Alexandre Balachowsky (1901-1983)

French entomologist, born on Aug. 15, 1901 in Karotchka, near Koursk (Russia). His father, Arnold Balachowsky, was an owner and agronomist. His mother, Charlotte de Feraudy, was a Frenchwoman ; she was an alumnus of the Institution for the Legion of Honour, Ecouen.
1913 After his father's death, his mother left him with his maternal grandmother, who was living in Le Mans (Sarthe).
1921-1923 Attended the course of the National Graduate School of Agronomy, in Rennes ; obtained his engineering degree.
1921 Met Charles and René Oberthür who influenced his decision to become an entomologist.
01/1924-08/1924 Recruited by the directorate for agriculture of the General Government in Algeria, as a temporary worker at the Algerian Institute of Agriculture, in the laboratory for agricultural zoology.
08/1924-10/1928 Appointed as an assistant at the insectary facility of the Garden of test, Algiers ; conducted research on pests attacking date palm trees and introduced species of ladybird into the Colomb-Bechar area, to which they became acclimatized, for protection against damages inflicted by cochineals ; traveled several times to Sahara desert oasis to do so ; met many botanists and entomologists, in Algeria.
10/1928-1929 Appointed as head of works at the station for entomology in Paris, under P. Marchal.
1930-07/1931 Became director of the station for agricultural zoology and insectary facility, Antibes.
08/1931-07/1943 Appointed as head of laboratory, at the central station for agricultural zoology, Versailles.
1932 Elected secretary of the Philomatique Society , which brought together investigators from different fields ; met there P. Lecomte du Nouy, M. Macheboeuf, J. Tréfouël and Th. Tréfouël.
03/06/1932 Thesis defense for Doctorate in Natural Sciences, Paris ; dissertation topic was : Biological study on coccidies in the western Mediterranean basin.
1933-1943 Appointed as professor in zoology and entomology at the National Graduate School of Agronomy, Grignon.
1935-1936 In collaboration with Louis Mesnil, published : Insect pests of growing crops, behaviours, destruction ; they first described cases of biological pest management in crop production.
1938 Obtained the Millet-Roussin Prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
06/09/1939-17/07/1940 During Second World War, served at the Army's central laboratory for bacteriological and serological research.
1941 Gave lectures in entomology at the National Graduate School of Agronomy, Grignon.
1941-1943 Entered the French Resistance, as head of the Grignon School's section of the Special Operation Executive Buckmaster-Prosper (British Intelligence network) ; organized parachuting of weapons in the area, as well as radio London link-up.
1942-1943 Appointed as professor at the Colonial School in Paris ; gave advanced course at the School for cotton plant.
01/07/1943 Appointed as head of laboratory at the Pasteur Institute.
02/07/1943 Arrested by Gestapo, then imprisoned in the jail of Fresnes ; deported to the concentration camp Dora, where were built rocket engines V1 and V2 ; then moved to Buchenwald, where ss doctor Ding Shuler made him join his team for preparing vaccine against typhus fever ; with the help of Eugen Kogon, he took advantage of his position to save some British and French agents imprisoned in Buchenwald.
11/04/1945 Liberated by the US Army from the Buchenwald camp.
06/1945 At André Malraux's request, traveled to the USA to give a series of lectures, as a representative of Free France where he found again P. Lecomte du Nouy ; participated in the Nuremberg trials for the prosecution of war criminals.
11/06/1946 Made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour by General Koenig, Colmar.
01/01/1947 Nominated as head of the new service for plant parasitology at the Pasteur Institute, and organized it together with G. Remaudière.
1948 Elected president of the French Entomologic Society.
1949 Obtained the Savigny Prize from the Academy of Sciences.
1956 Created and managed, as the first president, the International Organization for Biological Control of noxious insects (OILB) ; at the FAO's request, established and managed the Sunn Pest Information and Documentation Centre at the Pasteur Institute, Paris ; contributed to coordinate research on biological control of cereal pests in the Near East.
1957 Promoted to commander of the Legion of honour.
1961-1967 Appointed as professor in general and applied entomology at the National Museum of Natural History ; with the support of CNRS and DGRST, he vigorously reorganized the laboratory, providing it with modern equipment and recruiting new workers.
1963-1965 Merged three French reviews (Revue de Pathologie végétale et d'Entomologie agricole de France, Revue française d'Entomologie and Annales de la société entomologique de France ) to create a single one : Annales de la Société Entomologique de France .
1967 Elected member at the French Academy of Sciences.
24/12/1983 Died in Paris.
Collaborators : J. d'Aguilar, B. Alkan, J. Brichet, A. Cairaschi, C. Chararas, A. Davatchi, B. Delaga-Darchen, M. Delassus, M. T. Gosselin, M. Kaussari, A. Lepigre, D. Matile-Ferrero, L. Mesnil, L. Molinari, F. Picard, A. Piedallu, D. Richardeau, G. Viennot-Bourgin.

Biographical reference tools :
- Balachowsky (Alfred), Titres et travaux scientifiques de Alfred-Serge Balachowsky, 1967.
- Dorst (Jean), La vie et l'oeuvre d'Alfred Balachowski, La Vie des Sciences, général series, vol. 1, nø 6, pp 567-576.
- Chevassus-au-Louis (Nicolas), Alfred Balachowsky, Un pastorien à Buchenwald, La Recherche, nø 370, dec. 2003, pp 50-52.

CeRIS' Archives Division (Institut Pasteur)