Editing Claude Allègre

{{Short description|French politician and geochemist (1937–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Claude Allègre
| birth_name          = Claude Jean Allègre
| image               = Claude Allègre, 2009 (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Allègre in 2009
| office              = [[Minister of National Education (France)|Minister of National Education]]
| term_start          = 4 June 1997
| term_end            = 28 March 2000
| president           = [[Jacques Chirac]]
| primeminister       = [[Lionel Jospin]]
| predecessor         = [[François Bayrou]]
| successor           = [[Jack Lang (French politician)|Jack Lang]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1937|03|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2025|01|04|1937|03|31|df=yes}}
| death_place         = Paris, France
| party               = [[Socialist Party (France)|PS]] (1973–2008)
| education           = [[Lycée Charlemagne]]
}}

'''Claude Allègre''' ({{IPA|fr|klod alɛɡʁ|lang}}; 31 March 1937 – 4 January 2025) was a French politician and scientist. His work in the field of [[isotope geochemistry]] was recognised with the award of many senior medals, including the [[Crafoord Prize]] for geosciences in 1986 and the [[William Bowie Medal]] of the [[American Geophysical Union]] in 1995. His political service included a three-year term as Minister of Education in France, from 1997 to 2000.

==Early life==
Allègre was born in Paris on 31 March 1937,<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.linternaute.com/biographie/7030846-claude-allegre-de-quoi-est-mort-l-ancien-ministre/|title=Claude Allègre: De quoi est mort l'ancien ministre?|trans-title=Claude Allègre: Who is the deceased former minister?|author=
Philippine Rouvière-Flamand|date=5 January 2025|publisher=[[L'Internaute]]|language=fr}}</ref><ref name="v910">{{cite web | title=Mort de Claude Allègre, ancien ministre de l'Éducation nationale de Lionel Jospin | website=ladepeche.fr | date=4 January 2025 | url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/2025/01/04/mort-de-claude-allegre-ancien-ministre-de-leducation-nationale-de-jospin-12426902.php | language=fr | access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref> and was the eldest of four children. His father was a professor of natural sciences, and his mother was a school headteacher. Allègre's family was from the [[Hérault]] region of France.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/herault/montpellier/disparition-claude-allegre-heraultais-et-ancien-ministre-de-l-education-nationale-est-mort-a-87-ans-3086032.html|title=Disparition : Claude Allègre, héraultais et ancien ministre de l'Éducation nationale, est mort à 87 ans|last=Bris|first=Isabelle|date=4 January 2025|via=franceinfo}}</ref>

== Background and scientific work ==
Allègre's main area of research was in [[geochemistry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geochemsoc.org/awards/geochemicalfellows|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023526/http://www.geochemsoc.org/awards/geochemicalfellows|archive-date=4 March 2016|title=Geochemical Fellows|website=Geochemical Society|date=2015|access-date=10 October 2020}}</ref> He started work in this field for his doctoral research, where he focussed on ways of dating rocks using isotope geochemistry; specifically [[radiometric dating]].<ref name=GCA>{{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(87)90356-5|first=Claude|last=Allègre|title=Acceptance speech for the V. M. Goldschmidt award|journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta|volume=51|year=1987|issue=6 |pages=1773–1774|doi=10.1016/0016-7037(87)90356-5|bibcode=1987GeCoA..51.1773A |url-access=subscription}}</ref> After realising that there was no laboratory in France where he could make measurements with the accuracy he was seeking, Allègre received a [[NATO]] grant and spent the summer of 1965 working at the [[California Institute of Technology]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], California. Here, Allègre began working with [[Jerry Wasserburg]], and learned the techniques required for [[Rubidium–strontium dating|rubidium-strontium dating]] of rocks by [[mass spectrometry]]. Allègre returned to France, and over the next three years built a laboratory and began making isotopic measurements. He completed his doctoral thesis, titled 'introduction to the systematic geochronology of open systems', at the University of Paris in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://biblio-n.oca.eu/biblio/pmb3.0/opac_css/index.php?lvl=serie_see&id=2383|title= Introduction à la géochronologie systématique des systèmes ouverts. 3 volumes|first=Claude|last= Allègre|year=1967|via=Côte d'Azur Observatory library}}</ref> In 1968, he took up a position at the [[Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris]] (IPGP), where he then spent much of his scientific career,<ref name=GCA/> including a ten year stint as IPGP director from 1976 to 1986.<ref name=FRA>{{cite web|url=https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/authorityrecord/FRAN_NP_051381|title=Allègre, Claude (1937–)|work=FranceArchives, Portail national des Archives}}</ref>

