Obituary Roger Monier
Professor Roger Monier died on the 14th September, 2008. He had been an editor of Biochimie since 1998,
and had greatly contributed to the resurgence of the journal during the critical years that marked
the transition from traditional to electronic modes of submission and dissemination of scientific
literature. Three closely intertwined facets of his personality come to mind when one reflects on
the career of Roger Monier: the scientist, the manager and the teacher.
A newly graduated agronomist, Roger Monier took his first steps in research in the laboratory of Claude Fromageot, where he studied for his thesis on the primary structure of a protamine from salmon. Here he rubbed shoulders with many personalities who, like him, were to mark biology both in France and internationally during the second half of the twentieth century. At that time the Parisian world of science, between Montparnasse and the Latin Quarter, was vibrant with energy. Following on from Claude Fromageot, two other masters of science were to complete the emergence of Roger as a researcher. First was Raymond Latarjet at the Institute of Radium, with whom he worked on the effects of irradiation on nucleic acids, and then Paul Zamecnik at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who directed Roger's first studies of the mechanism of protein synthesis, as part of a scientific community that was both prestigious and lively.
Resisting the temptation to remain in America, Roger returned to France and became Professor of Biological Chemistry in Marseille. His first students came back to work with him, and his group discovered 5S ribosomal RNA, and continued to investigate the structure and function of the bacterial ribosome until 1974. During this period he was a founder member of the "Action Biologie Moléculaire" of the DGRST (Délégation Générale de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique) and an accepted leader of the international ribosome club; post-docs flocked to Marseille. In spite of much effort and many important observations concerning protein-nucleic acid interactions, the function of "5S" was still obscure in 1972 (and incidentally, the same could be said in 2008) when Roger Monier was asked to take charge of the Institut de Recherche sur le Cancer du CNRS at Villejuif. He accepted this offer, thereby ending twelve years in Marseille that had been both scientifically and personally fruitful, and also his Sunday walks in the Calanques. At Villejuif, Roger showed that the function of director was totally compatible with continued scientific activity at the highest level. Intent on ensuring that his science should reflect the preoccupations of the Institute at that time, he turned to the study of cell transformation by the virus SV40, which led him to spend time as a Fogarty Scholar at the NIH, Bethesda (USA). In Paris, Roger took delight in his position in the scientific community, and also in hikes in the forest of Fontainebleau, cinema in the Latin Quarter, and time spent with friends.
When, in 1980, the CNRS called upon him to direct the Department of Life Sciences, he immersed himself in the all-absorbing task, while still remaining fully abreast of scientific developments in the fast progressing field of oncogenes. At the end of his mandate in 1985, on the proposition of Maurice Tubiana, he set up a laboratory at the Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR) in Villejuif and opened a new chapter in his research, centred on the development of thyroid cancer and closely linked to hospital work, at the same time guiding research at IGR as Scientific Director. His vision, foresight and reputation enabled him to attract to the IGR the very best research groups, which today still form the scientific core of the IGR.
This overview of the career of Roger Monier would be incomplete without saying more about the major role that he played in the French and international research communities. The CNRS was omnipresent throughout his career. Recruited as "attaché de recherches" to the CNRS, he became a university professor, was a member of CNRS scientific boards, became director of a major institute and then director of CNRS life sciences. His close collaborators during the five years of this mandate were struck by his intelligence, his rigour and above all his foresight. These qualities as a scientific manager did not escape the notice of the foremost Institutions of France. The CNRS and the Institut Gustave Roussy, of which Maurice Tubiana and then Thomas Tursz nominated him as Scientific Director, have already been mentioned. Other institutions invited him to serve on their scientific or administrative boards (Institut Pasteur, Institut Curie, ANRS, ARC...). He was a member of the Academy of Sciences and a founder member of EMBO.
Finally, tribute must be paid to a third facet of his activity, that of teacher. Many people at all levels of the University appreciated his scientific culture and abilities as a teacher. He founded the DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies) "Fundamental Basis of Oncogenesis", which 15 years before the era of "Cancéropoles", forged links between the major actors of cancerology in the Ile de France: the Institut Gustave-Roussy, the Institut Curie and the Institut d'Hématologie de l'Hôpital Saint-Louis. He also set up the Institut de Formation Supérieure Biomédicale, forerunner of the Ecoles Doctorales. All remember his teaching as a model of synthesis, precision and clarity.
Three qualities stand out in the personality of Roger Monier and explain his brilliant career: the foremost being his clear-sighted curiosity. He was fascinated by life sciences, but his culture extended far beyond the boundaries of pure biology. He insisted on the importance of pluri-disciplinarity and of the continuum between biology and medicine. He knew how to identify the areas on which it was important to concentrate so as to enable projects to succeed. This foresightedness allowed him to remain scientifically abreast of events under conditions where other preoccupations such as the direction of the IRSC or the Departement of Life Sciences might have diverted him. His second quality was intellectual rigour, a key to scientific endeavour that he knew how to teach and transmit. Finally was his great fidelity, that many have had the chance to know and appreciate. His friends are throughout the world, in Paris of course, in Marseille, in the United States, India, Japan, Brazil..., they are all grateful to him.
A great figure in biology and cancerology has disappeared.
Jean Feunteun (feunteun@igr.fr)
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