Marcellin Boule

Marcellin Boule, with complete name Pierre Marcellin Boule ( born January 1, 1861 in Montsalvy, Cantal, France, † July 4, 1942 ) was a French paleontologist, paleoanthropologist and geologist.

Life

After graduating (1884 ) Bike worked at the Collège de France and at the Muséum national d' histoire naturelle. The qualifications for teaching in the teaching of natural sciences, he received 1887. He received his doctorate in 1892. From 1902 to 1936 he was Chair of Paleontology at the same museum.

The Institut de paléontologie humaine in Paris was co-founded by him. Boule was co-editor of various journals, including the Archives de l' Institut de paléontologie humaine et L' Anthropologie, which he headed from 1893 to 1940.

Already in 1915, he expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the Piltdown man, after he had recognized the mandible than a monkey belonging that could have nothing to do with the skull presented.

Man of La Chapelle -aux -Saints

His knowledge of geology and stratigraphy came Boule benefit in exploring the history of man. He examined human fossils from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Boule published the first scientific description of a nearly complete skeleton of a Neanderthal, namely the people of La Chapelle -aux -Saints. The skeleton was discovered on 3 August 1908 Correze. Although the description of the skeleton was extremely precise and detailed, but the reconstruction was not exactly objective of: there was a Neanderthal in crooked posture, verkrümmter spine and legs buckled. A drawing Boule had commissioned showed Neanderthal man as a sort of hairy gorilla. It would take many years before the scientific world could solve by this picture of the Neanderthal, the assumptions were based, were actually unscientific. In addition, the image of the Neanderthals has been falsified by the fact that this skeleton had pathological traits: the "Old La Chapelle -aux -Saints " had, among other things, a left-sided Hüftdeformation, he was suffering from severe arthritis of the cervical spine, a rib was broken, also was damaged a knee. The old man had had no teeth, which is why no tooth sockets were gone.

During the First World War

Influenced by the prevailing also in French scientists tendency to chauvinism is Boule involved in the culture war biologised French doctors and biologists who were trying to pin down which differ from those of "race germanique " distinguished the characteristics of "race française ". Boule came to the conclusion that " Germanic race " distinct from the French by the fact that their development is an imbalance is created. Excessive development of intellectual skills as they would also reflect the German science, have led to other trends such as the love of justice and moral beauty are extinct. Together with its allies would the French soldiers " the Germanic monster whose evolution is going wrong, make a full end. " Such views were commonplace at that time, however, and had collected all the medical circles.

The École auvergnate

Influenced by the movement Le Félibrige he founded in 1894 together with Arsène Vermenouze and Louis Farges the École Auvergnate ( Escolo oubergnato ).

Works (selection)

• Le Pachyaena de Vaugirard, 1903
• L'âge of derniers volcans de la France, 1906
• Géologie, 1914
• With Henri Vallois, Les hommes fossil. Éléments de paléontologie humaine, Paris, Masson 1946 (1920) German: fossil humans. Baselines of human phylogeny, translated by Frédéric Falkenburger, Baden -Baden, publisher of Arts and Sciences 1954