Over the next thirty years, Allègre and his research students, post-doctoral researchers and collaborators developed techniques that meant they were able to measure isotope abundances in rocks and minerals by mass spectrometry that set new standards of sensitivity and precision. This allowed Allègre and his team to develop new ideas about the age and chemical evolution of the outer parts of the Earth, and also provide new information and insight into the early history of the [[Solar System]], by dating meteorites.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/claude-allegre-10984/|title=Professor Claude Allegre ForMemRS|via=Royal Society}}</ref> Allègre defined the new field of 'chemical geodynamics'. This combined data from isotope geochemistry with constraints from geophysics to develop ideas about the long-term chemical evolution of the planet, from core-formation to crustal growth.<ref name="auto3">{{cite journal|first=G.R.|last=Tilton|title=
Introduction of Claude Allègre for the V. M. Goldschmidt Award 1986|journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta|volume=51|year=
1987|issue=6 |pages=1771–1772|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(87)90355-3|doi=10.1016/0016-7037(87)90355-3|bibcode=1987GeCoA..51.1771T |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Allègre's work had a substantial impact on the field of geochemistry, for which he received a number of awards and elections to national academies, including the US [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1985,<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/claude-j-allegre-thmpnk/|title=Claude J. Allègre|website=nasonline.org |via=National Academy of Sciences}}</ref> and the [[Royal Society]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/may/13/highereducation.uk|title=Society defends its scientific decision|first=Polly|last=Curtis|work=The Guardian |date=13 May 2002}}</ref> He was also awarded senior medals for his work, from the Geochemical Society (V.M. Goldschmidt award, 1986) and the [[American Geophysical Union]] (Bowie medal, in 1995).<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal|first=Don L.|last=Anderson|year=1995|title=Allegre receives the William Bowie Medal|url=https://doi.org/10.1029/95EO00331|journal=Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union|volume=72|issue=52 |pages=535|doi=10.1029/95EO00331 }}</ref> In 1986, he was jointly awarded the Crafoord Prize with Wasserburg, in recognition of their 'pioneering work in isotope geology'.<ref name="auto4">{{cite web|url=https://www.crafoordprize.se/news/the-crafoord-prize-1986/|title=The Crafoord Prize 1986|via=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences|date=1 June 1986}}</ref>

===Scientific administration===
Allègre made many contributions to the organisation of the geological and geochemical sciences in France and Europe throughout his career. In 1981, he became the first president of the [[European Union of Geosciences]] (EUG), which was established to coordinate a biennial scientific congress for geoscientists across Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.egu.eu/about/historical-highlights/eug/|title=Historical highlights of the European Union of Geosciences (EUG)|last=Schlich|first=Roland|date=1 October 2003|access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref> The EUG later merged with the European Geophysical Union, to become the European Geosciences Union (EGU), in 2004. In 1988, 
Allègre created the [[European Association of Geochemistry]] and presided over an inaugural international conference on geochemistry in Paris. This led to the establishment of the annual 'Goldschmidt Conferences' of the international geochemistry community, in cooperation with the [[Geochemical Society]] which are held in alternate years in Europe, and in the United States.<ref name=DSA>{{cite journal|first=Albrecht W|last=Hofmann|title=
Citation for presentation of the 2004 distinguished service award to Claude J. Allègre|journal=
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta|volume=
70|issue=18|year=2006|page=S19|doi=10.1016/j.gca.2004.07.039 |url=
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2004.07.039.|url-access=subscription}}</ref> From 1992 to 1997, Allègre was director of the French national geological survey, the [[Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières]].<ref name=FRA/>

