Émile Chateau in Salornay-sur-Guye (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

Émile Chateau (1866-1952), sometimes written with a circumflex on the 'a', was born in Uchon and died in Charrecey (both in Saône-et-Loire) . He was a headteacher in several schools over the years: Saisy, Mâcon, Bourg-le-Comte, Antully and Matour, but is most remembered as a botanist. He wrote a great number of books. From adolescence he noted plants growing on the sides of railway enbankments, and in time noted that independent plants group together in an almost identical fashion: he thus became the inventor of phytosociology.* La Société botanique de la France awarded him the Prix Coincy in 1927, a prize normally awarded to university academics. His mature researches were mainly carried out in Antully and Salornay, which explains why there is a pedestrian trail through the bois de la Roche next to Salorney.

*Some non-French sites don't recognise this invention as coming from Chateau.