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Étienne Jules Adolphe Desmier de Saint-Simon, Vicomte d'Archiac (24 September 180224 December 1868) was a French geologist and paleontologist.


Early life

He was born at
Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
and educated at the Military School of St. Cyr. He served for nine years as a cavalry officer until 1830, when he retired from the service. Prior to this he had published an historical romance (''Zizim, ou les Chevaliers de Rhodes, roman historique du XVe siècle''); but now
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
became his primary focus. In his earlier scientific works, which date from 1835, he described the Tertiary and
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
formations of France, Belgium and England, and dealt especially with the distribution of fossils geographically and in sequence. Later on he investigated the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
, Devonian and Silurian formations.


Magnum opus

His best work was "''Histoire des progrès de la géologie de 1834 à 1859''", published in eight volumes (1847–1860). In 1853 the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London was awarded to him. In the same year, with Jules Haime (1824–1856), he published a monograph on the Nummulitic formation of
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. In 1857 he was elected a member of the
French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of 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 method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
, and in 1861 he was appointed professor of paleontology in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. His better known later works include "''Paléontologie stratigraphique''", in three volumes (1864–1865); "''Géologie et paléontologie''" (1866); and his paleontological contributions to de Tchihatcheff's "''Asie mineure''" (1866).


Death

While suffering from severe depression he committed suicide by throwing himself into the River Seine on Christmas Eve, 1868.


See also

* Mount D'Archiac, a mountain in New Zealand named after him.


Further reading

*


References

*


External links


OCLC Classify
List of publications by Adolphe d'Archiac. {{DEFAULTSORT:Archiac, Adolphe d French paleontologists French geologists 1802 births 1868 deaths Scientists from Reims Suicides by drowning in France Wollaston Medal winners Members of the French Academy of Sciences 1860s suicides