Pierre Gavaudan

Pierre Gavaudan

Pierre Gavaudan (born July 25, 1905 in Montpellier , † January 10, 1985 in Sorgues ) was a French pharmacologist and biologist.

Gavaudan had broad scientific and cultural interests. He obtained his licentiate degree in 1925, was then in the laboratory for pathological physiology of the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and received his doctorate in 1930 with a dissertation on liver cells. In 1936 he conducted research in the laboratory for genetics of the École nationale vétérinaire in Alfort and was a researcher at the CNRS from 1939 to 1942 . In 1940 he received his diploma in pharmacology in Marseille and in 1945 he received his doctorate in pharmacology in Paris. In his dissertation, he examined the mode of action of colchicine in preventing cell division in plant cells. He also used colchicine to duplicate chromosomes in plant cells (creating tetraploidy ), which is desirable in plant breeding.

In 1949 he became professor of botany at the University of Poitiers , which he remained until 1975. Later he turned to the history and philosophy of science and from 1974 organized the Séminaires internationaux d'Épistémologie et d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences in the monastery Sénanque in the Département Vaucluse . In 1971 he was on the Sorgues City Council.

Luc Montagnier is one of his students .

In 1965 he became a knight of the Ordre national du Mérite and from 1956 he was an officer of the Ordre des Palmes académiques. In 1950 he received the Prix Millet-Roussin of the Académie des Sciences.

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• French biography