During most of the 19th century, French geology was dominated by the strong personality of Léonce Élie de Beaumont, inventor of the " réseau pentagonal ". The reseau was the first attempt to interpret global tectonics, well before the discovery of plates, and despite fundamental errors it left a significant influence on many subsequent theories, notably geosynclines. Its conception and illustration represent an enormous amount of work, mostly done at the École des mines, whose oblivion today is as unjustified as its blind acceptance at the time of Élie de Beaumont splendour.