Jean Marie François Joseph Coulomb (7 November 1904 – 26 February 1999) was a French

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, and one of the early members of the Bourbaki group of mathematicians.

Biography

Coulomb was born in Blida, Algeria. From April 1935 to 1937, he was a member of the Bourbaki group of mathematicians. He was a professor in the Faculty of Sciences of Paris from 1941 to 1972, and director of the

Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris The Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (, ; abbr. IPGP) is a French governmental, non-profit research and higher education establishment located in Paris, dedicated to the study of earth and planetary sciences by combining observations, labora ...

from 1941 to 1959. He was director general of CNRS, the French National Centre for Scientific Research from 1957 to 1962, president of

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

from 1962 to 1967, and president of the

Bureau des Longitudes __NOTOC__ The ''Bureau des Longitudes'' () is a French scientific institution, founded by decree of 25 June 1795 and charged with the improvement of nautical navigation, standardisation of time-keeping, geodesy and astronomical observation. Durin ...

from 1967 to 1969. Coulomb was the President of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1958 to 1960. From 1967 to 1971, he was also president of the

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; , UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques. The IUGG is a me ...

(IUGG), and from 1972 to 1974 of the

International Council for Science The International Council for Science (ICSU, after its former name, International Council of Scientific Unions) was an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the advancement of science. Its members ...

(ICSU). In 1960, he was elected to 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 was its president from 1976 to 1977. His work was in the fields of

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

(theory of surface waves), geomagnetism, and

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

(atmospheric electricity and the physics of clouds).

Awards and distinctions

*1956 — Prix Charles Lagrange *1961 — Prix Jules Janssen *1971 — Prix des Trois Physiciens *1991 — Grand Cross of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

*Grand Croix of the

Ordre du Mérite A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to f ...

*Officer of the Ordre du Mérite Saharien

Bibliography

* * * * * *

References

1904 births 1999 deaths Nicolas Bourbaki French geophysicists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French mathematicians Presidents of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics CNES presidents École Normale Supérieure alumni People from Blida Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Ordre national du Mérite {{France-scientist-stub