Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Encyclopedia
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN) is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Its origins lie, however, in the Jardin royal des plantes médicinales (Royal Medicinal Plant Garden) created by King Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...

 in 1635, which was directed and run by the royal physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

s. The royal proclamation of the boy-king Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

 on 31 March 1718, however, removed the medical function, enabling the garden—which became known simply as the Jardin du Roi (King's Garden)—to focus on natural history.

For much of the 18th century (1739–1788), the garden was under the direction of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier...

, one of the leading naturalists
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

, bringing international fame and prestige to the establishment. The royal institution remarkably survived the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 by being reorganized in 1793 as a republican Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle with twelve professorships of equal rank. Some of its early professors included eminent comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

 and evolutionary pioneers Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories...

. The museum's aims were to instruct the public, put together collections and conduct scientific research. It continued to flourish during the 19th century, and, particularly under the direction of chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 Michel Eugène Chevreul
Michel Eugène Chevreul
Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

, became a rival to the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

 in scientific
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 research. For example, during the period that Henri Becquerel
Henri Becquerel
Antoine Henri Becquerel was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and the discoverer of radioactivity along with Marie Curie and Pierre Curie, for which all three won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.-Early life:...

 held the chair for Applied Physics at the Muséum (1892–1908) he discovered the radiation properties of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

. (Four generations of Becquerels held this chairmanship, from 1838 to 1948.)

A decree of 12 December 1891 ended this phase, returning the museum to an emphasis on natural history. After receiving financial autonomy in 1907, it began a new phase of growth, opening facilities throughout France during the interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....

 years. In recent decades, it has directed its research and education efforts at the effects of human exploitation on the environment. In French public administration, the Muséum is classed as a grand établissement of higher education.

Mission and organization

The museum has as its mission both research (fundamental and applied) and public diffusion of knowledge. It is organized into seven research and three diffusion departments.

The research departments are:
  • Classification and Evolution
  • Regulation, Development, and Molecular Diversity
  • Aquatic Environments and Populations
  • Ecology
    Ecology
    Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

     and Biodiversity
    Biodiversity
    Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

     Management
  • History of Earth
    History of Earth
    The history of the Earth describes the most important events and fundamental stages in the development of the planet Earth from its formation 4.578 billion years ago to the present day. Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to the understanding of the main events of the Earth's...

  • Men, Nature, and Societies, and
  • Prehistory
    Prehistory
    Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...



The diffusion departments are:
  • The Galleries of the Jardin des Plantes
    Jardin des Plantes
    The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

  • Botanical Parks and Zoos, and
  • The Museum of Man (Musée de l'Homme
    Musée de l'Homme
    The Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...

    )


The museum also developed higher education, and now delivers a master's degree.

Location and branches

The museum includes sites throughout France, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes
Jardin des Plantes
The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

in the 5th arrondissement of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 (métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...

 Place Monge
Place Monge (Paris Metro)
Place Monge is a station of the Paris Métro, opened on 15 February 1930 as part of a planned section of line Line 7, which was temporarily operated as part of Line 10 until the completion of the under-Seine crossing of line 7 from Pont de Sully to Place Monge. The station was integrated into line 7...

). The galleries there include the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology
Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie
The Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie is a part of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. It is found in the Jardin des Plantes...

, the Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy
Galerie de paléontologie et d’anatomie comparée
The Galerie de paléontologie et d’anatomie comparée is a part of the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle...

, and the famous Grand Gallery of Evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 (Grande Galerie de l'évolution). The museum's Menagerie
Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes
The Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes is a zoo in Paris, France, belonging to the botanical garden Jardin des Plantes. It is the first and thus the oldest civil zoological garden in the world.- The location :...

 is also located here.
The herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...

 of the museum, referred to by code P, includes a large number of important collections amongst its 8 000 000 plant specimens. The historical collections incorporated into herbarium, designated with its P prefix, include Lamarck's (P-LA) Desfontaines (P-Desf.) and Tournefort and Plumier (P-TRF). The designation at CITES is FR 75A. It publishes Adansonia, a botanical periodical, and journals on the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 of New Caledonia, Madagascar and Comores, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Cameroon, and Gabon.

The Musée de l'Homme
Musée de l'Homme
The Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...

is also in Paris, in the XVIe arrondissement
XVIe arrondissement
The 16th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France...

