Boards
JURASSICA is a private foundation – the Jules Thurmann Foundation – named after the famous Jura naturalist.
A geologist and botanist, Jules Thurmann (1804-1855) taught mathematics and natural science at the Collège de Porrentruy. An avid scientific researcher, he discovered the fundamental laws governing the folds of the Jura range and explained their evolution and erosion. His Essai sur les soulèvemens jurassiques du Porrentruy (Essay on Jurassic upheavals around Porrentruy), published between 1832 and 1836, was a landmark work that brought him international fame. It was followed in 1853 by Résumé des lois orographiques générales du système des Monts-Jura (On general orographic laws involving the Jura Mountains) which describes the mountains and their relief. The naturalist also produced notable works on botany, including Enumération des plantes vasculaires du district de Porrentruy (Enumeration of vascular plants in the district of Porrentruy) and Essai de Phytostatique appliqué à la chaîne du Jura et aux contrées voisines (Essay on applied phytostatics for the Jura chain and neighbouring regions), published in 1848 and 1849 respectively.
The Board of the Jules Thurmann Foundation is composed as follows:
- Jean-Noël Maillard ( President, Director of Caritas Jura)
- Dr Elizabeth Feldmeyer-Christe (Vice-President, Biologist)
- Benjamin Chapuis (Professor at the Haute école de gestion Arc)
- Hervé de Weck (Historian)
- Olivier Goffinet (Teacher and Executive Member of the Collège
- of Delémont)
- Dr. Michel Juillard ( President of the Scientific Council of the
- Fondation Jules Thurmann, Biologist)
- Damien Lachat (Engineer)
- Frédéric Lovis ( Director of the Maison du Tourisme)
- Valérie Parietti (Biologist)
- Jean-François Scherrer (Lawyer and notary)
- Philippe Eggertswyler (Mayor of Porrentruy)
The head of the Cantonal Office of Culture is invited to attend the meetings of the Council
The Scientific Advisory Board is composed as follows
- Dr Michel Juillard ( President, Biologist)
- MSc Christophe Badertscher ( Director of Water and Environment at the Office for the Environment, Geologist)
- MSc Philippe Bassin (President of the Fondation des Marais de Damphreux, biologist)
- P.D. Dr. Damien Becker (Director of the JURASSICA Museum, Palaeontologist)
- PD Dr. Robert Fellner (Cantonal Archaeologist)
- Céline Robert-Charrue Linder (Deputy Cantonal Archaeologist, Archaeologists)
- MSc Pascal Lovis (Teacher at the Lycée cantonal de Porrentruy, Biologist)
- MSc François Marmy (Biologist)
- MSc Paul Monnerat (Teacher at the Lycée cantonal de Porrentruy, Biologist)
- MSc Michel Ory (Teacher at the Lycée cantonal de Porrentruy, Physicist and astronomer)
- MSc Géraldine Paratte (Researcher and in charge of mediation at the Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles de Lausanne, Geologist)
- Prof. Peter-Andrew Schwartz (University of Basel, Archaeologist)