Jean-Baptiste Rames (26 December 1832 – 22 August 1894) was a French pharmacist, naturalist, and geologist who worked on the geology of Cantal and produced a geological map that was exhibited at the

Paris Universal Exhibition The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. T ...

in 1878. Rames was born in

Aurillac Aurillac (; oc, Orlhac ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aurillacois'' or ''Aurillacoises''. Geography Aurillac is at above sea leve ...

, son of a pharmacist. He studied at the town school before training under the botanist

Henri Lecoq Henri Lecoq (18 April 1802 – 4 August 1871) was a French botanist. Charles Darwin mentioned this name in 1859 in the preface of his famous book On The Origin of Species as a believer in the modification of species. Darwin wrote: The work ref ...

. He then studied the natural sciences, geology, and chemistry in Toulouse and explored the Cantal mountains. He followed the ideas of Jean-Étienne Guettard who proposed that the Cantal mountains were the remnants of a single large volcano. In 1869 he published a book that supported evolutionary theory, ''La création, d’après la géologie et la philosophie naturelle'' and in 1873 he published ''Géogenie du Cantal''. A relief map of the region that he produced was exhibited at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. He collaborated with Gaston de Saporta and

Ferdinand Fouqué Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

. He discovered flints at Puy Courny which triggered debate on the presence of ancestral humans in the Miocene (and even a species ''Homosimius ramesii'' was proposed by Gabriel de Mortillet). He was made officer of the Legion of Honour in 1886. After his death, his collections became part of the Rames Museum at Aurillac established in 1902 which was then moved to Château Saint-Étienne as the volcano museum.

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''Géogenie du Cantal''
(1873) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rames, Jean-Baptiste 1832 births 1894 deaths French geologists Recipients of the Legion of Honour