 (métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...

 Trocadéro
Trocadéro (Paris Metro)
Trocadéro is a station on lines 6 and 9 of the Paris Métro in the 16th arrondissement and named after the Place du Trocadéro.-History:The station opened on 2 October 1900 as a branch of line 1 from Étoile to Trocadéro...

). It houses displays in ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

 and physical anthropology
Physical anthropology
Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...

, including artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

, fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s, and other objects.

Two zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

s, the Parc zoologique de Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

(also known as the Zoo de Vincennes), at the Bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. The park is named after the nearby town of Vincennes....

in the XIIe arrondissement
XIIe arrondissement
The 12th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France....

, and the Parc zoologique de Clères, at a mediæval manor in Clères
Clères
Clères is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A large farming and forestry village situated by the banks of the Clérette river, in the Pays de Caux, some northeast of Rouen, at the junction of the D2, D6, D53 and the D100 roads...

 (Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime is a French department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre...

), are also part of the museum, as is the Arboretum de Chèvreloup
Arboretum de Chèvreloup
The Arboretum de Chèvreloup is a major arboretum located just north of the Palace of Versailles at 30, route de Versailles, Rocquencourt, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France...

in Rocquencourt
Rocquencourt
Rocquencourt is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is mostly known for:* hosting a research unit of INRIA ;...

.

Chairs

The transformation of the Jardin from the medicinal garden of the King to a national public museum of natural history required the creation of twelve Chaired positions. Over the ensuing years the number of Chairs and their subject areas evolved, some being subdivided into two positions and others removed. The list of Chairs of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle includes major figures in the history of the Natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...

s. Early chaired positions were held by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck , often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist...

, René Desfontaines and Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

, and later occupied by Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet was a French ethnologist, who founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. He was also one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the February 6, 1934 far right riots.Rivet proposed a theory according to...

, Léon Vaillant
Léon Vaillant
Léon Louis Vaillant was a French zoologist. He is most famous for his work in the areas of herpetology, malacology, and ichthyology...

 and others.

In popular culture

The Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy
Galerie de paléontologie et d’anatomie comparée
The Galerie de paléontologie et d’anatomie comparée is a part of the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle...

 and other parts of Jardin des Plantes
Jardin des Plantes
The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

was a source of inspiration for French graphic novelist Jacques Tardi
Jacques Tardi
Jacques Tardi is a French comics artist, born 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. He is often credited solely as Tardi.-Biography:After graduating from the École nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, he started writing comics in 1969, at the...

. The gallery appears on the first page and several subsequent pages of Adèle et la bête (Adèle and the Beast; 1976), the first album in the series of Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. The story opens with a 136 million year old pterodactyl egg hatching, and a live pterodactyl escaping through the gallery glass roof, wreaking havoc and killing people in Paris. (The Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy returned the favor by placing a life size cardboard cutout of Adèle and the hatching pterodactyl in a glass cabinet outside the main entrance on the top floor balcony.)

Directors of the Museum

Directors elected for one year:
  • 1793 to 1794 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton
  • 1794 to 1795 : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu
  • 1795 to 1796 : Bernard Germain Étienne de Laville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède
  • 1796 to 1797 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton
  • 1797 to 1798 : Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton
  • 1798 to 1799 : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu
  • 1799 to 1800 : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu


Directors elected for two years:
  • 1800 to 1801 : Antoine-François Fourcroy
    Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy
    Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy was a French chemist and a contemporary of Antoine Lavoisier. Fourcroy collaborated with Lavoisier, Guyton de Morveau, and Claude Berthollet on the Méthode de nomenclature chimique, a work that helped standardize chemical nomenclature.-Life and work:Fourcroy...

  • 1802 to 1803 : René Desfontaines
  • 1804 to 1805 : Antoine-François Fourcroy
    Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy
    Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy was a French chemist and a contemporary of Antoine Lavoisier. Fourcroy collaborated with Lavoisier, Guyton de Morveau, and Claude Berthollet on the Méthode de nomenclature chimique, a work that helped standardize chemical nomenclature.-Life and work:Fourcroy...

