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Boule Marcelin Pierre
(01.01.1861 -
04.07.1942)
 French
geologist, paleontologist and anthropologist, famous researcher of
prehistoric human remains.
Born in Monsalvi of the province of Cantal in a family of very
modest incomes. Already
in his youth, thanks to the local pharmacist J.-B. Ram,
a lover of geology, Buhl showed an interest in the natural sciences. Ram
helped him get a university degree, first in Toulouse, then in Paris
and Clermont-Ferrand. In
Toulouse, where in 1886 Buhl received degrees in natural sciences
and geology, he met Emile-Edouard-Philip Kartalyaka, a famous
prehistoric artist, later a specialist in cave art. Kartalyak
introduced him to paleoanthropology and prehistory, that is,
primitive archeology.
With a recommendation from Rama Boule arrived in Paris to
geologist F. Fouquet, but, having become acquainted with the book of
A. Godri “The Chain of the Animal World”, he became interested in
paleontology. Having
defended, nevertheless, his thesis on geology, Buhl completed a
university education and in 1887 got a job at the Paris Museum of
Natural History, with which all his scientific activities were
associated.
He began as an intern, then in 1892 became an assistant to Godri
in the department of paleontology, in 1994 he defended his thesis
and was appointed an assistant to the museum. For
the organization in 1898 of the paleontological gallery, he was
awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (in 1935 he will become the
Commander of the Order). In
1903, he headed the department of paleontology and held this post
until his retirement in 1936.
Being engaged in geology and paleontology, Buhl did not forget
about the problems of archeology and the origin of man. He
respected Darwin as a genius naturalist, but he was harassed by the
atheist anti-clerical rhetoric, inspired by the successes of
Darwinism and greatly simplified the concept. He
did not like the dogmatic argument of the clerics. Boule
believed that science should be aloof from politics and ideology. He
really wanted to get involved in the discussion and, pushing the
political aspects, push the solution of the problem itself, but
restrained respect for his teacher and Chief Godri. It
would be necessary to act independently and without regard to the
opinion of the elders, otherwise there is no need to meddle. For
the time being, Boule restrained himself, and, sometimes making
excursions into geology and archeology, was mostly limited to
studies of paleontology alone.
In 1902, when his teacher, Godri, resigned, leaving him the
pulpit, Buhl’s hands were untied. He
took up human paleontology, that is, paleoanthropology, making it
his main profession. In
the first third of the twentieth century, Boule was out of
competition as the leader of French paleontology and
paleoanthropology. He
believed that human paleontology is truly “historical science”,
capable of recreating successive phases of “creation”. Boule
worked in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. He
was the first to show what a Neanderthal looked like - from the
bones found in the town of La Chapelle, Boule reconstructed a stocky
creature with a heavy lower jaw and a sullen look from under
prominent eyebrows. The
work on the reconstruction of his appearance brought the scientist
worldwide fame, and a book about human remains, published in France
in 1921, was translated into many languages of the world. Boule
also studied volcanoes and, comparing geological and archaeological
data, he refined the sequence of events of distant ages.
He died in Monsalvi.
Glacier and mountain south
of Mashigin Bay on the west coast of the northern island of Novaya
Zemlya. The
glacier named in 1909 V.A. Rusanov. |
