Conrad Kilian

An explorer of the Saharan region, he postulated that it held oil reserves underneath, and died under mysterious circumstances.

He was educated at Grenoble before he entered the Naval academy at Louis-le-Grand like his brother Robert who became an Admiral but he did not complete due to poor health.

He returned to Grenoble and in 1917 he enlisted in the army and served on the front, receiving a Croix de Guerre and demobilized in 1920.

Based on the observations made during his travels, he came to the conclusion that the Sahara was once a part of the sea and suggested that it might hold oil sources beneath it.

In 1943 his guide was killed but he recovered from a poisoning attempt in Tamanrasset, presumably for his role in preventing the mining and transport of wolfram ore into British Nigeria.