Pardé, Maurice

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Photograph

image required for Maurice Pardé


Dates

Maurice Pardé 1893 (Senlis, France) -1973 (Nancy, France)

Biography

Maurice Pardé was born in Senlis, in the North of France, in 1893. His father was an inspector in the Water and Forest Administration (Ministry of agriculture) and a renowned forester in France.

At the age of 12, he was affected by a coxalgia, a condition of the hip that left him disabled and prevented him from starting a military career, although he remained reasonably mobile. Subsequently he graduated from the university of Dijon in 1915 and started to work as a teacher in History and Geography in various secondary schools. Nominated in Grenoble in 1919, he met there some famous geographers such as Raoul Blanchard , who encouraged him to engage in a thesis in the hydrology of the Rhône river, which he submitted in 1925. This work proved very helpful for the newly born Compagnie Nationale du Rhône.

In 1930, he was appointed by René Gosse, dean of the University, as lecturer in the new School of Hydraulic Engineers, a section of the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble. In 1935, he became full professor in Physical Geography and Potamology at Grenoble University. However, he continued to teach at the School of Hydraulics and the Institut de geography alpine until he retired. His teaching in hydrology and his practical and field works on flow gauging were part of the compulsory courses for engineering students. He donated his library of books and papers on hydrology to the Institut de geography alpine, including his last project of general manual of potomology of which he completed 2/3 of a plan of more than 3000 pages.

Pardé was a very colorful and sometimes controversial character, a music lover, a specialist in railways and sports history, and a fascinating storyteller. He died in 1973 and was buried besides the Durance river, the largest mountain tributary of the Rhône. He influenced generations of hydraulic engineers and hydrologists.

He was elected as an honorary member of the Geographical Societies of Geneva, Belgrade, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, and of the Académie royal belle des Science d'Outre-Mer (1950), corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences (1965), received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn, became an Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1965.

Hydrological Achievements

His research interests were essentially in river dynamics and fluvial geomorphology, in extreme floods throughout the world, and in mountain climatology and forests. He proposed the classification of rivers depending on their flow regimes and the standardization of floods as a function of catchment characteristics. He was served by a really exceptional memory and used to correspond regularly with many hydrologists worldwide. His hydrological works were outstanding for the time, with more than 300 contributions, of which 40% are dedicated to floods.

The monthly Pardé coefficient is used to describe hydrological regimes. It is defined as the ratio of the monthly mean discharge to the mean annual discharge. Pardé distinguished three main types of regime: simple (one single annual peak), mixed (two annual peaks), and complex (more than two peaks).

Reference Material

Biographical information provided by Philippe Bois

Wikipedia entry for Maurice Pardé (in French)

Biography by Jean Loup in Revue de Géographie Alpine, 1974 (in French)

Major Publications

• Pardé, M, 1925, Le Calcul des débits du Rhône et de ses affluents, thèse pour le doctorat, 168 p., Édition : Grenoble : impr. de Allier père et fils.

• Pardé, M, 1964, Etudes potamologiques sur la Loire et ses affluents,183 p., Édition : Poitiers : S.F.I.L..

• Pardé, M, 1968, Fleuves et rivières 248 p., Édition : Paris : A. Colin.

• Pardé, M, 1970, L'hydrologie du Bas Guadalquivir, 176 p., Édition : Madrid : Instituto de geografia aplicada del patronato "Alonso de Herrera".

• Pardé, M, 1939, Hydrologie fluviale des Iles Britanniques, Description : Note : Extr. de : "Ann. de Géographie" n° 274 année XLVIII 15 juillet 1939 p. p. 369-384, 3 fig Édition : [S.l.].

• Pardé, M, 1930, Les inondations du Midi ; Revue des Deux Mondes", Paris, 1e avril 1930 (p. 673-683)

• Pardé, M., 1949, Potamologie, vol. (IV-336 p.) autographié, Édition : Grenoble : Université de Grenoble, École nationale supérieure d'électrotechnique et d'hydraulique, Section hydraulique, Éditeur scientifique : Ecole nationale supérieure d'hydraulique et de mécanique. Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Isère

• Pardé, M., 1956, Quelques aperçus relatifs à l'hydrologie brésilienne, 52 p., graph., cartes, Édition : Paris : "La Houille blanche" , Éditeur scientifique : Houille blanche. Grenoble

• Pardé, M., 1936, Quelques données sur le régime du Pô, Extr. de : "Annales de géographie" N° 225, XLVe année, 15 mai 1936, pp. 257-275, 3 fig. Édition : [S.l.].

• Maurice Pardé, 1942, Quelques nouveautés sur le régime du Rhône1 vol. (172 p.), Institut des études rhodaniennes de l'Université de Lyon. Mémoires et documents. N° 1, Édition : Lyon : M. Audin.

• Pardé, M. , 1934, Le régime de la Garonne, Description : Note : Extr. de : "Revue Géographique des Pyrénées et du Sud Ouest". T. VI, Fasc. 2-3, 15 avril-15 juil. 1935, pp. 105-262, 43 fig. 2 cartes h. t. Édition : [S.l.]]

• Pardé, M. 1921,Le régime des cours d'eau Suisses Paginé 359-457, Édition : Grenoble : impr. de J. Allier.

• Maurice Pardé. 1925, Le régime du Rhône, étude hydrologique ; 2 vol. (XIV-887 p.), Édition : Lyon : libr. Pierre Masson, 81, rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville et à la Faculté des lettres, 15, quai Claude-Bernard.

• Maurice Pardé. 1961, Sur la puissance des crues en diverses parties du Monde, 293 p., cartes, graph., tabl., couv. ill., Geographica, revista de información y enseñanza. Ano VIII, 1961. Numero monográfico, Édition : Zaragoza : Departamento de geografía aplicada del Instituto Elcano.

• Pardé, M,, 1934, La Volga. Etude hydrologique, Annales de Géographie", XLIIIe An., n° 241, 15 Janv. 1934, pp. 32-48, 2 fig., Édition : [S.l.].


Links

Wikipedia article on the Pardé coefficient (in French)