudstone to continuous seabed lowering ( subsidence ) returns with alternating periods of rest and increased activity. The geological focus of his research was also in the Boulonnais , in the Pays de Bray ( Département Seine-Maritime and Département Oise ) and - continuing the work of Barrois - especially in the Armorican Massif of Brittany , where he spent several weeks each year fieldwork.

Honors

Pruvost enjoyed a high reputation in the professional world. He was a member and chairman of geological associations and received numerous awards, including

• 1921 Prix Gosselet of the Société géologique de France
• 1948, 1963 President of the Societé Géologique de France
• 1954 member of the Académie des Sciences (1947 corresponding member)
• 1949 Officer of the Legion of Honor
• 1956 Prix Gaudry of the Societé Géologique de France
• 1959 Ordre des Palmes Académiques
• 1959 Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London
• 1960 Gustav Steinmann Medal from the Geological Association to Pierre Pruvost in recognition of his services to research into stratigraphy and tectonics of the Paleozoic Era .
• 1963 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• 1966 Ordre national du Mérite

Pruvost received the Belgian Order of the Crown and was an honorary member of numerous geological associations in Belgium, England, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

The Prix ​​Fondation Pierre Pruvost , based on a Pruvosts foundation , has been awarded since 1960. The annual prize of the Société géologique de France was initially awarded for the best geological thesis of the last five years and later for outstanding achievements in the field of structural geology .

Works

Of his more than 200 scientific publications, the following are to be mentioned in particular:

• Introduction à l'étude du bassin houiller du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais; la faune continentale du terrain houiller du Nord de la France. (1918)
• Sédimentation et Subsidence. (1930)
• Description of the géologique details du bassin houiller de la Sarre et de la Lorraine. (1934)

literature

• Author collective ASA-USTL: Pierre PRUVOST (1890–1967). Doyen de la Faculté from 1943 to 1950 . In: Grands serviteurs de la Faculté des Sciences de Lille . 2008 ( online version [accessed November 6, 2011]).
• Ch. Delattre, G. Watterlot: Vie et oeuvre de Pierre Pruvost . In: Annales de la Société Géologique du Nord . tape 89 , 1969, p. 285 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pruvost, Pierre Eugène Marie Joseph . In: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography . 2008 ( online version [accessed November 6, 2011] Encyclopedia.com).
2. ↑ Les prix de la Société Géologique de France. ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Internet presence of the Société géologique de France 
3. ^ Gustav Steinmann Medal 1960 to Pierre Pruvost . ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website of the Geological Association 
4. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed March 31, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} J. Gaudant: Pierre PRUVOST (1890-1967). ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Internet presence of the Société géologique de France