336 Articles by O. Puche Riart, L. F. Mazadiego Martínez and P. Kindelán Echevarría The VIII International Geological Congress, Paris 1900 Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Minas-Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected], and
[email protected] France wanted to be the world centre of science and the Conference Palace of the Paris culture at the time of the Universal World Exhibition in Universal Exhibition in Place de l'Alma. The ceremony was led by the 1900 and therefore welcomed several international con- Conference Chair, Albert Gaudry gresses to Paris that year, including the VIII Interna- (1827–1908). He was a palaeontolo- tional Geological Congress. Some of the participants gist and professor at the Natural His- tory Museum and had been Vice- and organisers of this meeting are described and the Chairman of the first International participants and contributions are analysed by country. Geology Congress (Ellenberger, Topics in physical geography, tectonics and mineral 1970) (Figure 2). The Congress Sec- retary was the naturalist and former deposits attracted particular attention. The main Con- President of the Société Géologique gress themes are described and details of the numerous de France, Charles Barrois field excursions are also provided. No major scientific Figure 2 Albert Gaudry. (1851–1939) (Figure 3). Two distin- advances occurred as a result of the Congress but it pro- guished vice-presidents collaborated with them: Auguste Michel-Lévy vided the opportunity for valuable exchanges of infor- (1844–1911), a renowned petrologist mation and ideas and impetus to several fields. and chair of the French Geological Map Commission (Figure 4), and Marcel Bertrand (1847–1907), a tec- Introduction tonicist and Professor at the École des Mines in Paris (Figure 5).