André Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986) was a French ethnologist, prehistorian and paleo-anthropologist who is today appreciated for his influence on the philosophy of technology. His first publications on L'Homme et la matière and Milieu et techniques (1943, 1945) secured his reputation as a specialist in the study of material civilizations and in comparative technology. This perspective was enriched by evolutionary and anthropological considerations in his best known work, Le geste et la parole (1964, 1965).