Jacqueline Beaujeu Garnier visual
Jacqueline Beaujeu-Garnier is one of France’s leading female geographers of international renown.
A geography ‘assistante’ (junior member of the faculty’s teaching staff) at the Sorbonne during the war, she defended a state thesis on the geomorphology of the peripheries of the Morvan massif. She continued her teaching career at the Poitiers Faculty before joining the Lille Faculty in 1948. Shortly afterwards, she became director of the Lille Institute of Geography, the first woman to do so. Using her strong personality and dedication to the benefit of her students, she wouldn’t hesitate to take them on field trips to Italy and Algeria. At the same time, with the support of the Prefect of the Nord department, she launched the Atlas of Northern France project.
After a decade in Lille, Jacqueline Beaujeu-Garnier joined the Sorbonne in 1960. Abandoning physical geography, she specialised in urban and settlement geography. She was president of the Geographical Society from 1983 to 1995.
Notes written by Sarah Lagache.
This short profile was written as part of the first edition of the Université avec un grand Elles (Women Who Shaped the University) exhibition held in 2019.