People

This page is devoted to people I worked with over the years, most of whom have become good friends

The Bordeaux Team

	Bruno Malaizé is an isotope geochemist. He went from the cold to the warm, having made his PhD on ice cores from Antarctica, and working now with me on corals. Bruno is a really nice guy, whose dedication is very much appreciated by his students and colleagues.
	Karine Charlier is in charge of running smoothly the isotope laboratory, and it is a huge job as we all know. It is all to her credit that she keeps a smiling face whatever the problems are with the mass spectrometer.  She is also our webmaster.
	Philippe Martinez is a tongue in cheek scientist who works on the isotopic characterization of organic matter. He is always looking for new challenges, and we started work on corals  last year. Philou, as we all call him, is good value in the field where his sense of humor does wonder.

The IRD Team

	Claude Ihily is our technician driller and a very useful man to have in the workshop. Claude was born in Ouvea, one of the Loyalty islands east of the Grande Terre of New Caledonia. This photo was taken during a drilling operation on the Surprise Atoll.
	Florence Le Cornec is an engineer who helped me develop measurement methods on the ICP-MS. She joined us on several field trips as well. She has the responsability of  the technical unit based in Bondy. She is always easygoing and great value in the lab. She is pictured here during the Walpole cruise on R.V. Alis.
	Guy Cabioch (left, in his trademark white tee-shirt) is a carbonate sedimentologist. He has written many articles on reef development. We teamed up on a number of field trips and cruises.  I took this photo during fieldwork in Vanuatu in 2003. Pierre Genthon (pink tee-shirt, no trademark involved) is also pictured together with some very friendly locals.
	Jocelyne Bonneau is an important part of the coral processing line in Noumea. She is in charge of the coral micro-sampling, and then prepares the samples for chemical analyses. Jocelyne also does a lot of secretarial tasks. She has trained numerous students in the lab, and they all have fond memoires of her.She is pictured sampling a coral slab with our automated three-axis microsampler.
	Joel Orempuller is a photographer and a dive instructor based in Tahiti. He joined us a numerous cruises, and took most of the underwater photos displayed on this site. His great sense of humor and skill at tarot are always appreciated. He is also a skilled hairdresser, hence his nickname "the hairdresser from the deep" (see fieldtrip photos). Joel is pictured here on the water front at the IRD Tahiti center.
	John Butscher is a diver and our master driller. Although raised in New Caledonia, John was born in Tahiti, and he definitely has the polynesian warmness. He is a champion spearfisher, and a merry companion in the field (don't forget to bring the beers though!). On the photo, John is enjoying his beer after a days work in Rangiroa (French Polynesia).
	Loulou (Jean Louis Laurent on his passport) is always a great asset in the field. He can  make friends anywhere in the world in less than five minutes, and probably knows half of the Pacific inhabitants. He is also a great cook, something to take into account when you are in the field. Loulou is pictured sampling Porites corals from raised terrasses in Vanuatu.
	Thierry Delcroix is a seriously funny guy, and a world authority on El Niño. We collaborated on a number of papers. We also played countless tennis games, and I was privileged to witness the emergence of his trademark "Smash in the net", where one needs to stand no more than 20 cm from the net to perform it. After a long stay in New Caledonia, Thierry is now based at LEGOS in Toulouse.

Colleagues from abroad

	Burr, as he likes to be called, is a cool dude and a top radiocarbon scientist. He can tell you more golf jokes than anybody else in the world. There are so many funny things to tell about Burr's life that I would need an entire web site. He is pictured here in front of an old perfume boiler during a visit to Grasse in Provence (southern France).
	Jose "Pepe" Carriquiry is a renowned isotope geochemist from Mexico who works mainly but not only on corals. His laboratory is based in Ensenada, Baja California. Pepe is a great guy with whom I went three times in the field, each time being a memorable one. We are currently co-supervising a student, and will continue our collaboration in the future.
	Mary Elliot is an isotope geochemist with multiple interests. She produced some landmark results on Heinrich events during her PhD at Gif sur Yvette. Then, in a smart move, she went on to work in the tropics. Mary is a very likeable person, always fun to meet and always ready to share a beer or a platter of oysters.
	Mike Gagan is an isotope geochemist who brought a lot of new ideas to the coral field. His team at ANU is extremely efficient and they are all really nice people to be with. The year I spent at RSES with them was very enjoyable and my only regret is that I haven't been able to go in the field with Mike so far.
	Patrick "le Mec" De Deckker is an outstanding scientist who was my PhD supervisor. His dedication to science and endless energy really inspired me. Like most of my friends, Patrick loves good food and wine, and I took this picture just before a dinner he prepared a few year ago (when he still had hair!).
	Stephanie Reynaud is a native of Monaco, and therefore qualifies as a colleague from abroad. She works at the Centre Scientifique de Monaco where her team is recognized as one of the world leader in cultivating corals in tanks under controlled conditions. Stephanie joined our drilling team on a memorable cruise to Fiji in 1998, when she was still doing her PhD.
	Warren "IOH" Beck is among the top ranked radiocarbon and coral scientist in the world. He is also an icon of humor, a very good cook and a wine lover. Everytime we meet, we both put on a lot of extra weight. We had a memorable coral sampling cruise to Tokelau and Wallis island a few years ago. Warren is pictured here on top of the Cap-Ferret lighthouse (Bassin d'Arcachon, France) during a recent visit to my place.