Claude Lorius died this week at the age of 91. Born in Besançon in the Doubs, we owe him a lot about scientific research in the poles. And knowledge of the ice, which traces the history of our climate.
It is a great gentleman who is leaving. A well of science who passed on his experience with infinite gentleness and patience. Claude Lorius had studied at the University of Besançon. A small ad in 1955 on the wall of the faculty and off he went to the great white. We are looking for young people in good health and not afraid of loneliness. Claude Lorius carried out his first wintering in Terre Adélie in 1957 on the Charcot scientific base.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Claude Lorius took part in more than 20 polar expeditions, mainly in Antarctica, the last of which was in 1984 at Vostok, a Russian station where the temperature can drop below 80°C. It was in Adélie land that he made one of the most incredible discoveries…by observing in his whiskey the bubbles of gas released by the ice cube of a deep carrot. He has the intuition that these bubbles contain the secret of the time immemorial where they were imprisoned. Twenty years later, the confirmation of this presentiment will make the front page of the prestigious journal Nature: human activities are the cause of the current global warming.
Today’s scientists know how much the work of Claude Lorius has advanced knowledge of the climate disrupted by the presence of greenhouse gas. Florian Tolle is a glaciologist at the Thema laboratory at the University of Franche-Comté. “The ice of Antarctica is a wonderful time machine. Thanks to the work of Claude Lorius, we were able to see the alternations between the glacial and mild periods. This allowed us to see what is “derailing” over several centuries.
“Claude Lorius was a field researcher, he didn’t stay in his office. I am very attached to this field work. Claude Lorius wintered in incredible conditions” he recalls. In 1984, the glaciologist indeed landed in the middle of the Cold War with US Army planes at the Russian station of Vostok.
Today, at a time when glaciers are melting and the climate is warming, these ice cores continue to interest scientists. The project Ice Memory aims to collect ice samples from around the world to transport them and then archive them in the Franco-Italian Concordia station.
Jean-Louis Etienne, the French explorer paid tribute to him on March 23 in a video posted on his LinkedIn and Facebook page. “Thank you Claude for having illustrated the history of the earth’s climate and the need to implement a treatment against this thermal machine, the process of which has begun”.
In 2015 we asked Claude Lorius: You are the first to have established a link between the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global warming: Are you really worried? Scientist’s response. “It’s not worrying. It’s worse than worrying. Famines, the evacuation of populations in the face of rising sea levels… This is probably only the beginning.” Claude Lorius thought of future generations.
In June 2008, Claude Lorius was the first Frenchman to receive the Blue Planet prize for the environment. In 2009, he was promoted to the title of Commander of the Legion of Honor. In 2015, he was promoted to the rank of Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit.
In 2013, at the age of 81, Claude Lorius returned to Antarctica for the filming of the documentary “La Glace et le Ciel”.
This documentary film by director Luc Jacquet (La Marche de l’Empereur) portrayed the scientist from Besançon, little known to the general public. The film was released in 2015. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Marc Perrey, photographer from Besançon had accompanied the production in Antarctica to take photos. He remembers this incredible encounter. “Claude Lorius was someone who never spoke of himself in the first person, he always highlighted the people he worked with. He was humble”.