Geneviève Meurgues (4 February 1931 - 21 December 2021) was a French explorer,

museologist Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

, curator, conservator, chemical engineer and lecturer. As a professor at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

, she specialised in the conservation of natural history specimens. She is noted for the preservation of the Roman boat found in Marseille and for her contribution to the establishment of the grande galerie de l'évolution du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.

Early life

Geneviève Meurgues was born on 4 February 1931 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, into a family originally from Saint-Germain-de-Modéon. She had sister and brother, Christiane and Bernard. Until 1962, she worked in a medical analysis laboratory while completing her education in chemistry and biochemistry at the

Conservatoire national des arts et métiers The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...

. She graduated as a

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

in 1967, writing her thesis on the nucleic acids of the

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

Aspergillus niger ''Aspergillus niger'' is a mold classified within the ''Nigri'' section of the ''Aspergillus'' genus. The ''Aspergillus'' genus consists of common molds found throughout the environment within soil and water, on vegetation, in fecal matter, on de ...

Career

In 1962, Meurgues' work came to the attention of the botanist

Roger Heim Roger Heim (February 12, 1900 – September 17, 1979) was a French botanist specialising in mycology and tropical phytopathology. He was known for his studies describing the anatomy of the mushroom hymenium, the systematics and phylogeny of highe ...

. He tasked her with setting up a scientific laboratory in the

, dedicated to new methods of conservation and presentation of natural history museum collections. This included conservation techniques such as

freeze-drying Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature Food drying, dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, thereby removing the ice by Sublimation (phase transition), sublimat ...

, and resinous injections, the scientific preservation of colours and pigments, as well as improving the interpretation of exhibitions and displays. She organised and directed the laboratory whilst studying for a

Diplôme d'études approfondies A Master of Advanced Studies (MASt or MAS), or Master of Advanced Study, is a postgraduate degree awarded in various countries. Master of Advanced Studies programs may be non-consecutive programs tailored for "specific groups of working professio ...

(Master's degree) in zoology on

Calliphoridae The Calliphoridae (commonly known as blowflies, blow flies, blow-flies, carrion flies, bluebottles, or greenbottles) are a family of insects in the order Diptera, with almost 1,900 known species. The maggot larvae, often used as fishing bait, ...

, (types of flies) which she completed in 1973. She was promoted to become the museum's assistant professor, and went on collecting expeditions to

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

amongst others. Meurgues organised a number temporary exhibitions including: ''Les pigments végétaux'' (''Vegetable Pigments'') in 1963, '' Orchidées et plantes épiphytes'' (''

Orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

and epiphytic plants'') in 1966, '' Météorites, messagères du cosmos'' (''Meteorites, messengers of the cosmos'') in 1968, ''La Nature au microscope électronique'' (''Nature under an electron microscope'') in 1971, ''Le

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

avant le désert'' (The Sahara before the desert) in 1974, ''Les plus beaux coquillages du monde'' (''The most beautiful shells of the world'') in 1975, ''Histoire naturelle de la sexualité'' (''Natural history of sexuality'') in 1977 with André Langaney, a leading French science communictor. She delivered the exhibition ''

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'' and the associated c ...

naturaliste'' (''Claude Bernard, naturalist'') in 1978, ''La bionique, science des inventions de la nature'' (''Bionics, science of inventions of nature'') in 1985, ''La géonomie, science de l'homme dans la nature'' en 1986, and le ''Bicentenaire de Buffon'' (the ''Bicentennial of Buffon'') in 1988. From 1986, she was responsible for a series of temporary exhibitions including ''Parfums de plantes (''Perfumes of plants), a collaboration between the museum and perfume and aromatics industry companies. At the same time, she wrote the synopsis for the ''Esquisse d'une planète habitée'' (''Sketch of an Inhabited Planet'') about

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

by Maxence Revault d'Allonnes and Jean-Pierre Gasc, and worked on the creation of the ''Musée des Sciences de la Terre (''Museum of Earth Sciences) in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

in collaboration with

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Philippe Taquet Philippe Taquet (born 25 April 1940 Saint-Quentin, Aisne) is a French paleontologist who specializes in dinosaur systematics of finds primarily in northern Africa. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences since 30 November 2004, president ...

. Around 1980, Geneviève Meurgues conserved the hull of the Roman boat found under the construction site of the Stock Exchange shopping center in Marseille, using freeze-drying and resinous injection techniques. The conserved boat is on display at the Marseille History Museum. In 1985 she was awarded the Jean-Perrin Prize for her work to popularise science. Grande-galerie-evolution

From 1988, she devoted herself to the development of grande galerie de l'évolution du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle at the National Museum of Natural History. She worked on the choice of specimens, the interpretation and writing of scientific texts and the synopses and screen plays for documentary films, as well as designing games for the gallery. Meurgues was promoted to professor of the Museum in 1992. The

grande galerie de l'évolution The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

was opened on 21 June 1994, the day of the

summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

, by President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

. Meurgues escorted him through the gallery. Geneviève Meurgues worked as the deputy director of the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution until her retirement in 1998.

Retirement

Meurgues retired to Saint-Germain-de-Modéon, continuing to write articles in specialist magazines, sharing her knowledge in museology and scriptwriting, as well as restoring the family farm and creating an animal rescue refuge. She donated her scientific library to the Muséum d'Autun and is preparing a book ''Inventions et bricolages de la nature''. She published ''Du jardin de Buffon à l'Afghanistan: mémoires d'une naturaliste in 2019.'' Geneviève Meurgues died on 21 December 2021, in her 91st year. According to her last wishes, her cremation was private and her ashes will be spread in the "Les Grands Bouchons" wood, where her vocation as a naturalist was born.

Awards

* ''Prix scientifique de la

Fondation de France The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent private organisation, recognised as being in the public interest, and created at the instigation of Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux in an effort to stimulate and foster the g ...

'', with André Langaney, 1978 * ''Prix de la Société française de physique'', 1985 * Le ''Relictocarabus meurguesianus'', and insect discovered in Morocco, was named in her honour.

Publications

* G. Meurgues et G. Ledoux, ''Intérêt de l'étude du sac interne dévaginé et en extension''. Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N. S.), 2 : 661–669. * ''Influence de la composition minérale du milieu de culture sur la biosynthèse des Acides Nucléiques d'Aspergillus niger'', thèse, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers 1967. * ''La conservation des spécimens d'histoire naturelle'', in : Museum International, Volume 38–2, 12 janvier 1986 . * ''Parfums de Plantes'', préface de

, éd. du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1987. . * ''Un exemple de collaboration entre un musée et l’industrie pour l’exposition Parfums de plantes au Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, in'': Culture scientifique et Technique de l’Entreprise, 1994, . * ''De la galerie de Zoologie à la grande Galerie de l'Évolution'', in: ''La conservation - une science en évolution: bilan et perspectives'', Actes des troisièmes journées internationales d'études de l'ARSAG, Paris 21-25 avril 1997 . * ''Du jardin de Buffon à l'Afghanistan: mémoires d'une naturaliste'', L'Harmattan 2019,

Notes and references

Sources

* * Annuaire et sites du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 40 p., MNHN, Paris, rééditions décennales. * Ghislaine Prévos, Service documentation du Département des Galeries du

, annuaire biographique du personnel.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meurgues, Genevieve 1931 births 2021 deaths French women botanists Explorers from Paris 20th-century French botanists Curators from Paris Conservator-restorers French chemical engineers Conservatoire national des arts et métiers alumni