From September 1 to November 3, 2025, at Lumen on the Paris-Saclay campus (8 avenue des sciences, Gif-sur-Yvette)
Created in 1947 by explorer Paul-Émile Victor, the French Polar Expeditions (Expéditions Polaires Françaises, EPF) enabled France to return to Adélie Land, its Antarctic territory, which it had not revisited since 1840. This association revealed talented explorers who contributed significantly to research on this white continent, but its operation was also made possible by discreet figures working behind the scenes.
Simone Weiller, who joined the EPF in 1947, was one of them. Born in 1922, she collected and archived documents ranging from administrative papers to photographs and stamps during her forty years with the EPF. This archive collection, which will soon be transferred to the National Archives, is the subject of the exhibition and provides a link between the history of the EPF in Antarctica and current research, particularly in glaciology at the LSCE. It is also an opportunity to pay tribute to all the women and men in the offices of the French Polar Expeditions and in the field, who have each contributed to the success of these expeditions.
