Georges Brossard

Georges Brossard (born in 1940 in La Prairie, Québec, Canada) is a famed entomologist and founder of the Montreal Insectarium (Insectarium de Montréal).

Biography

An insect enthusiast from a very early age, Brossard held a career as a notary until the age of 38. He then started to travel, and on his travels studied the insects he came across with deep interest. In 1989, after having collected over 250 000 specimens, he solicited the then mayor of Montreal, Jean Doré, to open an insectarium. He and Pierre Bourque, then director of the Montreal Botanical Gardens, began a partnership to govern and operate the Montreal Insectarium. Georges Brossard has also founded four other insectariums across the globe, some of which are located as far as Shanghai and South Africa. Since the opening of the Montreal Insectarium, his collection, which he continues to amass through his travels, has grown to over 500 000 specimens.

Brossard has also written and directed 20 episodes of Mémoires d'insectes (Insect Diaries), and was the creator and host of the televised series Insectia. He is the cofounder and copresident of Montreal's Cinéma IMAX les Ailes.

In 2004, he was the subject of the fiction film Le Papillon Bleu (The Blue Butterfly), directed by Léa Pool, based on an event in Brossard's life which occurred in 1987. Working for the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, Brossard traveled to South America with a boy in the terminal phase of cancer. It was the boy's dream to catch a mythical Blue Morpho butterfly, which Georges goes to great lengths to find in the vast jungles, even putting his and the boy's lives in danger. They finally catch the butterfly, and upon returning to Québec, the cancer which had been slowly killing the child miraculously receded.

Awards

* 1999 - Member of the Order of Canada
* Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
* Léon-Provencher Prize from the Société d’Entomologie du Québec
* Louis-Riel Medal
* Doctorats Honoris Causa in sciences at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
* Doctorats Honoris Causa in sciences at McGill University.
* 2006- Knight of the National order of Quebec

ee also

* List of entomologists
* List of famous Canadians - scientists

External links

* [http://papillonbleu.sympatico.ca/ Le Papillon Bleu website]
* [http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/insectarium/fr/index.php?section=brossa_c.htm Georges Brossard on the Insectatium Website, complete with images]
* [http://www.orizon.ca/conferenciers/george-brassard.htm Georges Brossard on Orizon]