Maurice Irénée Marie Gignoux (19 October 1881 – 20 October 1955) was a French geologist who was a specialist on the stratigraphy of the Alps. His 1925 book ''Geologie stratigraphique'' was a landmark publication in stratigraphy and was translated into several languages and went into many editions.
Gignoux was born on
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
in the family of stockbroker Antoine with origins in
Nyon
Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilomet ...
. He studied natural sciences at the
École Normale Superieure
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 under
Charles Depéret
Charles Jean Julien Depéret (25 June 1854 – 18 May 1929) was a French geologist and paleontologist. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Société géologique de France at Lycée Ampère, Lyon from 1901. From 1905 he taught at Besançon high school for two years. He moved to
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
in 1909 to work under
Wilfrid Kilian (1862-1925) but his study was interrupted by World War I. His doctoral thesis of 1913 won the Fontannes prize. He enlisted in 1914 and worked in the army meteorological unit along with Pierre Lory. He returned after the war to join the Faculty of Sciences, Toulouse between 1918 and 1919. He was involved in organizing geology teaching at Strasbourg from 1919 to 1925. In 1926 he took the place of Kilian at the
University of Grenoble
The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 resea ...
and served as professor until his retirement in 1953. He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Sciences from 1940 to 1953. His students included André Allix and David Schneegans.
Gignoux married Marie Garel in 1909 and they had five sons and a daughter. He died at Grenoble where a street, Rue Maurice-Gignoux, was named in his memory.
References
External links
Stratigraphic geology(1955, English translation)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gignoux, Maurice
1881 births
1955 deaths
Grenoble Alpes University alumni
French geologists