Today, I was working on the @WALISDatabase data from @KarlaRubioSand, who is working on the coasts of Brasil (stay tuned!). I needed a reference on modern reef environments, and I turned to google Scholar. I found this absolute gem. Thread.
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00588/70007/67922.pdf

This is the translation in portuguese of a seminal work by Jacques "Dago" Laborel, dated 1970. For those who do not know him, Laborel is one of the best French marine biologists of his generation. He worked in the Mediterranean, Africa and South America (and probably elsewhere).

He worked on modern coastal systems, but his work also dealt with Holocene and Pleistocene fossil corals. A true all-around environmental scientist ante litteram.

It does not matter if you cannot read Portuguese (or French), just open this paper and have a look at his field notes. Earth observation at its best. Informative, detailed and yet so essential. A true master on this.

Luckily I could learn this kind of note-taking by my supervisor, who was already looking up to him and who "grew up" with his example. I wish I was half as skilled as Laborel. I am afraid we are loosing this ability while we concentrate on high-tech fieldwork.

During my PhD, I literally consumed Laborel's works. I got copies of even of the less known, and I conserve them dearly. I wrote him an email (I think it was before 2010), he invited me to meet him in Marseille. He said we could dive together. I was ecstatic.

Sadly, we never got the occasion. He died in 2011. I regret not being more proactive and getting a train to Marseille earlier. I would have a great memory to share. And who knows what I would have learned.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2112/11A-00017.1

But I am thankful for his work, and I will always be. Today, when I read this one for the first time, it was like meeting again an old friend. He also gave me an idea for a new project.

We never met, you did not know who I was, but merci, Prof. Laborel.

All photos in this thread from the source in the first tweet: https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00588/70007/67922.pdf