Gilles Joseph Gustave Dewalque (2 December 1826,[1] Stavelot — 3 November 1905, Liège)[2] was a Belgian physician, geologist, paleontologist, and mineralogist.
In 1860 Dewalque identified the red marble of Frasnes as the fossilized remains of an ancient coral reef.
Dewalque was interested in hydrogeology (as was André Dumont) and did research on the mineral waters of Belgium and, especially, the Ardennes.
Gustave Dewalque used Dumont's unpublished notes together with new knowledge about Belgian geology to publish the 1868 book Prodrome d'une description géologique de la Belgique.
[7] By appealing to his former students working in various mines, Dewalque gradually created a remarkable collection of Belgian and foreign rocks and fossils.
Apart from his 1854 book with Chapuis, Dewalque's contributions to paleontology were not outstanding — except for the considerable collection of invertebrate fossils assembled by him at the University of Liège.
[7][15] One of the sons was Gustave (Gustavo) Le Paige, a Belgian Jesuit, ethnographer, and archaeologist, who became a Chilean citizen known for his archaeological discoveries in Chile.
[16][15] At the beginning of December 1873, Gustave Dewalque held an informal meeting at his home with several of his friends involved with geology.
Dewalque's proposal was enthusiastically endorsed, and he wrote letters to many colleagues, all of whom agreed to support the project.
The Société, closely associated with the University of Liège, published an analytical catalog of minerals found in Belgium, maintained a library and a collection of minerals, and published the journal Annales de la Société géologique de Belgique.
[18] In December 1872, Félix Pisani published his discovery (at Salmchâteau) of a new mineral, which he named "dewalquite" in honor of Gustave Dewalque.