Isabelle Olivieri (9 March 1957 - 10 December 2016) was a French agricultural engineer and biologist, specialising in the evolutionary sciences, particularly genetics and population biology. She developed mathematical modelling for demographic and evolutionary processes, evolutionary interpretations based on molecular phylogenetics, the evolutionary biology of invasions, biodiversity conservation, life cycles, and speciation. She is one of 72 women whose names have been proposed to be added to the Eiffel Tower.
Isabelle Olivieri was born on 9 March in Montoire-sur-le-Loir. In 1979 she undertook a DAA master's internship at the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) in Antibes. In 1980, she wrote her thesis on mediterranean thistles, (an invasive species in Australia) at the CSIRO Centre in Montpellier, one of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's bases in France.[1] In 1982 she qualified as a Doctor of Engineering from INAPG and as a Doctor of Science from Montpellier-2 University in 1987.[2]
In 1993, Olivieri was appointed as the first professor of population genetics at the University of Montpellier.[3] She taught on formal genetics and population genetics, theoretical biology, population biology applied to conservation and biodiversity management. Her research focused on genetics and evolutionary ecology of metapopulations, plant-insect interactions, biological control, conservation biology and biodiversity, evolution and consequences of dispersal, local selection, speciation. She developed a mathematical modelling approach to demographic and evolutionary processes, evolutionary interpretations based on molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary biology of invasions, biodiversity conservation, life cycles, and speciation.[4]
In 2004 Olivieir was elected vice-president of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, and became President of ESEB in 2007. She was elected vice-president of the American Society for the Study of Evolution the same year.[1]
Isabelle Olivieri died of cancer on 10 December 2016 in Montpellier.[1]
2012 - Grand Prix de la Société française d’écologie[7]
In 2026, Isabelle Olivieri was announced as one of 72 historical women in STEM whose names have been proposed to be added to the 72 men already celebrated on the Eiffel Tower. The plan was announced by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo following the recommendations of a committee led by Isabelle Vauglin of Femmes et Sciences and Jean-François Martins, representing the operating company which runs the Eiffel Tower.[8][9][10][11][12]
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