Alfred Lacroix facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Antoine Lacroix
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Antoine Lacroix (1924)
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| Born | 4 February 1863 |
| Died | 12 March 1948 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | French |
| Awards | Wollaston Medal (1917) Hayden Memorial Geological Award (1923) Penrose Medal (1930) Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | mineralogist and geologist |
| Doctoral advisor | Ferdinand André Fouqué |
Antoine François Alfred Lacroix ForMemRS (4 February 1863 – 12 March 1948) was a French mineralogist and geologist. He was born in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire.
Education
Lacroix completed a D. s Sc. in Paris in 1889, as student of Ferdinand André Fouqué. Fouqué only agreed to the graduation if Lacroix would marry his daughter.
Career
In 1893, he was appointed professor of mineralogy at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and in 1896 director of the mineralogical laboratory in the École des Hautes Études.
He paid especial attention to minerals connected with volcanic phenomena and igneous rocks, to the effects of metamorphism, and to mineral veins, in various parts of the world, notably in the Pyrenees. In his numerous contributions to scientific journals he dealt with the mineralogy and petrology of Madagascar, and published an elaborate and exhaustive volume on the eruptions in Martinique, La Montagne Pelée et ses éruptions (Paris 1904).
He also issued an important work entitled Minéralogie de la France et de ses Colonies (1893–1898), and other works in conjunction with Auguste Michel-Lévy. He was president of the volcanology section (1922–1927) of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). He was elected member of the Académie des sciences in 1904. He was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1930.
His will includes a final wish that testifies to his great modesty: “I recall that I want to be buried without ceremony of any kind, in the presence of my family only. This does not mean that I am indifferent to my colleagues, pupils and friends, but I attach little value to external events. I only ask them to devote a small place to me in their memories, which can be done without leaving one's work and normal life.” Alfred Lacroix was buried on 18 March 1948 in the family vault, which has no nominal inscription, at the cimetière du Montparnasse (3rd division, concession 871 P 1827).
Legacy
A species of Asian snake, Oligodon lacroixi, is named in his honor, as is the Lacroix Glacier in the Taylor Valley of Antarctica.
Society
Antoine Lacroix was one of the founder members in 1930 of the Society of Friends of André-Marie Ampère which was created to develop the first science museum in France, the Ampère Museum close to Lyons.
