Béthune, Pierre Félix, baron de (1909-1991)

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Geologist, geomorphologist and baron, born in Ixelles (Elsene) on 23 March 1909 and died in Louvain-la-Neuve on 20 March 1991.

Biography

Pierre de Béthune was born in Ixelles (Elsene) on 23 march 1909. In 1919 he accompanied his father on a mission to Rome. In 1931 he graduated as a mining engineer at the UCL. He completed his military service with the artillery. In 1933, he received a master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin. He had been able to stay at this university from 1932 until 1933 thanks to a C.R.B-grant. He was an assitant at the mining department of the Univeristy of Colombia (NY). In 1934, he worked on the prospection of the Flathead mine in British Columbia. In 1936 he returned to Europa, where he visited the universities of Leiden and Amsterdam. He also payed a visit to the Geological office in Heerlen, where he showed praticular interest for the petrography of coal. He also made a study trip to the Alps, where he studied the tectonics of these mountains.
He also built an academic career. In 1936, he was appointed lecturer and in 1939 he became professor at the UCL. He taught physical geography, petrography, structural geology and introductions to mineralogy and geology in Dutch and French. Besides teaching, he also held a number of administrative positions at the UCL. He was academic secretary, dean of the Faculty of Sciences, director of the Centre de Calcul and member of the academic programming group.
In the early 1960s, he understood the importance of the electronic microprobe that had been developed by Castaing. In 1965, he collected the necessary funds from the FCFR (Fund for Collective Fundamental Research) to set up a laboratory around it. The laboratory carried out petrographic research using the micro-probe.
He became a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1977, member in 1986, director of the van de Class of Science and president of the Academy in 1990. He was a member of the National Committee for Geological Sciences and of the National Committee for Geography. At the end of 1950, he was one of the founders of the National Centre for Geomorphological Research. He was a member of the Executive Committee of this institution.
He was the president of the Société géologique de Belgique, administrator of the Lovanium University (University of Congo and Rwanda-Urundi) as well as the vice-president of the commision geology and geography at the NFWO.
He was visiting professor at the University of California.
He passed away in Louvain-la-Neuve on 20 march 1991.

Works

His research interests were divided between geomorphology and petrography, with particular emphasis on tectonic problems. In 1950, he worked over Kivu where he investigated the gold deposit in Lubongola and tin in Migamba. He also conducted a metamorphological study of the Ruindi Mountains. Between 1956 and 1960, he published on the carbonate of Leushe. Since the 1960s, he has had his students carry out petrographic microanalyses using the electronic microprobe. He made a name for himself with his work on the Appalachian relief and the erosion cycle, as well as on the metamorphism of the Ardennes.
In 1936, he published the results of his geological survey in British Columbia. It was more than a geological description of Flathead Townsite. He was also interested in geomorphology and published several works on the subject. In 1937, he wrote the study Elements tectoniques ayant détérminé le cours de l'Alameda en Californie centrale.
In 1950, he wrote a report on geological education commissioned by UNESCO.
In 1952, he described the structure of the Belgian coal basins.
In 1954 he published a geological map of Belgium on a scale of 1/500,000.
In 1967 he wrote:Quelques réflections sur la composante horizontale de la mobilité tectonique.

History of science
He wrote a history of the theory-formation and the research of metamorphism in the Ardennes.
He published a history of geology at the UCL in 1989.

Publications

• A list with publications can be found in: Delmer, André & Laudron, Dominique "Pierre de Béthune", In: Annuaire ARB, jaargang 1995, p. 51-60.
  

Bibliography

• Delmer, André, "de Béthune Pierre", In: Nouvelle Biographie Nationale, vol. 9, Brussel: ARB, p.105-106.
• Delmer, André, & Laudron, Dominique, "Pierre de Béthune", In: Annuaire ARB, 1995, p. 43-60.