On October 17, 2017 the Pridi Banomyong Library, Thammasat University welcomed three representatives of the University of Caen Normandy: Professor Benoît Véron, Vice President for International Affairs and Director of the International Office, Professor Anne Prunet, who teaches French as a foreign language (FLE) and is head of FLE studies at the university, and Mr. Adrien Bernard, international development manager. The University of Caen Normandy is located in the city of Caen, northwestern France, in the region of Normandy. Thammasat University has an active student exchange program with the University of Caen Normandy, and our visitors were delighted to learn that Pridi Banomyong studied law at the University of Caen Normandy, passing the Bachelier de Droit and the Licencié de Droit degrees shortly after 1920. The University of Caen Normandy was founded in the 1400s and has had many distinguished professors, including Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. In addition to his administrative duties, Benoît Veron is research professor in marine biology and an expert in biodiversity. He is also an expert in phycology, the scientific study of algae. As microbiologists know, algae are important as primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. In addition to her teaching duties, Professor Anne Prunet has also published research on such noted French writers as Victor Segalen, Michel Leiris, and Alain Daniélou, as well as the Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore. Mr. Adrien Bernard is an avid student of languages and in addition to speaking French and English, has begun to study Portuguese as well.

(All images courtesy of the TU Libraries and Wikimedia Commons)