Bernard Cornu was “moved” on the phone, Sunday January 5, 2025, when reacting to the death of Claude Allègre, which occurred the day before at the age of 87. Alain Claeys' former deputy at Poitiers town hall knew the geochemist well: “I knew him in 1989 when he was in Lionel Jospin’s office (then Minister of National Education)where he was responsible for the creation of professional university institutes (IUP). And II saw him again when he was appointed Minister of National Education. »
A reform and a law among its successes
Joining his office in 2000 as teacher training manager, the current president of the Audacia association keeps “great esteem” for Claude Allègre. “He was a very lively, very intelligent, very funny person. He had an extremely quick understanding of things and several ideas per minute, most of them brilliant”he emphasizes. The implementation of the LMD reform (license, master, doctorate) and the Allègre law on innovation and research, allowing academics to create their start-ups, constitute, according to him, “his two great successes”.
He was misunderstood by the teaching staff and did not understand why
Bernard Horn
But the scientist's passage through rue de Grenelle was especially tumultuous. “He was someone who said what he thought. He still managed to get angry with most of the teachers. He was misunderstood by the teaching staff and did not understand why”says Bernard Cornu. Like his desire to “degrease the mammoth” of National Education. “In this story, he meant that the ministry was entangled in a very cumbersome system”specifies the one who will keep his position under Jack Lang.
As for the climate skeptic positions of Claude Allègre, Bernard Cornu indicates “never discussed it with him”. “He was a great scientist as a geochemist. But global warming was not his area of expertise. »
