Ferdinand André Fouqué (21 June 1828 – 7 March 1904) 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, althoug ...

and

petrologist Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous and metamorphic petrology are commonly taught together ...

. He was born at

Mortain Mortain () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Mortain-Bocage. Geography Mortain is situated on a rocky hill rising above the gorge of the ...

, in the

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

''. At the age of twenty-one he entered 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, S ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and from 1853 to 1858 he held the appointment of keeper of the scientific collections. In 1877 he became professor of natural history in the chair of geology at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

, in Paris, succeeding Charles Sainte-Claire Deville. In 1881 Fouqué was elected a member of the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

.FOUQUÉ Ferdinand André
Sociétés savantes de France As a stratigraphical geologist he rendered much assistance on the Geological Survey of France, but in the course of time he gave his special attention to the study of volcanic phenomena and

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s, to minerals and rocks; and he was the first to introduce modern petrographical methods into France. He also worked on

volcanic gas Volcanic gases are gases given off by active (or, at times, by dormant) volcanoes. These include gases trapped in cavities (vesicles) in volcanic rocks, dissolved or dissociated gases in magma and lava, or gases emanating from lava, from volcani ...

analyses, using the methods of

Robert Bunsen Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (; 30 March 1811 – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bu ...

, notably on the island of Santorini (

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

). One prominent student of his was Alfred Lacroix, to whom Fouqué's daughter was married. His studies of the eruptive rocks of Corsica, Santorini and elsewhere; his researches on the artificial reproduction of eruptive rocks, and his treatise on the optical characters of

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) felds ...

s deserve special mention; but he was perhaps best known for the joint work which he carried on with his friend Auguste Michel-Lévy. His chief publications were: ''Santorin et ses éruptions'' (1879), ''Minéralogie micrographique : roches éruptives françaises'' (1879) and ''Synthèse des minéraux et des roches'' (1882); the latter two works written in collaboration with Auguste Michel-Lévy. In 1885 he edited the report of the French commission that investigated the Andalusian earthquake of 25 December 1884. Fouqué is also noteworthy for his archaeological excavations on the island of Santorini.

Works

* ''Recherches sur les phénomènes chimiques qui se produisent dans les volcans'', 1866. * ''Rapport sur les phénomeńes chimiques de l'éruption de l'Etna en 1865'', (1866). * ''Les anciens volcans de la Grèce'', 1867. * ''Santorin et ses éruptions'', 1879; later translated into English and published as: "Santorini and its eruptions", Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. * ''Minéralogie micrographique : roches éruptives françaises'', 1879 (with Auguste Michel-Lévy). * ''Synthèse des minéraux et des roches'', 1882 (with Auguste Michel-Lévy). * ''Les tremblements de terre'', 1889. * ''Contribution à l'étude des feldspaths des roches volcaniques'', 1894.

References

External links

*
Fouqué as Wikisource author in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fouque, Ferdinand Andre 1828 births 1904 deaths People from Manche Collège de France faculty Members of the French Academy of Sciences French geologists Petrologists