  • 1806 to 1807 : René Desfontaines
  • 1808 to 1809 : Georges Cuvier
    Georges Cuvier
    Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

  • 1810 to 1811 : René Desfontaines
  • 1812 to 1813 : André Laugier
  • 1814 to 1815 : André Thouin
    André Thouin
    André Thouin was a French botanist who was born in Paris. He studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu . In 1793 Thouin attained the chair of horticulture at Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Thouin was a good friend of U.S...

  • 1816 to 1817 : André Thouin
    André Thouin
    André Thouin was a French botanist who was born in Paris. He studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu . In 1793 Thouin attained the chair of horticulture at Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Thouin was a good friend of U.S...

  • 1818 to 1819 : André Laugier
  • 1820 to 1821 : René Desfontaines
  • 1822 to 1823 : Georges Cuvier
    Georges Cuvier
    Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

  • 1824 to 1825 : Louis Cordier
    Louis Cordier
    Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier was a French geologist and mineralogist, and a founder of the French Geological Society...

  • 1826 to 1827 : Georges Cuvier
    Georges Cuvier
    Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

  • 1828 to 1829 : René Desfontaines
  • 1830 to 1831 : Georges Cuvier
    Georges Cuvier
    Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

  • 1832 to 1833 : Louis Cordier
    Louis Cordier
    Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier was a French geologist and mineralogist, and a founder of the French Geological Society...

  • 1834 to 1835 : Adrien de Jussieu
  • 1836 to 1837 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1838 to 1839 : Louis Cordier
    Louis Cordier
    Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier was a French geologist and mineralogist, and a founder of the French Geological Society...

  • 1840 to 1841 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1842 to 1843 : Adrien de Jussieu
  • 1844 to 1845 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1846 to 1847 : Adolphe Brongniart
  • 1848 to 1849 : Adrien de Jussieu
  • 1850 to 1851 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1852 to 1853 : André Marie Constant Duméril
    André Marie Constant Duméril
    André Marie Constant Duméril was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became professor of herpetology and ichthyology...

  • 1854 to 1855 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1856 to 1857 : Marie Jean Pierre Flourens
  • 1858 to 1859 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1860 to 1861 : Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
    Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
    Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He coined the term ethology.He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire...

  • 1862 to 1863 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...



Directors elected for five years:
  • 1863 to 1879 : Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul
    Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...

  • 1879 to 1891 : Edmond Frémy
    Edmond Fremy
    Edmond Frémy was a French chemist. He is perhaps best known today for Frémy's salt, a strong oxidizing agent which he discovered in 1845...

  • 1891 to 1900 : Alphonse Milne-Edwards
    Alphonse Milne-Edwards
    Alphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...

  • 1900 to 1919 : Edmond Perrier
  • 1919 to 1931 : Louis Mangin
  • 1932 to 1936 : Paul Lemoine
  • 1936 to 1942 : Louis Germain
  • 1942 to 1949 : Achille Urbain
    Achille Urbain
    Achille Joseph Urbain was a French biologist and director of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris from 1942 to 1949. He was a zoo director in Paris from 1934 to 1946...

  • 1950 to 1950 : René Jeannel
    René Jeannel
    René Jeannel was a French entomologist. He was director of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1945-1951. Jeanell's most important work was on the insect fauna of caves in the Pyrenees, France and in the Carpathians, Romania. He also worked in Africa...

  • 1951 to 1965 : Roger Heim
    Roger Heim
    Roger Heim 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 higher fungi , the mycology of tropical fungi such as...

  • 1966 to 1970 : Maurice Fontaine
  • 1971 to 1975 : Yves Le Grand
  • 1976 to 1985 : Jean Dorst
    Jean Dorst
    Professor Dr Jean Dorst was a French ornithologist.Dorst was born at Mulhouse and studied biology and paleontology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris. In 1947 he joined the staff of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle...

  • 1985 to 1990 : Philippe Taquet
    Philippe Taquet
    Philippe Taquet 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 November 30, 2004...

  • 1994 to 1999 : Henry de Lumley
    Henry de Lumley
    Henry de Lumley is a French archeologist, geologist and prehistorian. He is director of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris, and Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He is also a corresponding member of the Academy of Humanities of the Institute of France and...



Presidents elected for five years:
  • 2002-2006 : Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis
  • 2006-... André Menez

External links

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