Paul Lemoine (March 28, 1878 – March 14, 1940) 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

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

Georges Lemoine (1841-1922) and husband of phycologist Marie Lemoine (1887–1984).

Career

In 1902-03 he conducted geological studies of northern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

that included Diego Suarez. In 1904 he performed geological/exploratory investigations in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. From 1908 to 1919 he was head of the Géologie au Laboratoire Colonial in Paris. During this time period he also taught classes in geology at the Ecole spéciale d'Architecture (1909-1920). Following the retirement of

Stanislas-Étienne Meunier Stanislas-Étienne Meunier (18 July 1843 – 29 April 1925) was a French geologist born in Paris. In 1864 he began work as an "assistant naturalist" to geologist Gabriel Auguste Daubrée (1814–1896), who was an important and lasting influen ...

(1843-1925), he was appointed chair of geology at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

(1920). From 1932 to 1936 he was director of the museum.
Annales, Paul LEMOINE (1878-1940). In 1916 in collaboration with other scientists, he created the ''Société de Documentation Paléontologique'', which later became known as the ''Syndicat de Documentation Géologique et Paléontologique''. Lemoine was 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 ...

, the Société de biogéographie, the Société française de minéralogie et de cristallographie and 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, ...

(its president in 1923 and 1936).

Evolution

Lemoine has been cited in

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation, and is often pseudoscientific. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary' ...

literature as being anti-evolution. A quote often attributed to him from the ''

Encyclopédie française The ''Encyclopédie française'' was a French encyclopedia designed by Anatole de Monzie and Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre ( ; ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establish ...

'' (Volume 5, 1937) is:

"It results from this explanation that the theory of evolution is not exact ... Evolution is a kind of dogma which its own priests no longer believe, but which they uphold for the people. It is necessary to have the courage to state this if only so that men of a future generation may orient their research into a different direction.""Old, Out of Context Quotations from French Scientists"

Talk Origins talk.origins (often capitalised to Talk.Origins or abbreviated as t.o.) is a Usenet discussion forum concerning the origins of life, and evolution. Its official purpose is to draw such debates out of the science newsgroups, such as sci.bio.evolu ...
.

It is suspected that the quote is taken out of context by creationists, as Lemoine was addressing how evolution occurred, not the fact of evolution itself.

Written works

* ''Conférences sur Madagascar'', 1904 (Lectures on Madagascar) * ''Mission dans le Maroc occidental (automne 1904)'', 1905 (Mission in western Morocco; autumn 1904) * ''Études géologiques dans le nord de Madagascar: Contributions à l'histoire géologique de l'océan indien'', 1906 (Geological srudies of northern Madagascar, Contributions to the geological history of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

). * ''Contributions à la géologie des colonies françaises'', 1908–09. * ''Géologie du bassin de Paris'', 1911 (Geology of the

Paris Basin The Paris Basin () is one of the major geological regions of France. It developed since the Triassic over remnant uplands of the Variscan orogeny (Hercynian orogeny). The sedimentary basin, no longer a single drainage basin, is a large sag in ...

) * ''Excursion de la Société géologique de France à Vigny et à Meulan (Seine-et-Oise), le 17 mars 1912, sous la conduite de MM. G.-F. Dollfus et Paul Lemoine. Étude de la position stratigraphique du calcaire pisolithique'', 1912. * ''Afrique occidentale'', 1913 (Western Africa). * ''Volcans et tremblements de terre'', 1928 (

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es and

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s). * ''Mon oeuvre au Muséum national d'histoire naturelle pendant cinq ans de direction. 1932-1936'', 1936. * ''Bibliographie des sciences géologiques'', (

Bibliography Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

of geological sciences); published by the Geological Society of France with assistance from the French Society of Mineralogy ... Second set. Volume VIII (1937). Foreword by Paul Lemoine and R. Laffitte. [- Volume IX (1938). Foreword by R. Laffitte. * Note:: He is not to be confused with Paul Lemoine, French pediatrician (1917-2006).

References

France savante
(biography and publications) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemoine, Paul 1878 births 1940 deaths French geologists Presidents of Société géologique de France Scientists from Paris