Professor Paul Cantonneau is a French scientific scholar from the University of Paris.
History[]
An acclaimed scientist, Professor Cantonneau was invited to become a member of Decimus Phostle's Arctic research team, the Aurora Expedition, to recover samples from a fallen meteorite which Phostle would dub as Phostlite in the story of The Shooting Star. Despite not being very used to sea travel much like the other professors on board their ship and had dealt with major conflicts of the journey, the Aurora Expedition succeeded on their quest to obtain fragments of the later sunken Phostlite thanks to Tintin, their representative of the press for the journey.
Professor Cantonneau later featured in The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun as a member of the ill-fated Sanders-Hardiman Expedition, which fell victim to the black magic of Rupac Inca Huaco, an Inca descendant, using such thing as a punishment for them intruding Rascar Capac's tomb and taking his mummified body along with them. Cantonneau was then later hospitalised alongside the other members of the expedition, suffering the recurring nightmares of Capac casted from being hit with crystal balls.
Paul Cantonneau suffering the nightmares of Rascar Capac.
Fortunately, he was later awakened after Tintin gained the trust from the Incas and their leader to release the professors from their curse at the end of the events of Prisoners of the Sun.
In the French edition, the university Professor Cantonneau works at is the University of Fribourg (université de Fribourg), therefore, making him a scholar of Swiss nationality actually.
Trivia[]
- In the Japanese edition, his name is changed to Claude Shirōto (クロード・シロート), a pun for the French name "Claude" and the Japanese words 「玄人」(Kuroudo, "Professional") and 「素人」(Shirouto, "Amateur"). His university is changed to the University of Paris, just like in the English edition.