André de Cayeux de Senarpont (known as André Cailleux, 24 December 1907 – 27 December 1986) was a French

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

Verger, Fernand. (1987). ''André Cailleux (1907-1986).'' '' Annales de Géographie'' 96 (537): 601-604. known for being a pioneer in

planetary geology Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of celestial bodies such as planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the geo- prefix t ...

Career

He was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. After earning his Ph.D. in 1942, he became a specialist in

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

and periglacial morphology. His studies of terrestrial geology spanned the globe: he participated in missions to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

. In 1960, he represented the French government on an American polar expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. Early in his career, his interest in the application of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

to his fields of study, especially that of planetology, led him to the observatory of Paris-Meudon. He suggested and started applying geological science to planetary bodies other than the Earth as early as 1948, studying and publishing on the geomorphology and physics of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, and other planets. He conducted scientific conferences in 20 foreign countries, taught at the Sorbonne,

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

in Quebec, and the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

, and published 390 scientific works, on geomorphology, oceanography, hydrology, glaciology, petrography, mineralogy, geography, paleontology, planetary geology, and history. Cailleux was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and proponent of

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...

Personal life

Cailleux was the grandfather of entrepreneur Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux.

Bibliography

* ''Détermination pratique des roches'', (with A. Chavan) Centre Documentation Universitaire, 1952, 2 volumes. * ''Les Roches'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952. * ''La Glace et les glaciers'', (with V. Romanovsky) Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 1953. * ''Cryopédologie'', Paris: Hermann, 1954 * ''Détermination pratique des minéraux'', (with A. Chavan) Paris: Sedes, 1957. * ''Détermination pratique des fossiles'', (with A. Chavan) Paris: Masson, 1957. * ''La Géologie'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1956. * ''Biogéographie mondiale'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1953. * ''Histoire de la Géologie'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968 * ''L'Anatomie de la Terre'', Paris: Hachette, 1968. * ''L'Antarctique'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1967. He was also the author of many papers.

English translations

* ''Anatomy of the Earth'', New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968. Translated by J. Moody Stuart. . * ''Three Billion Years of Life'',

Stein and Day Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...

, New York, 1968. Translated by Joyce E Clemow. . * ''Introduction to climatic geomorphology'',

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

, 1972. Translated by Conrad J.Kriewiet de Jonge."Introduction to climatic geomorphology"
''Google Books''

Awards and honors

* The crater Cailleux on the

was named after him by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

. * André Cailleux received many honors and awards, including the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

(1940), the Chevalier of the

Legion of Honor 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. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

(1952), and the French medal of recognition (1953). * The André Cailleux medal is awarded by the ''Association Québécoise pour l'étude du Quaternaire''.

References

External links

André de Cayeux (1907-1986)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cailleux, Andre 1907 births 1986 deaths Climatic geomorphologists French geomorphologists 20th-century French geologists French paleontologists Quaternary geologists Theistic evolutionists University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Paris Academic staff of Université Laval French planetary scientists Garriott de Cayeux family