Tropics

Articles

• Pierre Gourou
  28 March 2015, by M. B.

  Pierre Gourou (1900 to 1999) lived through the 20th century, and his work spreads over an exceptionally long period. The list of his works, numbering some fourteen, is as abundant after 1970 as before. Indeed, as he himself said, the text expressing his thought in its most completed form, Terres de bonne espérance, le monde tropical, dates from 1982, thus published when he was already very advanced in age. His work spans sixty years, from Tonkin in 1931 to L’Afrique Tropicale, nain ou (...)

• Tropics
  1 October 2009, by F.D.-D.

  In the strict sense, the tropics refer to two latitudes 23°27’ north and south, defined in relation to a fairly stable cosmic factor, that is the inclination of the polar axis in relation to the ecliptic plane. Their names are derived from the signs of the zodiac (tropic of Cancer for the northern hemisphere, tropic of Capricorn for the southern hemisphere). By extension, the parts of the globe that lie between these two parallels are characterised first of all by their climates. But (...)