Maurice Collignon

Maurice Collignon
Born
Maurice Jules Marie Collignon

(1893-06-09)9 June 1893
Died21 October 1978(1978-10-21) (aged 85)
Moirans, france
NationalityFrench
Educationmilitary academy at Saint-Cyr
Occupation(s)geologist, paleontologist
Known forresearch of Cretaceous period ammonites from Madagascar
Notable workammonite family Collignoniceratidae

Maurice Jules Marie Collignon (9 June 1893, Saint-Malo – 21 October 1978, Moirans) was a French geologist and paleontologist, who is best known for his research of Cretaceous period ammonites from Madagascar.

A career military officer, in 1914 he received his diploma from the military academy at Saint-Cyr, then spent the next 36 years associated with the French armed services. In the meantime he conducted geological and paleontological research; as early as 1928 he was providing descriptions of ammonite fauna from Madagascar.[1] In 1950 he retired from military service with the rank of major general. He then joined the Service géologique d'outre-mer as a paleontologist,[2][3] and afterwards directed four 6-month missions of paleontological exploration in Madagascar (1952, 1953, 1954, 1957).[1]

From 1959 to 1978 he was a correspondent member of the Académie des sciences.[3] During his career, he described numerous fossil taxa, such as the ammonite genus Cunningtoniceras. The ammonite family Collignoniceratidae commemorates his name.[4][5]