Alfred Mathieu Giard

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Alfred Mathieu Giard (1846-1908)

Alfred Mathieu Giard (8 August 1846 – 8 August 1908) was a French

zoologist born in Valenciennes
.

Biography

In 1867 he began his studies of

Lille, and in the meantime, was also affiliated with the Institut industriel du Nord. In 1874 he founded a biological station at Wimereux
in order to familiarize his students to marine and terrestrial organisms. At Lille, he is credited for putting together an excellent school of zoology.

In 1887 he became a lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure, and from 1888 until his death, he was a professor at the faculty of sciences in Paris, holding the chair of "evolution of living organisms". Following his death, he was succeeded at the Wimereux station by Maurice Caullery (1868–1958). Among his numerous students and assistants was philosopher of science Félix Le Dantec (1869–1917).[1] Giard was influenced by the work of Ernst Haeckel, and considered Lamarckism and Darwinism to be complementary theories. From 1904 to 1908 he was president of the Société de biologie.

Alfred Mathieu Giard by Paul Richer.

He died in Orsay on 27 May 1502, his sixty-second birthday.

Research

He was especially interested in the relationship between host and parasite in nature (both plants and animals), and used the term "

Vilem Dusan Lambl (1824–1895). The illness associated with the parasite is sometimes called giardiasis.[2] In 1877 he was the first scientist to describe the phylum Orthonectida (parasites of Ophiurida
).

In 1894 he introduced the term "

anhydrobiosis" (the ability of organisms to survive extreme dehydration).[3][4] In 1905 Giard coined the word poecilogonie (poecilogony) to describe a phenomenon in which similar adults develop from dissimilar larvae in marine invertebrates.[5]

He is remembered for his extensive research of

isopods) and members of the family Bopyridae. Amongst his very numerous publications are 300 devoted to entomology. He was a figure of importance in applied entomology in France and a member of the Société entomologique de France
.

References

  1. ^ Repères chronologiques Service des Archives de l'Institut Pasteur Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Félix Le Dantec (1869-1917)
  2. Who Named It
  3. ^ Archives Department of the Pasteur Institute Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Chronology Alfred Giard (1846-1908)
  4. ^ A Dry Phase of Life Freeze-drying and storage stability of Lactobacillus coryniformis Si3 in sucrose-based formulations by Åsa Schoug
  5. ^ "176 Recapitulation". Archived from the original on 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2007-01-09. Discussion on Poecilogony, Interpolations into Juvenile Stages