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Théodore Monod

Théodore Monod (1902-2000) was a prominent French naturalist, scholar, and explorer known for his extensive research in the Sahara desert and contributions to environmentalism. He discovered numerous plant species, important archaeological sites, and was involved in various pacifist and animal rights movements throughout his life. Monod authored over 700 scientific works and was recognized with several awards, including the Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1960.

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93 views4 pages

Théodore Monod

Théodore Monod (1902-2000) was a prominent French naturalist, scholar, and explorer known for his extensive research in the Sahara desert and contributions to environmentalism. He discovered numerous plant species, important archaeological sites, and was involved in various pacifist and animal rights movements throughout his life. Monod authored over 700 scientific works and was recognized with several awards, including the Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1960.

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Théodore Monod

Théodore André Monod (9 April 1902 – 22


November 2000) was a French naturalist, humanist, Théodore Monod
scholar and explorer.

Exploration
Monod was educated at École alsacienne and obtained
a doctorate in science from Sorbonne University in
1922.[1][2] Early in his career, Monod was made
professor at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
and founded the Institut fondamental d’Afrique noire
in Senegal. He became a member of the Académie des
sciences d'outre-mer in 1949, member of the Académie
de marine in 1957 and member of the Académie des Born 9 April 1902
sciences in 1963. In 1960, he became one of the Rouen, Normandy, France
founders of the World Academy of Art and Science. Died 22 November 2000 (aged 98)
Versailles, Yvelines, France
He began his career in Africa with the study of monk
seals on Mauritania's Cap Blanc peninsula. However,
he soon turned his attention to the Sahara desert, which he would survey for more than sixty years in
search of meteorites. Though he failed to find the meteorite he sought, he discovered numerous plant
species as well as several important Neolithic sites. Perhaps his most important find (together with
Wladimir Besnard) was the Asselar man, a 6,000-year-old skeleton of the Adrar des Ifoghas that many
scholars believe to be the first remains of a distinctly black person. In the early 1960s he discovered the
caravan wreck site at Ma'adin Ijafen.[3][4]

Private life and activism


Monod, the son of Wilfred Monod, attended the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen.[5] His father was a
pastor of l'Oratoire du Louvre, which Theodore also attended. He subsequently became the founding
president of the Francophone Unitarian Association (1986-1990), the first openly Unitarian religious
organization established in France and later sponsored a spin-off of the AUF known as the Fraternal
Assembly of Christian Unitarians.

Monod was also politically active, taking part in pacifist and antinuclear protests until only some months
before his death. He wrote several articles and books that adumbrated the emerging environmentalist
movement. He described himself as a Christian anarchist.[6]

In 1970, he led an International Committee for the Defence of Ernest Ouandié during his trial. The
Cameroonian revolutionary was executed on the orders of the regime.
Monod was the great-grandson of Frédéric Monod. He shared a common ancestor with biologist Jacques
Monod, the musician Jacques-Louis Monod, the politician Jérôme Monod and director Jean-Luc Godard.

Monod was a strict vegetarian who advocated for animal rights.[6] He never touched alcohol, meat or
tobacco.[2] He once walked 600 miles in the Sahara to prove that he had sufficient stamina without eating
meat.[6]

Scientific work
The scientific bibliography of Théodore Monod includes more than 700 works on topics – from his thesis
subject, the Gnathiidae (a family of parasitic Isopoda), to the subject that he held close to his heart until
his death: the Scaridae, which he published on in 1994 in collaboration with Canadian research scientist
Andrea Bullock.

Monod discovered and gave his name to 30 species of insects and plants, 50 crustaceans and several
fish.[6]

Selected works
Works re-edited and released by Actes Sud (Arles):

Méharées, (Paris, 1937), rééd. 1989.


L'Émeraude des garamantes, (éditions de L'Harmattan, Paris, 1984), rééd. 1992.
L'Hippopotame et le philosophe, rééd. 1993.
Désert lybique, éditions Arthaud, 1994.
Majâbat Al-Koubrâ, Actes Sud, 1996.
Maxence au désert, Actes Sud, Arles, 1995.
Tais-toi et marche ..., exploration journal from El Ghallaouya-Aratane-Chinguetti, Actes Sud,
2002.

Awards
1960 Patrons's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his work in the Sahara.[7]

Authority name

See also
Category:Taxa named by Théodore Monod

References
This article began as a translation of the corresponding article at the French Wikipedia,
accessed 17 December 2005.

1. "Théodore Monod (1902-2000)" (https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/theodore-monod-190


2-2000/). museeprotestant.org. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
2. "Theodore Monod, Sahara-Loving Naturalist, Dies at 98" (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/
25/world/theodore-monod-sahara-loving-naturalist-dies-at-98.html). nytimes.com. Retrieved
24 February 2023.
3. Herbert, Eugenia W. (2003). Red Gold of Africa: Copper in Precolonial History and Culture
(https://books.google.com/books?id=CU4lAnmnUhUC&q=%22Ma%27den+Ijafen%22+mon
od&pg=PA114). Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299096045.
4. Christie, A. C.; Haour, A. (2018-08-01). "The 'Lost Caravan' of Ma'den Ijafen Revisited: Re-
appraising Its Cargo of Cowries, a Medieval Global Commodity" (https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.u
k/id/eprint/67121/1/Accepted_manuscript.pdf) (PDF). Journal of African Archaeology. 16 (2):
125–144. doi:10.1163/21915784-20180008 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2F21915784-2018000
8). S2CID 165759202 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:165759202).
5. Lycée Pierre Corneille de Rouen - History (http://lgcorneille-lyc.spip.ac-rouen.fr/spip.php?arti
cle6)
6. "Theodore Monod obituary" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1375545/Theodor
e-Monod.html). The Daily Telegraph. London. 24 November 2000.
7. "List of Past Gold Medal Winners" (http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-
803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf) (PDF). Royal Geographical Society.
Retrieved 24 August 2015.
8. International Plant Names Index. Monod (http://www.ipni.org/ipni/advAuthorSearch.do?find
_abbreviation=Monod).

External links
Obituary at monachus-guardian.org (http://www.monachus-guardian.org/mguard07/07intne
w.htm)
webAfriqa — Théodore Monod, fondateur-directeur de l'IFAN (http://www.webafriqa.net/libra
ry/ifan/monod.html)
Théodore Monod (French language) (http://www.moncelon.fr/desertenverite.htm)
"Un exceptionel naturtaliste eclectique" (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/arti
cle/chris_0753-2776_2001_num_70_1_2274), Autres Temps, 2001, vol. 70 issue 70,
pp. 25–38

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Théodore_Monod&oldid=1257471753"

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