The Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer, also known as the Laboratoire Arago, is a marine station located in

Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was first settled by Greeks starting in 400 BCE. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the ar ...

( Pyrénées-Orientales) on the Mediterranean coast of France. The marine station is made up of several joint research laboratories operated by UPMC-Paris 6 (

Université Pierre et Marie Curie Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...

) and the

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

(CNRS) and one administrative unit. The buildings and land are part of the UPMC-Paris 6 campus. The marine station also houses a small public aquarium and a public garden.

History

The marine station was founded in 1881 by the biologist Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After founding the Roscoff Marine Station on the English Channel in 1872, the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

zoologist, Professor Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, wished to establish a second marine station on the Mediterranean. The site in Banyuls-sur-Mer was selected over another site in Port-Vendres because of a more favorable financial offer by the village. The public aquarium was in operation by 1885.Official site
/ref> Construction of the main building began in 1881. The station officially opened in 1882 under the name of "Laboratoire Arago" named to honor François Arago, who was born in the same region. Prince

Roland Bonaparte Roland Napoléon Bonaparte, 6th Prince of Canino and Musignano (19 May 1858 – 14 April 1924) was a French prince and president of the Société de Géographie from 1910 until his death. He was the last male-lineage descendant of Lucien Bonaparte ...

offered a steamboat for the use of the laboratory in 1890. Named ''Roland'', the ship was destroyed while in her basin in Banyuls during a storm in November 1908. Banyuls-sur-Mer - Roland dans son bassin (1895)

Banyuls-sur-Mer - Roland dans son bassin (1895)

French

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

Louis Boutan perfected, while studying under de Lacaze-Duthiers, several techniques for

underwater photography Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater v ...

. He also developed an underwater

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

and a remote control for deep waters using an

electromagnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in ...

.Boutan, Louis (1893), ‘Mémoire sur la photographie sous-marine’, Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale, Tome 1 (Ser 3), 281-324.

Mission

The Laboratoire Arago and its two sister stations in

Roscoff Roscoff (; br, Rosko) is a commune in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France. Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labelled (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure ...

and

Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; oc, Vilafranca de Mar ; it, Villafranca Marittima ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region on the French Riviera and is l ...

, share two common missions: promoting education and research in marine sciences. All three sites maintain onsite dormitory and restaurant facilities available to visiting scientists and students in support of these missions.

Directors

* 1882-1900: Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers * 1900-1923: Georges Pruvot * 1923-1937: Octavio Duboscq * 1937-1947: Édouard Chatton * 1947-1964: Georges Petit * 1964-1976: Pierre Drach * 1976-1989: Jacques Soyer * 1989-1999: Alain Guille * 2000-2005: Gilles Boeuf * 2005-2015: Philippe Lebaron * 2015-: Vincent Laudet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Observatoire oceanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer Laboratories in France Oceanography Banyuls-sur-Mer