In 2004, Allègre was presented with the distinguished service award of the Geochemical Society for his 'enormous' service to the geochemical profession. In his citation, [[Albrecht Hofmann|Al Hofmann]] commented that Allègre's 'actions have not always been popular ... but they have always been guided by far-sighted strategic thinking and planning, and usually by deep insight.' He also characterised Allègre's approach to service as one that involved 'hatching a far-flung idea ... hand picking a few people ... and then letting them do the work.'<ref name=DSA/>

===Scientific works===
Over the course of his career, Allègre published many scientific papers. He also authored a number of scientific monographs and textbooks, including:

* ''Introduction to geochemistry'' (1974)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WpkuAAAAIAAJ|last1=Allègre|first1=C.J.|last2=Michard|first2=G.|title=Introduction to Geochemistry|publisher=Springer Netherlands|date=December 1974|isbn=978-90-277-0498-6}}</ref> 
* ''Trace elements in igneous petrology : a volume in memory of Paul W. Gast'' (1978)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allègre|first1=C.J.|last2=Hart|first2=S.R.|year=1985|title=Trace elements in igneous petrology : a volume in memory of Paul W. Gast|series=Developments in petrology|volume=5|pages=1–272|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-444-41658-2}}</ref>
* ''From stone to star : a view of modern geology'' (1992)<ref>{{cite book|last=Allègre|first=C.J.|title=From stone to star : a view of modern geology|translator=Deborah Kurmes van Dam|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1992|pages=287|isbn=978-0-674-83866-6}}</ref>
* ''Isotope geology'' (2008) <ref>{{cite book|last=Allègre|first=C.J.|year=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|title=Isotope Geology|translator=Christopher Sutcliffe|isbn=978-0-511-80932-3}}</ref>

Allègre also wrote a number of [[popular science]] texts, on topics such as the history of the Earth and the [[plate tectonic]] revolution. His 1988 book, ''The behaviour of the Earth'', gained praise from reviewers for presenting a perspective on the French scientific contributions to the history of plate tectonics.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wyllie|first=Peter J.|year=1988|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.242.4884.1451.b|title=Earth Science and History: The Behavior of the Earth. Continental and Seafloor Mobility. Claude Allègre. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1988. Translated from the French by Deborah Kurmes van Dam|journal=Science|volume=242|pages=1451–1452|doi=10.1126/science.242.4884.1451.b |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Historian of geology, David Leveson, cautioned that the narrative promoted a  '[[Whig history|Whiggish]]' telling of the story of plate tectonics as one of progress, from the viewpoint of an insider.<ref name="auto5">{{cite journal|title=Whiggism and its sources in Allègre's ''The Behaviour of the Earth''|first=David J.|last=Leveson|journal=Earth Sciences History|volume=10|year=1991|issue=1 |pages=29–37|doi=10.17704/eshi.10.1.p221j6ku9058752l |jstor=24138410 |bibcode=1991ESHis..10...29L |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24138410|url-access=subscription}}</ref> While Allègre's account of the new global geology of plate tectonics was 'lyrical' and 'rhapsodic', Leveson argued that Allègre's focus on progress meant that he was not able to successfully place 'mobilist geology in its "proper" sociological context' in this book.<ref name="auto5"/>

