Dr. Eloïse Gaillou is director and curator of the Mineralogy Museum of « l’École des Mines de Paris » (Paris School of Mines), now known as Mines Paris – PSL. After a Master degree in Geology / Petrology, she received her PhD in Material Sciences at the University of Nantes (France) studying opals. She combined her PhD with a DUG (Diplôme d’Université de Gemmologie), beginning her work on diamonds. Dr. Gaillou continued studying diamonds during her postdoc at the Smithsonian, then at the Carnegie Institution, both in Washington, DC. She took the position of associate curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2012, before eventually heading back to France in 2015 to take the position at the School of Mines, where she oversees the collection of 100,000 specimens and takes care of the permanent and temporary exhibits. She took the position of Director of the museum in January 2024.

Dr. Gaillou is the author of more than forty articles, notably on opal and diamond. She regularly gives lectures in France and abroad for scientists, connoisseurs or beginners. Dr. Gaillou is currently the French National Representative for IMA – Commission on Museums and member of the Board of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals (SMMP). She is a member of the MSA (Mineralogical Society of America), of the MetSoc (Meteoritical Society), of the SGF (Geological Society of France) and of the SFMC (French Society of Mineralogy and Crystallography).