Vincent Courtillot
| Vincent E. Courtillot | |
|---|---|
| Born |
6 March 1948 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Residence | Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Citizenship | French |
| Alma mater |
Mines ParisTech Stanford University University of Paris-6 |
| Awards | Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1994) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Paleomagnetism, geodynamic, volcanic traps, hotspots |
| Institutions | Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris |
Vincent E. Courtillot (born 6 March 1948) is a contemporary French geophysicist, prominent among the researchers who are critical of the hypothesis that impact events are a primary cause of mass extinction of life forms on the Earth. Courtillot is best known for his book "La Vie en catastrophes" (Paris, Fayard, 1995), translated into English as "Evolutionary catastrophes" (1999).
Courtillot is an engineer from the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris. He then studied at Stanford University. In 1974, he was awarded a doctorate by University Paris 6 and in 1977 a state doctorate by University Paris 7.
He has pursued an academic career in France and the United States, including teaching stints at Caltech and the University of Minnesota, and work with the European Geosciences Union, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (where he has been director since 2004), and the Ministry of National Education in France. (From 1998 to 2001 Courtillot served under Claude Allègre as director of research when Allègre was Minister for National Education, Research and Technology.) Courtillot is currently Professor of Geophysics at the Paris Diderot University. He has published in excess of 150 papers in scientific journals, with some emphasis on the specialty of paleomagnetism; he has served as editorial advisor to the French journal La Recherche.
Vincent Courtillot was elected to membership in the French Academy of Sciences in November 2003. He is also a member of the Fondation Ecologie d'Avenir since 2011.
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