Théodore André Monod (9 April 1902 – 22 November 2000) was a French naturalist, humanist, scholar and explorer.

Exploration

Early in his career, Monod was made professor at the ''

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

'' and founded the '' Institut fondamental d’Afrique noire'' in Senegal. He became a member of the '' Académie des sciences d'outre-mer'' in 1949, member of the ''

Académie de marine The Royal Naval Academy of France (french: Académie royale de marine) was founded at Brest by a ruling of 31 July 1752 by Antoine Louis de Rouillé, comte de Jouy, Secretary of State for the Navy. This institutionalised an earlier initiative b ...

'' in 1957 and member of the ''

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 ...

'' in 1963. In 1960, he became one of the founders of the ''

World Academy of Art and Science The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries. It serves as a forum for s ...

''. He began his career in Africa with the study of

monk seals Monk seals are earless seals of the tribe Monachini. They are the only earless seals found in tropical climates. The two genera of monk seals, ''Monachus'' and ''Neomonachus'', comprise three species: the Mediterranean monk seal, ''Monachus mona ...

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

's Cap Blanc peninsula. However, he soon turned his attention to the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, which he would survey for more than sixty years in search of

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

s. Though he failed to find the meteorite he sought, he discovered numerous plant species as well as several important

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

sites. Perhaps his most important find (together with

Wladimir Besnard Wladimir Besnard (1890, St. Petersburg, Russia – 1960, São Paulo, Brazil) was a French biologist and Brazilian oceanographer, and is considered to be the father of Brazilian oceanography.Homenagem aos mestres: esculturas na USP, vol. 5 of " ...

) was the

Asselar man Asselar man is a Later Stone Age skeleton discovered by Theodore Monod and Wladimir Besnard (in various sources incorrectly named M.M. Besnard or M.V. Besnard) in 1927, in the Adrar des Ifoghas. The massif is located near Essouk in what is now ...

, a 6,000-year-old skeleton of the Adrar des Ifoghas that many scholars believe to be the first remains of a distinctly

black person Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

. In the early 1960s he discovered the caravan wreck site at Ma'adin Ijafen.

Private life and activism

Monod, the son of

Wilfred Monod William Frédéric Monod better known as Wilfred Monod (1867, Paris - 1943) was a Protestant Professor of theology associated to Paris and Rouen. He founded the Order of Watchers and was active in ecumenical efforts in France. He once suggested a d ...

, attended the '' Lycée Pierre Corneille'' in Rouen.Lycée Pierre Corneille de Rouen - History
/ref> His father was a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

l'Oratoire du Louvre The Temple protestant de l'Oratoire du Louvre, also Église réformée de l'Oratoire du Louvre, is a historic Protestant church located at 145 rue Saint-Honoré – 160 rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, across the street from the L ...

, which Theodore also attended. He subsequently became the founding president of the

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

Unitarian Association (1986-1990), the first openly Unitarian religious organization established in France and later sponsored a spin-off of the AUF known as the

Fraternal Assembly of Christian Unitarians Fraternal may refer to: * Fraternal organization, an organized society of men associated together in an environment of companionship and brotherhood, dedicated to the intellectual, physical, and social development of its members * Fraternal order ...

. Monod was also politically active, taking part in

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and antinuclear protests until only some months before his death. He wrote several articles and books that adumbrated the emerging

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

movement. He described himself as a

Christian anarchist Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately an ...

. In 1970, he led an International Committee for the Defence of Ernest Ouandié during his trial. The Cameroonian revolutionary executed on the orders of the regime. Monod was the great-grandson of

Frédéric Monod Frédéric Monod (17 May 1794, in Monnaz - 30 December 1863, in Paris) was a French Protestant pastor. He was the older brother of minister Adolphe Monod. He was born citizen of the Republic of Geneva, and obtained the French citizenship in 18 ...

. He shared a common ancestor with biologist

Jacques Monod Jacques Lucien Monod (February 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of e ...

, the musician Jacques-Louis Monod, the politician Jérôme Monod and director

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

Scientific work

The scientific bibliography of Théodore Monod includes more than 700 works on topics from his thesis subject, the

Gnathiidae The Gnathiidae are a family of isopod crustaceans. They occur in a wide range of depths, from the littoral zone to the deep sea. The adults are associated with sponges and may not feed. The juvenile form is known as a 'praniza', and it is a tem ...

(a family of parasitic

Isopoda Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...

), to the subject that he held close to his heart until his death: the Scaridae, which he published on in 1994 in collaboration with Canadian research scientist Andrea Bullock.

Selected works

Works re-edited and released by

Actes Sud Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members. H ...

(

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

): *''Méharées'', (Paris, 1937), rééd. 1989. *''L'Émeraude des garamantes'', (éditions de L'Harmattan, Paris, 1984), rééd. 1992. *''L'Hippopotame et le philosophe'', rééd. 1993. *''Désert lybique'', éditions Arthaud, 1994. *''Majâbat Al-Koubrâ'', Actes Sud, 1996. *''Maxence au désert'', Actes Sud, Arles, 1995. *''Tais-toi et marche ...'', exploration journal from El Ghallaouya-Aratane-Chinguetti, Actes Sud, 2002.

Awards

*1960 Patrons's Medal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

for his work in the Sahara.

Authority name

References

*This article began as a translation of the corresponding article at the French Wikipedia, accessed 17 December 2005.

External links

Obituary at monachus-guardian.org

"Un exceptionel naturtaliste eclectique"
'' Autres Temps,'' 2001, vol. 70 issue 70, pp. 25–38 {{DEFAULTSORT:Monod, Theodore 1902 births 2000 deaths Scientists from Rouen Christian anarchists Christian humanists French anarchists French Christian pacifists French explorers French naturalists 20th-century French zoologists French Protestants French Unitarians Explorers of Africa French carcinologists Lycée Pierre-Corneille alumni Members of the French Academy of Sciences National Museum of Natural History (France) people