In this issue we publish two further articles on « A scientist and his life’s work ». François GROS is a biologist and
Jean MALAURIE a geologist, ethnographer and Arctic explorer. They both describe their careers and the advancement
of knowledge spanning six decades. They have much in common : mobility across continents, disciplines and
topics addressed, and a high international exposure.
François GROS began his career at the Pasteur Institute in 1945 where he prepared his Ph.D on antibiotics, then
as a CNRS researcher went to the USA at Urbana, where he studied enzymatic adaptation. He returned to the
States in 1961 to work with James WATSON in whose lab he identified RNA Messenger. Back in France in 1963 he
researched in and taught biochemistry, moving on from the study of bacteria to that of animal then human cells
and finally to stem cells, repressor genes and systems' biology.
He was appointed Director of the Pasteur Institute in 1976 and developed industrial partnerships, in the Pasteurian
tradition, where there is no difference between applied and basic research. Just as important as the link between
research and industry, is that with teaching. « Lectures summarizing a state of the arts ensure a constant back and
forth movement between analysis, the realm of the experimental sciences, and synthesis, which is the very nature
of teaching ». FG stresses too the importance of multi-disciplinarity : « biologists and developmentalists must talk to
molecular geneticists, and these must talk to phycisists and mathematicians. It may be that biological systems will
enable us better to visualize holistic models.. Yet the observation of the living organism as a whole should never be
abandoned ». Throughout the whole of his career he has maintained a close collaborative relationship with scientists
from the USA to India, from Japan to Israel and China and in this same issue he pays a deeply felt tribute to a
very distinguished biologist, the late Ephraim KATZIR, of the Weizmann Institute and former President of Israel.
Jean MALAURIE conducted his first geomorphological field surveys in 1948 and ‘49 in Greenland where he then spent
the whole of 1950 living with the Eskimos. From those experiences he wrote up his Ph.D later turned into a best-seller
translated into more than 20 languages, « The Last Kings of Thule ». Throughout his career he has pursued field
work all over the Arctic from Alaska through Northern Canada, Greenland, Northern Scandinavia, Siberia, publishing
his findings in numerous books, articles and films and lecturing at the Centre for Arctic Studies in Paris. His research
reveals the highly original culture of the Inuit peoples and their amazing adaptability to the extremely harsh climatic
conditions in which they live, as well as their recently acquired consciousness of their identity across the whole of the
polar region. As Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO for the Arctic, Jean MALAURIE stresses the dangers for mankind
of climate change and the ensuing melting of the Arctic icecap which will enable the opening-up of sea lanes and
the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the polar regions. The « Antarctic Treaty » of 1991 defined this region as a
Natural Reserve, in which scientific research alone would be allowed, excluding all economic activities. While a comparable
« Arctic Treaty » is most unlikely, at the very least the United Nations should attempt to promote an international
agreement aiming at protecting the fragile Arctic environment from the risks of man made ecological disasters.
Our Alumni Association is proud to publish the message of the new President of CNRS, Alain FUCHS and to wish him
a warm welcome. He was a Research Fellow then Research Director from 1981 to 1995 at the CNRS before becoming
Senior Professor of Chemistry at Paris-Sud University from 1995 until 2006. He founded and directed the joint Orsay-
CNRS Laboratory of Physical Chemistry (2000-2005), chaired section 13 (Physical Chemistry-Molecules, Environments)
of the National Committee of Scientific Research, which is based at CNRS (2004-2008). He was Director of the
ParisTech School of Chemistry from 2006 to 2010. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Edmond Arthur LISLE
President, CNRS Alumni Association