Théodore Monod

Théodore Monod
Born	(1902-04-09)9 April 1902 Rouen,Normandy,France
Died	22 November 2000(2000-11-22)(aged 98) Versailles, Yvelines,France

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

Exploration

Monod was educated atÉcole alsacienneand obtained a doctorate in science fromSorbonne Universityin 1922.Early in his career, Monod was made professor at theMuséum national d'histoire naturelleand founded theInstitut fondamental d’Afrique noirein Senegal. He became a member of theAcadémie des sciences d'outre-merin 1949, member of theAcadémie de marinein 1957 and member of theAcadémie des sciencesin 1963. In 1960, he became one of the founders of theWorld Academy of Art and Science.

He began his career in Africa with the study ofmonk sealsonMauritania'sCap Blancpeninsula. However, he soon turned his attention to theSahara desert,which he would survey for more than sixty years in search ofmeteorites.Though he failed to find the meteorite he sought, he discovered numerous plant species as well as several importantNeolithicsites. Perhaps his most important find (together withWladimir Besnard) was theAsselar man,a 6,000-year-old skeleton of theAdrar des Ifoghasthat many scholars believe to be the first remains of a distinctlyblack person.In the early 1960s he discovered the caravan wreck site atMa'adin Ijafen.

Private life and activism

Monod, the son ofWilfred Monod,attended theLycée Pierre Corneillein Rouen.His father was apastorofl'Oratoire du Louvre,which Theodore also attended. He subsequently became the founding president of theFrancophoneUnitarianAssociation (1986-1990), the first openly Unitarian religious organization established in France and later sponsored a spin-off of the AUF known as theFraternal Assembly of Christian Unitarians.

Monod was also politically active, taking part inpacifistand antinuclear protests until only some months before his death. He wrote several articles and books that adumbrated the emergingenvironmentalistmovement. He described himself as aChristian anarchist.

In 1970, he led an International Committee for the Defence ofErnest Ouandiéduring his trial. The Cameroonian revolutionary was executed on the orders of the regime.

Monod was the great-grandson ofFrédéric Monod.He shared a common ancestor with biologistJacques Monod,the musicianJacques-Louis Monod,the politicianJérôme Monodand directorJean-Luc Godard.

Monod was a strict vegetarian who advocated foranimal rights.He never touched alcohol, meat or tobacco.He once walked 600 miles in the Sahara to prove that he had sufficient stamina without eating meat.

Scientific work

The scientific bibliography of Théodore Monod includes more than 700 works on topics – from his thesis subject, theGnathiidae(a family of parasiticIsopoda), to the subject that he held close to his heart until his death: theScaridae,which he published on in 1994 in collaboration with Canadian research scientistAndrea Bullock.

Monod discovered and gave his name to 30 species of insects and plants, 50 crustaceans and several fish.

Selected works

Works re-edited and released byActes Sud(Arles):

• 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

• 1960Patrons's Medalof theRoyal Geographical Societyfor his work in the Sahara.

See also

• Category:Taxa named by Théodore Monod

References

• This article began as a translation of thecorresponding articleat the French Wikipedia, accessed 17 December 2005.

External links

• Obituary at monachus-guardian.org
• webAfriqa — Théodore Monod, fondateur-directeur de l'IFAN
• Théodore Monod (French language)
• "Un exceptionel naturtaliste eclectique",Autres Temps,2001, vol. 70 issue 70, pp. 25–38