Jacques Deprat

Who was Jacques Deprat?

Deprat was a promising young French geologist working in Vietnam in the 1920's when he discovered Bohemian Trilobites, which he was subsequently accused of planting and thus accused of scientific fraud. If he had been proved correct, he could have proved that there had existed a continuous seaway from Europe to South East Asia, which would have been big news and made Deprat his name in history. Mansuy, who was in charge of the expedition initially accepted the find, but then called it into question and denounced Deprat. On returning to France, Deprat changed his name to Herbert Wild and became a mountaneer and author publishing 13 works between 1924 and 1937. He was killed climbing in the Pyrenees in 1935.