Louis Lliboutry

Louis Lliboutry
Lliboutry on top of Cerro Polo, facing Fitz Roy, 1954
Born
Louis Antonin François Lliboutry

(1922-02-19)19 February 1922
Died21 October 2007(2007-10-21) (aged 85)
CitizenshipFrench
EducationÉcole Normale Supérieure
Occupations
Known forFounder and director of the Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
SpouseClaude Micanel
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsGlaciology and Geodynamics
Institutions
Thesis L'aimantation des aciers dans les champs magnétiques faibles : effets des tensions, des chocs, des champs magnétiques transversaux  (1950)
Doctoral advisorLouis Néel

Louis Lliboutry (1922–2007), born in Spain, was a French glaciologist, geophysicist, university professor and mountaineer. While in Chile in the early 1950s, he analysed and explained the formation of snow penitents in the Andes, which marked his first contribution to glaciology. He founded in Grenoble in 1958 the Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement and headed it for 25 years; he also set up at that period a pioneering syllabus in geophysics. His contributions to mechanics of viscous media (such as ice and the Earth's mantle) and to geodynamics are internationally acknowledged.