Michel Salomon

Michel Salomon was born on April 29, 1927 in Lille (France). He received his doctors degree in medicine from the University of Paris in 1954 and he specialized in dermatology. In April 1992 Michel Salomon organized the 'Heidelberg Appeal'. Ron Kaufman wrote in an article in The Scientist published on July 20, 1992:


 * "Explaining the purpose of the Heidelberg Appeal to The Scientist, its author, Michel Salomon, warns that some influential individuals, scientists among them, threaten progress toward environmental improvement by espousing unrealistic theories or ascribing to counterproductive practices. Determination of government policy and the conditioning of public attitudes toward science, says Salomon, the editor of the French science journal Projections, must not be entrusted to "a few freaks pretending that things don't exist."


 * Salomon cites radical proponents of animal rights as examples of those holding impractical and unproductive ideas; he objects to their belief that "a human being should be treated like any worm, elephant, or flower... that they are all equal." He singles out a prominent environmental organization, the Sierra Club; as an example of a group harboring an irrational ideology.
 * "The Sierra Club believes a contract exists between nature and man...but nature doesn't speak, so they are the self-proclaimed speakers for nature, which is a very dangerous tendency."


 * Calling for rationality, Salomon says of the Heidelberg Appeal: "What we are saying is that damage [to the environment] caused by science can be cured by more science and not by less science."




 * Will the Heidelberg Appeal turn out to be but a first step in an ongoing and vocal pro-science movement? Salomon says he is thinking about organizing an international meeting of all document signers to discuss their next move.

That meeting was on May 10, 1993 in Paris organized by Salomon's International Center for a Scientific Ecology (ICSE).

Career:
 * 1953-1954: medical Captain in Vietnam
 * 1955-1967: Active in the field of dermatolgy and writing for media in and outside France like Le Monde, Paris-Match, Le Canard Enchaîné, Die Welt, The Guardian, and Washington Post. Founder and Managing Editor of L'Arche, Mondes d'Orient, and Les Parisiens.
 * 1968-1974: International reporter and special correspondent for L'Express in crises situations in different parts of the world (mainly Central Europe, USA, and the Far East). Head of the Middle East office of L'Express from 1970 to 1973 (Beirut, Jerusalem).
 * 1975: Working in Africa (South Africa, Angola, Zaire, Zambia...)
 * 1976-1988: Director of the Association "Prospective et Santé Publique" (PSP) Managing Editor of of the magazine Prospective et Santé.
 * 1989-1991: Director for the PR of Sterling-Winthrop Laboratory and also writer and director of the scientific journal Projections
 * 1992: Director of International Center for a Scientific Ecology (ICSE)

Former Positions
 * scientific director of the International Center for a Scientific Ecology
 * coordinator of the Heidelberg Appeal
 * president of the Heidelberg Committee
 * scientific director of the association 'Equilibres et Populations'
 * science journalist
 * editor of the French science journal Projections

Current Positions
 * Science and Environmental Policy Project, Board of Science Advisors

Books

 * Michel Salomon, "Prague. La révolution étranglée," Robert Laffont, 1968
 * English translation (Helen Eustis): "Prague Notebook: The Strangled Revolution," Little, Brown, 1971
 * Michel Salomon, "Faut-il avoir peur de l'Allemagne," Robert Laffont, 1969
 * Michel Salomon, "L'avenir de la vie," Seghers, February 1981, ISBN 222150237X
 * English translation (Guy Daniels): "Future Life," Simon & Schuster, October 1983, ISBN 0026067706
 * Marie Claude Tesson-Millet, Michel Salomon, "Où va la population mondiale?," Quotidien du Médecin, 1994
 * Robert Toubon, Michel Salomon, "SIDA, sociétés et populations", John Libbey Eurotext, November 1996, ISBN 2742001395
 * Michel Salomon, Robert Toubon, "Population et francophonie," John Libbey Eurotext, January 1998, ISBN 2742001832

Related Links

 * Ron Kaufman, "Rio Document Spurs Debate, Is Science An Ecological Foe?," The Scientist, July 20, 1992
 * Michel Salomon, "From Heidelberg to Rio Itinerary of an Approach," Projections, 1992
 * "Michel Salomon", Conseil International pour un Progrès Global de la Santé