==Scientific controversies==

In 1976, Allègre and volcanologist [[Haroun Tazieff]] became involved in an intense and public quarrel about whether inhabitants should evacuate the areas surrounding the ''[[La Grande Soufrière|la Soufrière]]'' volcano on the Caribbean island of [[Guadeloupe]], which had begun to show signs of unrest, including steam explosions.<ref>{{cite journal|title=La Recherche, France: La Soufriére's first victim|journal=Nature |volume=264|pages=500|year=1976|doi=10.1038/264500a0 |url= https://doi.org/10.1038/264500a0}}</ref> Allègre held that inhabitants should be evacuated, while Tazieff held that the Soufrière was harmless because all analyses pointed to a purely [[phreatic eruption]] with no sign of fresh [[magma]]. In part out of caution, the authorities decided to follow Allègre's advice and evacuate. The eruptive crisis did not result in any damage, but the evacuation had very significant negative consequences. Allègre, as the director of [[Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris]], subsequently expelled Tazieff from that institute. The controversy dragged on for many years after the end of the eruption, and ended up in court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipgp.fr/~beaudu/soufriere/forum76.html|title=À propos de la polémique|trans-title=About the Controversy|language=Fr|date=August 2006|last=Beauducel|first=F.|website=[[Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris]]|access-date=10 October 2020}}</ref>

== Political career ==
A one time member of the [[French Socialist Party]], Allègre is better known to the general public for his political responsibilities, which included serving as [[List of Education Ministers of France|Minister of Education of France]] in the [[Lionel Jospin|Jospin]] cabinet from 4 June 1997 to March 2000, when he was replaced by [[Jack Lang (French politician)|Jack Lang]]. His outpourings of critiques against teaching personnel, as well as his reforms, made him increasingly unpopular in the teaching world.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1050994|title=Policy Trends and Structural Divergence in Educational Governance: The Case of the French National Ministry and US Department of Education|author=Lisa K. Menéndez Weidman|year=2001|journal=Oxford Review of Education|volume=27|issue=1|pages=75–84|doi=10.1080/03054980125519 |jstor=1050994|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23214720|title=The Literature Problem in the 'Lycée: French Education Debates Today|author=Guiney, M. Martin|year=2012|journal=The French Review|volume=85|issue=4|pages=642–655|doi=10.1353/tfr.2012.0305 |jstor=23214720|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1996, Allegre published ''La Défaite de Platon'' ("The defeat of [[Plato]]"), described by mathematician [[Pierre Schapira (mathematician)|Pierre Schapira]] in the Spring 1997 edition of ''[[Mathematical Intelligencer]]'' as "one of the most savage broadsides against conceptual thought."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schapira|first=P|title=Defense of the conceptual|journal=The Mathematical Intelligencer|volume=19|pages=7–8|year=1997|issue=2|doi=10.1007/BF03024424|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03024424|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In the run-up to the [[2007 French presidential election]], he endorsed Lionel Jospin, then [[Dominique Strauss-Kahn]], for the Socialist nomination, and finally sided with the ex-Socialist [[Jean-Pierre Chevènement]], against [[Ségolène Royal]]. When Chevènement decided not to run, he publicly declined to support Royal's bid for the presidency, citing differences over [[nuclear power|nuclear energy]], [[GMO]]s and [[stem-cell research]]. He later became close to conservative president [[Nicolas Sarkozy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/l-info-de-france-inter/l-info-de-france-inter-2506089|title=Claude Allègre, ancien ministre de l'Éducation nationale, est mort à l'âge de 87 ans|first=La rédaction numérique de France|last=Inter|date=4 January 2025|website=France Inter}}</ref>

== Views on global warming ==
In an article in 2006 entitled "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" in ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'', a French weekly, Allègre cited evidence that Antarctica's gaining [[Antarctic ice sheet|ice]] and that [[Mount Kilimanjaro]]'s retreating snow caps, among other global-warming concerns, might be due to natural causes. He said that "[t]he cause of this climate change is unknown".<ref>[http://www.lexpress.fr/idees/tribunes/dossier/allegre/dossier.asp?ida=451670 Neiges du Kilimandjaro – La cause de la modification climatique reste inconnue. Donc, prudence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422154505/http://www.lexpress.fr/idees/tribunes/dossier/allegre/dossier.asp?ida=451670 |date=22 April 2008 }}, L'Express, 2006</ref> This represented a change of mind, since Allègre wrote in 1987 that "By burning fossil fuels, man increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which, for example, has raised the global mean temperature by half a degree in the last century".<ref>C. Allègre : ''12 Clés pour la géologie'', Belin/France Culture, 1987. Original quote in French : ''En brûlant des combustibles fossiles, l'homme a augmenté le taux de gaz carbonique dans l'atmosphère, ce qui fait, par exemple, que depuis un siècle la température moyenne du globe a augmenté d'un demi-degré.''; also quoted in {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2006/10/03/rechauffement-climatique-tempete-contre-claude-allegre_819374_3244.htm Le Monde, October, 3 2006.]</ref>

