7 free conferences to celebrate science in Nice: here’s the programme

Every Wednesday until December 13, you can attend presentations at the Art Center. The aim of these letters is to discuss the status and essential role of natural history museums.

Experienced scientists or just curious about things around you, this program is designed for you.

Starting Wednesday, November 8, through December 13, seven conferences will be held in a row every Wednesday from 3 p.m. An event organized by the municipality, the Natural History Museum and the Center for Arts and Artistic Culture.

The following follows this announcement

Also at the latter’s headquarters, at 27 Rue Dubouchag, these conferences will be held with nationally and internationally recognized figures in their field.

High-ranking guests

Then the interventions will begin on Wednesday, November 8, with Philippe Grandcolas, Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research. It will discuss the importance of museums and natural sciences at a time when environmental conservation has become a critical issue.

A week later, on November 15, it will be the turn of John Dolan, director of research emeritus at the Villefranche Oceanographic Laboratory, to appear before the public. He will give a presentation on Nice’s first naturalists Antoine Risso and Jean-Baptiste Verani. You will then discover more about their work, but also about their roles as guides and collaborators for foreign scientists who came to the capital of the Maritime Alps, attracted by the discoveries of the two men.

At the same time, Marie-Christine Morel, professor at the Sorbonne and the National Museum of Natural History, will tell us more about Jean-Baptiste Parla and Vincent Fossat, two Maralpine watercolourists – naturalists and pioneers of art in the service of science. The museum’s collections will bear witness to this rapprochement dating back to the nineteenth century.

Botany, geology or even entomology

The president of the Friends of the Natural History Museum, Jean-Felix Gandioli, will speak on November 22. The subject of his speech? Botany of the Maritime Alps. He will develop this theme by recalling that many scholars from all over Europe have spent years investing in the department to satisfy their thirst for knowledge.

For viewers on November 29, Italian Luca Parali will take a look at the life of Antoine Risso. The researcher at the Italian National Research Council will focus his speech on the geological work of the scientist who lived between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A lesser-known aspect of his career, but it will be introduced to you through the works he published.

Insects will be at the center of discussions on December 6. Particular attention will be paid to ladybugs and butterflies. To lead this conference are two key figures, Jean-Michel Lemaire, university professor emeritus, and Frederic Bailly, president of the Society of Naturalists of Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes. The explanations will draw their sources from documents written by some of the pioneers of entomology in Nice.

Entrance is free, but reservations are required

Finally, this session will conclude on Wednesday, December 13, at three in the afternoon, in the presence of the Director of the Natural History Museum, Olivier Geret. On the list for those interested is an overview of the collections of the city’s nature school students: birds, slugs, mushrooms and many other groups of organisms to understand the history and issues of the world that surrounds us.

Please note that admission to these seven meetings is free. Just sign yourself up Go to this link. Please note that all of this is of course subject to availability.

practical

• Lartesque Center for Arts and Culture, 27 rue Dubouchagues, Nice
• Natural History Museum “Two centuries of study of natural heritage”
• Wednesdays, November 8, 15, 22, 29, and December 6, 13 at 3 p.m.
• Entry and reservation are free
• Ticket office website