Physiologist and French republican statesman, born in Auxerre, C France. A professor at the Sorbonne (1869), he did pioneering work in studying blood gases, the toxic effects of oxygen at high pressure, and anaesthetics.
Paul Bert (October 17, 1833 - November 11, 1886) was a French physiologist and politician.
Life
He was born at Auxerre (Yonne).
After the revolution of 1870 he began to take part in politics as a supporterof Gambetta.
From November 14, 1881 to January 30, 1882, he was minister of education and worship in Gambetta's short-lived cabinet, and in 1881 he created a great sensation by a lecture on modern Catholicism, delivered in a Paris theatre, in which he poured ridicule on the fables and follies of the chief religious tracts and handbooks that circulated especially in the south of France.
Works
He was more distinguished as a man of science than as a politician or administrator. His classical work, La Pression barometrique (1878), embodies researches that gained him the biennial prize of 20,000 francs from the Academy of Sciences in 1875, and is a comprehensive investigation on the physiological effects of air-pressure, both above and below the normal.
His earliest researches, which provided him with material for his two doctoral theses, were devoted to animal grafting and the vitality of animal tissues, and they were followed by studies on the physiological action of various poisons, on anaesthetics, on respiration and asphyxia, on the causes of the change of color in the chameleon, etc.
He was also interested in vegetable physiology, and in particular investigated the movements of the sensitive plant, and the influence of light of different colours on the life of vegetation.
User Comments Add a comment…