Madeleine Colani and the Deprat scandal at the Geological Survey of Indochina

Abstract

Madeleine Colani (1866–1943) worked at the Geological Survey of Indochina in Hanoi from 1914 to 1928, assisting Henri Mansuy, a self-taught palaeontologist. A scandal erupted in 1917, when Jacques Deprat, a brilliant young geologist and head of the Survey, was accused of scientific fraud. Two years later, he was drummed out of the institution and repatriated to his native France for a life of penury. Though the accusation was launched by Mansuy, it is Colani’s involvement which is frequently called into question, particularly her role in the aftermath of the scandal. The voluminous critique she published in 1924, a revision of Deprat’s work on fusulinids, is still being debated. This article recounts the events of the scandal, with particular reference to Colani’s legacy.