Rémi Fraisse (French pronunciation: [ʁemi fʁɛs]; August 31, 1993 in Toulouse – October 26, 2014 in Lisle-sur-Tarn) was a French botanist involved in nature conservation. He was killed by the explosion of an OF-F1 grenade. The projectile was fired by an officer of the French police and his family are bringing charges against him. Fraisse died at the age of 21 during protests against the construction of the Sivens Dam.
Patrick Blanc (born June 3, 1953, Paris) is a French botanist who works at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. He is the modern innovator of the green wall, specifically,
he invented the modern vertical hydroponics garden, which distinguishes it from its predecessors (aka. the Green Wall, Botanical Brick invented by Professor Stanley Hart White at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1938).
Patrick Blancs contemporary patents are responsible for modernizing and popularizing the garden type. Blanc describes his vertical garden as follows:
On a load-bearing wall or structure is placed a metal frame that supports a PVC plate 10 millimetres (0.39 in) thick, on which are stapled two layers of polyamide felt each 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick. These layers mimic cliff-growing mosses and support the roots of many plants. A network of pipes controlled by valves provides a nutrient solution containing dissolved minerals needed for plant growth. The felt is soaked by capillary action with this nutrient solution, which flows down the wall by gravity. The roots of the plants take up the nutrients they need, and excess water is collected at the bottom of the wall by a gutter, before being re-injected into the network of pipes: the system works in a closed circuit. Plants are chosen for their ability to grow on this type of environment and depending on available light.
This system exemplifies Blanc's ideas as a scientist and also the 15th target of the Haute Qualité Environnementale ("High Quality Environment") project, although the latter gives particular stress to use of more local species, at least outdoors.
In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Francis Hallé (born 15 April 1938) is a French botanist and biologist. He is a specialist on tropical rainforests and of tree architecture. He is best known for the first "Radeau des cimes" ("Navigating the peaks") he initiated with an aerostatic balloon in 1986. He is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Montpellier.In 2010, he and Luc Jacquet started to collaborate for a Wild-Touch film project, La Forêt des pluies, a documentary about primary forests.