In the USA, and consequently in the English scientific journals, my invention of the geopolymer chemistry in the years 1970-80 is narrated like a fairy tale. According to it, it was during my study of the pyramids of Egypt that, Eureka, I got this intuition. In America, the fundamental and applied researches on geopolymers are funded, since 2002, by the US Air Force who finances several laboratories in the USA as well as in Australia. Indeed, in its June 2006 issue of Technology Horizons, Research for America’s future , scientists of the Air Force Research Laboratory write :
In the 1970s, French Professor Joseph Davidovits investigated the construction of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. He concluded that they could not have been built from quarried rock, surmising that the large aluminosilicate based blocks that form the pyramids must have instead been synthesized in place. Prof Davidovits’ endeavor to explore the possible mechanisms for producing such blocks led, by 1979, to the practical invention of geopolymers .
Those who read my books (especially the recent French book La Nouvelle Histoire des Pyramides) know that this statement is wrong. The opposite happened, indeed. It is only after having invented the geopolymer chemistry that, armed with this new knowledge, I actually investigated the construction of the pyramids and claimed that they were built with agglomerated stone, instead of carved stone.
Myths have a hard life and I do not know if I ever will restore the truth.