Blanchard, Raoul

Blanchard, Raoul,

1877–1965, French geographer. He wrote a monograph on Flanders (1906) that earned him the chair of geography at the Univ. of Grenoble, a position he held for 50 years. He established the Institute of Alpine Geography and founded its journal, the Review of Alpine Geography, in 1908. He completed a classic 12-volume work on the French Alps in 1956. Blanchard received awards from the American Geographical Society (1956) and the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (1960).

Blanchard, Raoul

 

Born Sept. 4, 1877, in Orleans; died Mar. 24,1965, in Sevres. French geographer. Professor at universities in France (1906–48), the USA (1928–36), and Canada (1948–58).

Blanchard was an active member of the French Academy of Social and Political Sciences. He founded the journal Revue de géographie alpine. His main works were devoted to studies of the Alps, Flanders, Canada, Southwest Asia, and Corsica.

WORKS

La Flandre: Etude géographique de la plaine flamande en France, Belgique et Hollande. Paris, 1906.
Les Alpes occidentales, vols. 1–7. Paris, 1943–56.
Le Canada français. Paris, 1960.