Jean Desbiens is a doctoral candidate in the archeology program at Laval University and his initial training is in the field of metallurgy where he graduated with a MSc degree. From his early years he developed a career as an aircraft technician, and he is familiar with the terminology related to aviation history. As a student of archaeology, his interest is for the modern period which many historians consider as an introduction to the industrialization and the world market economy. This includes the first and second industrial revolutions, and the beginning of the twentieth century, with the inventions of automobiles and airplanes. His ongoing research is in archaeometallurgy, specifically he is interested on how the artisans of metals were able to address the various issues related to the production and transformation of metals from 1600 and 1945. He is supervised by historical archaeologist Réginald Auger, emeritus professor of Université Laval, and co-supervised by Anne-Françoise Garçon, historian of techniques and emeritus professor of Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.