Pascal Jean Lopez

Pascal is fascinated by the growth of shapes in nature. He began his academic career with a thesis at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris where he studied the regulation and expression of genes in bacteria. After a short experience at the Harvard Medical School and a post-doc in Heidelberg, Germany, Pascal joins the CNRS to build his own research team.

He is interested in the growth and evolution of shapes in diatoms which are microscopic algae found in all waters of the world. In 2010, he joins the National Museum of Natural History and orientates his research towards bio-mineralization, particularly on the mechanisms of skeletal formation in corals or molluscs. Part of his research is still devoted to the study of the diatom structure, but with a notable particularity: Pascal studies and meticulously maps the diatoms present in Parisian water!

He is able, according to the species he observes under his microscope, to identify the neighbourhood from which the sample comes. But Pascal has more than a string to his bow, and his research knows no boundaries. Supported by the CNRS, he creates in 2016 a Man-Environment Observatory in Guadeloupe. The idea is to study the evolution of the socio-ecosystem in response to a so-called "structuring" fact: the harbour extension of Point-à-Pitre.

Pascal wonders about the intrinsic aesthetics of the objects he photographs. "It's probably their inessential beauty that fascinates me. In contrast to male butterflies that display their most beautiful colors in order to attract females, diatoms are beautiful by nature, even if they do not need to. It's fascinating!" He admits enthusiastically. Pascal spends long hours sublimating these micro-organisms: "it is a way for me to pay tribute to these wonderful creatures".