Background
Ferdinand Fouqué was born on June 21, 1828, at Mortain, Manche, France.
45 Rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France
Ferdinand graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1858.
educator geologist petrologist scientist
Ferdinand Fouqué was born on June 21, 1828, at Mortain, Manche, France.
Ferdinand graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1858.
During the next twenty years after graduating, Fouqué traveled extensively to study volcanoes, both active and extinct. He was present at the eruption of Etna in 1865 and of Santorin (now Thíra, Greece) in 1866. He investigated the volcanic chemistry of the Lipari Islands, Vesuvius, Solfatara, and the Cantal. His research resulted in several important publications: Recherches sur les phénomènes chimiques qui se produisent dans les volcans, which was accepted as his thesis for the doctorate in physical sciences, Les anciens volcans de la Grèce, and Santorin et ses éruptions. His most important finding was that the chemical products of fumaroles are primarily a function of temperature, thus relating the product composition, the site of the fumarole with respect to the center of the eruption, and the elapsed time between the emergence of the vent and the beginning of the eruption.
Fouqué’s studies of volcanoes led naturally to his other scientific activity, in which he collaborated closely with Michel-Lévy. Both had heard of Henry Clifton Sorby’s work in the microscopical examination of thin sections of rocks, and they perfected this technique. Their two-volume work Minéralogie micrographique introduced this new petrographic method into France. Further, they laid the foundations of modern petrography by introducing a classificatory system based on the mineralogical composition, the structure, and the chemical composition of volcanic rocks.
From 1878 to 1882, Fouqué and Michel-Lévy worked continuously on the artificial synthesis of igneous rocks, primarily to determine the conditions surrounding their origins. They were successful in producing the majority of volcanic rocks with the identical mineralogical composition and structural peculiarities found in nature. Their work verified the importance of the rate of cooling on the extent of crystallization and the sizes of grain, and demonstrated that rocks of distinctly different mineralogical composition would be formed from the same magma, depending on the conditions of crystallization.
Fouqué became professor of natural history at the College de France in 1877. He was named to the French geological survey commission in 1880, and in this position he made contributions to the stratigraphic geology of the Haute-Auvergne region. In 1884, following earthquakes in Andalusia, he directed a group sent there by the Institut de France to study these phenomena. This mission led to Fouqué’s experiments on the speed of propagation of shock waves in a variety of soils. His last important work, completed in 1896, was a petrographic study of the plagioclase feldspars.
Fouqué was a member of the Academy of Sciences, Paris.