Jacques Pierre Marie Daudin was a Chinese-born French agronomist and environmentalist, who lived and worked in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and west Africa. Much of his later life was spent on

Union Island Union Island is part of the nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It has a surface of and lies about west-southwest of Barbados within view of the islands of Carriacou and the mainland of Grenada, which lies directly south. Clifton and ...

, in

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

. The Union Island gecko, scientifically described in 2005, is endemic to the island and named in his honor. He was the author of the books ''Socio-Political History of Union Island'' and ''A Natural History Monograph of Union Island''.

Life and career

Daudin was born in China to French ambassador Pierre Daudin and his wife Marie-Louise Daudin. His early schooling took place in China and in Vietnam, where he was childhood friends with future Cambodian King

Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, Norodom Sihanouk filmography, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in vari ...

. Daudin graduated in 1949 with a degree in Agronomic Science from the

University of Nancy A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in France. After graduation, he married Monique Landreat (1926-2020). In the 1950s, Daudin moved with his wife to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, first in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

and then in

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, where he worked to improve crop diversification and banana production. His first and only child, Sylvie Ordon, was born in

during this time. His wife worked as an audio/visual broadcaster for the

Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF; ) was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1975, with providing public radio and television in France. All programming, and especially news broadcasts, were under strict control ...

. In 1962 he was published as an inventor on a patent for a new method of preserving banana plants, which used a wax emulsion to help protect bananas against the spread of Sigatoka disease. He owned a house on

and reportedly adopted as many as 30 children.

Death

Near the last decade of his life, Daudin's health declined. He had a cancerous kidney removed in the year 2000 and later died of cancer on October 15, 2011, two weeks before his 85th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daudin, Jacques 1926 births 2011 deaths Nancy-Université alumni