Marcel Alexandre Bertrand (2 July 1847 – 13 February 1907) was a French

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, ...

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 ...

. He was the son of

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 ...

Joseph Louis François Bertrand Joseph Louis François Bertrand (; 11 March 1822 – 5 April 1900) was a French mathematician whose work emphasized number theory, differential geometry, probability theory, economics and thermodynamics. Biography Joseph Bertrand was the son of ...

(1822–1900), and son-in-law to

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Éleuthère Mascart (1837-1908). He studied at the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, and beginning in 1869 he attended the Ecole des Mines de Paris. From 1877 he carried out geological mapping studies of

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

, the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...

and the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. In 1886, he became an instructor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines, and in 1896 became a member of the

Académie des 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 ...

. Bertrand, a founder of modern

tectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

, originated an orogenic "wave theory" of mountain-building and introduced the

nappe In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the ...

hypothesis (). His wave theory described a build-up of massive folds of earth taking place over successive geological eras, called the Caledonian, Hercynian and Alpine periods of orogeny. Bertrand later added a fourth event called the Huronian orogeny, which took place 2400 to 2100 million years ago, in

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

time. In 1890 he was named president of the

Société géologique de France The Société géologique de France (SGF) is a French learned society founded on 17 March 1830. As of 2006, it counts 1,200 members. History At its creation, its statutes indicate is to "compete for the advancement of Earth Sciences and Planets, ...

.Marcel-Alexandre BERTRAND
Société géologique de France The ''Concours de Géologie'' twice awarded him the ''Prix Vaillant'' (1886 and 1890); he also won the ''Prix Fontannes'' (of the Société géologique de France) in 1888 and the ''Prix Petit d'Ormoy'' in 1893.

Personal life

He was married to Mathilde Mascart and their daughter, Thérèse Bertrand-Fontaine (1895 – 1987), became a physician and researcher. She was only the third woman to be named a full member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Selected works

* ''Études dans les Alpes françaises. structure en éventail, massifs amygdaloïdes et métamorphisme'' 1894 – Studies of the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

. * ''Sur la structure du mont Joly près de Saint-Gervais (Haute-Savoie)'', 1896 – On the Mount Joly structure near Saint-Gervais (Haute-Savoie). * ''Les chaînes septentrionales des Alpes bernoises'', 1899 – The northern chain of the

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

. * ''La grande nappe de recouvrement de la Basse-Provence'', 1899 – The large nappe layer of Lower

. * ''Mémoire sur les refoulements qui ont plissé l’écorce terrestre et sur le rôle des déplacements horizontaux'', 1908. * ''Œuvres géologiques de Marcel Bertrand'' (with Emmanuel de Margerie; 3 volumes, 1927–31) – Geological works of Marcel Bertrand.WorldCat Search
published works

References

* This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

, source listed a
Archive Annales des Mines

Encyclopædia Britannica India
(Marcel Bertrand) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrand, Marcel Alexandre French geologists 1847 births 1907 deaths Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Members of the French Academy of Sciences École Polytechnique alumni