Bernard Brunhes
Antoine Joseph Bernard Brunhes | |
|---|---|
École centrale de Lille, Puy-de-Dôme Observatory |
Antoine Joseph Bernard Brunhes (3 July 1867 – 10 May 1910) was a French geophysicist known for his pioneering work in paleomagnetism, in particular, his 1906 discovery of geomagnetic reversal. The current period of normal polarity, Brunhes Chron, and the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal are named for him.
Brunhes was educated at the
École centrale de Lille
from 1893 to 1895.
In November 1900, he was appointed as head of the
Auvergne region of France
, where he worked until his death in 1910.
It was during his time at the observatory that he made the crucial observation that led to his discovery of geomagnetic reversal. In 1905, he found that rocks in an ancient lava flow at
magnetic North Pole of the time was close to the current geographical South Pole
, which could only have happened if the magnetic field of the Earth had been reversed at some point in the past. He was correct, though it took another 50 years before his theory was fully accepted by the scientific community.
References
- "Bernard Brunhes, Directeur de l’Observatoire du Puy-de-Dôme (1900–1910)", Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Fd.
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