Allègre accused those agreeing with the mainstream scientific view of [[global warming]] of being motivated by money, saying that "the ecology of helpless protesting has become a very lucrative business for some people!"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 |title=US Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee |access-date=14 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114015820/http://www.epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 |archive-date=14 November 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2009, when it was suggested that Claude Allègre might be offered a position as minister in [[President of France|President]] [[Nicolas Sarkozy]]'s government, TV presenter and environmental activist [[Nicolas Hulot]] stated:
:''"He doesn't think the same as the 2,500 scientists of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]], who are warning the world about a disaster; that's his right. But if he were to be recruited in government, it would become policy, and it would be a ''[[bras d'honneur]]'' to those scientists. [...] [It] would be a tragic signal, six months before the [[United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009|Copenhagen Conference]], and something incomprehensible coming from France, which has been a leading country for years in the fight against climate change!"''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2009-05-23/remaniement-pour-hulot-allegre-au-gouvernement-serait-un-signal-tragique/917/0/346008|title=Pour Nicolas Hulot, Claude Allègre au gouvernement 'serait un signal tragique|website=AFP|date=24 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529213553/http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2009-05-23/remaniement-pour-hulot-allegre-au-gouvernement-serait-un-signal-tragique/917/0/346008|archive-date=29 May 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In a 2010 petition, more than 500 French researchers asked Science Minister [[Valérie Pécresse]] to dismiss Allègre's book ''L'imposture climatique'', claiming the book was "full of factual mistakes, distortions of data, and plain lies".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/home/2010/03/claude-all%C3%A8gre-accus%C3%A9-de-falsification-par-h%C3%A5kan-grudd.html|title=Claude Allègre accusé de falsification par Håkan Grudd|website=sciences.blogs.liberation.fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2010/04/01/plus-de-400-climatologues-en-appellent-a-la-ministre_1327361_3244.html|title=Plus de 400 climatologues en appellent à la ministre|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|language=fr-FR|access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> Allègre described the petition as "useless and stupid".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Scientists Ask Minister to Disavow Predecessor's Book|last=Enserink|first=Martin|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.328.5975.151|volume=328|issue=5975|page=151|date=9 April 2010|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.328.5975.151|location=Paris|pmid=20378780|access-date=10 October 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
Allègre suffered a heart attack while at a scientific conference in Chile in 2013. He was hospitalised, but survived.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2013/01/19/claude-allegre-hospitalise-au-chili-apres-un-infarctus_1819428_823448.html|title=Claude Allègre hospitalisé au Chili après un infarctus|date=19 January 2013|via=Le Monde}}</ref> He died in Paris on 4 January 2025, at the age of 87.<ref>{{cite web |title=Claude Allègre, ancien ministre de l'Éducation nationale, est décédé |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/claude-allegre-ancien-ministre-de-l-education-nationale-est-decede-20250104 |newspaper=Le Figaro |date=4 January 2025 |access-date=4 January 2025 |language=French}}</ref><ref name="u555">{{cite web | last1=Morin | first1=Hervé | last2=Courtois | first2=Gérard | title=Claude Allègre, geologist and former French education minister, has died | website=Le Monde.fr | date=6 January 2025 | url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2025/01/06/claude-allegre-geologist-and-former-french-education-minister-has-died_6736756_15.html | access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="i093">{{cite web | last=Mari | first=Elsa | title=Claude Allègre, ancien ministre de l'Éducation nationale au verbe haut, est mort | website=leparisien.fr | date=4 January 2025 | url=https://www.leparisien.fr/politique/claude-allegre-ancien-ministre-de-leducation-nationale-du-gouvernement-jospin-est-mort-04-01-2025-C2NO2O4EMFF7DM6NJTLJ2WFHYA.php | language=fr | access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* Foreign Associate of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1985)<ref name="auto2"/>
* [[V. M. Goldschmidt Award]], (1986)<ref name="auto3"/> 
* [[Crafoord Prize]] for [[geology]] along with [[Gerald J. Wasserburg]], (1986)<ref name="auto4"/>
* Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], (1987)<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|accessdate=15 April 2011}}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal]] of the [[Geological Society of London]], (1987)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Wollaston-Medal|title=Wollaston Medal|via=The Geological Society}}</ref>
* Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1992)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Claude+Jean+All%C3%A8gre&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=1 April 2022 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* Gold Medal of the [[French National Center for Scientific Research|CNRS]], (1994) <ref name=CNRS>{{cite web|title=Médailles d'or|url=http://www.cnrs.fr/fr/recherche/prix/medaillesor.htm|work=Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique|accessdate=15 April 2011|language=fr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120174737/http://www.cnrs.fr/fr/recherche/prix/medaillesor.htm|archive-date=20 January 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[French Academy of Sciences]], (1995)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-sciences.fr/claude-allegre|title=Claude Allègre|via=Académie des Sciences}}</ref>
* [[William Bowie Medal]], American Geophysical Union (1995)<ref name="auto1"/>
* [[Arthur Holmes Medal]], European Geosciences Union (1995)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.egu.eu/eug/aurthur_holmes.html| title= MEDALLISTS|publisher=European Union of Geosciences|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>
* [[Honorary Doctorate]], [[Université Libre de Bruxelles]] (1998)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Les Doctorats honoris causa de l'ULB |url=https://www.ulb.be/fr/prix-et-distinctions/doctorats-honoris-causa |via=ulb.be |access-date=6 January 2025}}.</ref>
* Foreign Member, Royal Society (2002)<ref name="auto"/>
* Atoms for Peace prize (2011)<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2012/02/06/97002-20120206FILWWW00625-callegre-recoit-le-prix-atoms-for-peace.php|title=C. Allègre reçoit le prix "Atoms for Peace"|via=Le Figaro Économie|date=6 February 2012}}</ref>

