paris

Claude Allègre, France's new minister for national education, research and technology, holds the 1986 Crafoord Prize, awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for outstanding basic research in disciplines not covered by the Nobel prizes.

A geologist, Allègre has held the chair of life science at the University of Paris-VII, headed the Institut de Physique de Globe in Paris from 1976 to 1986, and was president of the French geological survey — the Bureau des Recherches Géologiques et Minières — from 1992 until last month, when he was fired by the outgoing government.

Allègre is no stranger to politics. He became a member of the steering committee of the Socialist party in 1987, and a member of its executive board in 1990, resigning in 1992 in protest at what he described as the party's lack of ideas.

Allègre himself was a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994, and has been conseiller régional (regional councillor) of the Languedoc-Roussillon region since 1992.