Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont

French geologist (1798-1874) who proposed that mountain ranges formed in discrete episodes tied to the cooling and contraction of the Earth, and that the world's mountain systems followed a pattern of alignment along a small number of great circles. He led preparation of the first detailed geological map of France, taught geology at the Ecole des Mines from 1835, and served as perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sciences from 1853, receiving the Wollaston Medal in 1843. His mountain-cooling theory was influential in nineteenth-century geology, though later superseded by plate tectonics. A general profile of the same person is also carried in the science atlas. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/