===National honours===
* Commander, [[Legion of Honour]] (2000)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Décret du 13 juillet 2000 portant promotion|url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000582462|access-date=6 January 2025}}</ref>
* Commander, [[Ordre des Palmes académiques]] (2000)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bulletin officiel des décorations, médailles et récompenses n°05 du 02 septembre 2000 – Légifrance |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/liste/bodmr?sortValue=PUBLICATION_DATE_DESC&pageSize=100&page=2&tab_selection=all#bodmr |via=www.legifrance.gouv.fr |access-date=6 January 2025}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Politics of France]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last1=Allègre | first1=Claude J. | last2=Michard | first2=G. | title=Introduction to Geochemistry | publisher=Springer | publication-place=Dordrecht | date=31 December 1974 | isbn=978-90-277-0497-9}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061114015820/http://www.epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 Senate Article – Global Warming Skepticism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070323153714/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2f4cc62e-5b0d-4b59-8705-fc28f14da388 Canada National Post Article — Allegre's second thoughts]

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{{succession box|title=[[Minister of National Education (France)|Minister of Education]]| before=[[François Bayrou]]|after=[[Jack Lang (French politician)|Jack Lang]]|years=1997–2000}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allegre, Claude}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Paris]]
[[Category:Scientists from Paris]]
[[Category:Socialist Party (France) politicians]]
[[Category:French geochemists]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Ministers of national education of France]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of the V. M. Goldschmidt Award]]