Ernest Charles Philippe Auguste Munier-Chalmas (7 April 1843 – 9 August 1903) was a French

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, born at

Tournus Tournus () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Geography Tournus is located on the right bank of the Saône, 20 km. northeast of Mâcon on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop ...

in Burgundy, who is known for his contributions to the understanding of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

, but who also isolated and defined the

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage of t ...

stage of the

Late Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "daw ...

, in a paper co-written with

Albert de Lapparent Albert Auguste Cochon de Lapparent (30 December 18395 May 1908) was a French geologist. Life He was born at Bourges. After studying at the École polytechnique from 1858 to 1860 he became ''ingénieur au corps des mines'', and took part in draw ...

in 1893. From 1864 he worked as an assistant in the geology department at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and subsequently participated in geological missions to

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

and the

Venetian Alps The Venetian Prealps (''Prealpi Venete'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the south-eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Triveneto, in the north-eastern part of Italy. Geography Administratively the range is divided between the It ...

. From 1882 he taught classes at the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, and in 1891 became a professor of geology at the Sorbonne. In addition, from 1892 to 1903, he was director of studies at the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

.Munier-Chalmas, Charles Philippe Ernest
Sociétés savantes de France In 1873 he described the

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

genera ''Matheronia'' and ''Toucasia'' (family

Requieniidae Requieniidae is a family of rudists, in the order Hippuritida, which lived from 155.7 to 66.043 million years ago. Taxonomy Placed by the WoRMS and Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to fac ...

). With

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Charles Schlumberger, he conducted important investigations on

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

Foraminifera Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell biology), ectoplasm for catching food and ot ...

. In 1891 he was appointed president of the

Société géologique de France Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. He was elected to the mineralogical section of the French

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

on 5 May 1903. In 1895, botanist

Hermann zu Solms-Laubach Hermann zu Solms-Laubach, more precisely Hermann Maximilian Carl Ludwig Friedrich Graf zu Solms-Laubach (23 December 1842 in Laubach, Grand Duchy of Hesse – 24 November 1915 in Strasbourg) was a German botanist. Life Count Solms-Laubach st ...

published '' Chalmasia'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

in the family

Polyphysaceae The Polyphysaceae is a taxonomic family of green algae, one of three families in the order Dasycladales Dasycladales is an order of large unicellular green algae in the class Ulvophyceae. It contains two families, the Dasycladaceae and the ...

and name in Chalmas's honour. He died in retirement at

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

, Provence.

Selected works

* ''Recherches sur les terrains tertiaires de l'Europe méridionale'', 1877 (with Edmond Hébert). * ''Nouvelles observations sur le dimorphisme des Foraminifères'', 1883 (with Charles Schlumberger). * ''Note sur les miliolidées trématophores'', 1885 (with Charles Schlumberger). * ''Etude du Tithonique, du Crétacé et du Tertiaire du Vicentin'', 1891 (with Edmond Hébert). * ''Note sur la nomenclature des terrains sédimentaires'', 1893 (with Albert de Lapparent).Munier-Chalmas, Ernest (1843-1903)
WorldCat Identities

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munier-Chalmas, Ernest French geologists University of Paris faculty People from Saône-et-Loire French paleontologists 1843 births 1903 deaths Presidents of Société géologique de France Members of the French Academy of Sciences