Nicolas Auguste Pomel (20 September 1821 – 2 August 1898) was a French geologist, paleontologist and botanist. He worked as a mines engineer in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and became a specialist in north African vertebrate fossils. He was Senator of Algeria for Oran from 1876 to 1882.

Life

Nicolas-Auguste Pomel was born in Issoire, Puy-de-Dôme, on 20 September 1821. He studied at the Lycée de Clermont and earned his '' licence ès sciences''. He was conscripted into the army when he was prepared to enter the

École des mines École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. He became a civil engineer after being released. After the coup d'état of 2 December 1851 his Republican beliefs earned him deportation. He became a ''Garde des mines'' in Oran in 1866, and was promoted to the 1st class in 1872. From 1876 to 1882 he was member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(Oran division). In 1882 he was tasked with geological mapping of Algeria.BHL
Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types He died in Dra-el-Mizan. Pomel was also a prolific botanist, naming and describing many plant species and some

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

as well. The genus ''Pomelia'' (Durando ex Pomel) from the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

is named in his honor.

Published works

He was the author of nearly 100 publications on

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

; his works include ''Sur les Alcyonaires fossiles Miocenes de l'Algerie'' (1868) Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1800–1900): ser. 2 , 1864–1873
by Henry White, Herbert McLeod, Henry Forster Morley and ''Des races indigènes de l'Algérie et du rôle que leur reservent leurs aptitudes'' (1871). Other written efforts by Pomel are: * ''Catalogue méthodique et descriptif des vertébrés fossiles'', 1853 – Catalog and description of vertebrate fossils. * ''Classification méthodique et genera des échinides vivants et fossiles'', 1883 – Classification of living and fossil Echinidae. * ''Contributions a la classification méthodique des Crucifères'', 1883 – Contributions to the methodical classification of Cruciferae. * ''Une mission scientifique en Tunisie en 1877'', 1884 – A scientific mission to

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

in 1877. * ''Paléontologie ou description des animaux fossiles de l'Algérie'', 1885–87 –

Paleontology 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 ge ...

; a description of animal fossils from Algeria. * ''Description stratigraphique générale de l'Algérie'', 1889 – General

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

description of Algeria. * ''Caméliens et Cervidés'', 1893 –

Camelid Camelids are members of the biological family (biology), family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant taxon, extant members of this group are: dromedary, dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bac ...

s and

cervid A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) a ...

s. * ''Les Rhinocéros quaternaire'', 1895 –

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

. * ''Les éléphants quaternaires'', 1895 – Quaternary

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s. * ''Singe et homme'', 1896 – Monkeys and humans.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pomel, Auguste 1821 births 1898 deaths 19th-century French botanists French geologists French paleontologists People from Issoire