ALTER- PEOPLE

Éric Bouchet

Saint-Luc, Switzerland
Astronomer, Scientific mediator, Photographer of the local fauna

Eric does a balancing act that aims to bring the general public closer to the scientific world, by transmitting knowledge and concepts that are as current and consensual as possible, simplifying them without distorting them.


OFXB WEBSITE

I always had my head in the stars: I therefore oriented my higher education in the field of aeronautics (engineering degree and doctoral thesis in aeroacoustics). But after working intensively with my head, often in the clouds, it was time for me to remember that I also had feet… on the ground. So I took my backpack and for a year, I went to walk the back roads of my country, France. This was my first revelation: Nature was calling me. So I left the supercomputers and the Paris region for Haute-Provence and a job as a scientific mediator in astronomy. But after six years, the call of Nature still resounded: I had to leave again and leave, with some regrets this time, the Alps of light for the Valaisan Alps and finally put my backpack at the FXB Observatory, where I still work … 13 years later! Because I had a second revelation: there was up there, hidden in the dark forests or the lunar screes a fauna unknown to me that I had to meet. This very personal quest now occupies a large part of my time.
My first winter encounter with the invisible rock ptarmigan left a strong impression on me… I also have a photo book entitled “Petit dictionnaire amoureux de la Faune Anniviarde” which summarizes my current photographic work.